FD-350 clipping, Seattle Times 11/25/71: hijacker parachutes from Northwest 727
Document date 25 November 1971
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Id: Cooper-Part-53:172-173
Subject: Cooper Files: Cooper-Part-53:172-173 Document: FD-350 clipping, Seattle Times 11/25/71: hijacker parachutes from Northwest 727 Id: Cooper-Part-53:172-173 Page: https://cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-53%3A172-173 What is wrong (title, date, type, which pages belong together, copies)? What does the scan show?
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FBI 164-81, Vault Part 53 pp. 172–173 (DB Cooper-22510–22511), News clipping, dated 25 Nov 1971 — cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-53%3A172-173
FD-350 (Rev. 7-16-63)
(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
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Hijacker remains at large
A widespread search was under way today for a middle-aged hijacker who apparently parachuted from a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 between Seattle and Reno last evening.
The man was missing when the jetliner arrived in Reno. So was the $200,000 ransom he had collected at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport in exchange for the plane's 36 passengers and two stewardesses.
Four remaining crew members were in the cockpit on the Seattle-Reno flight and did not see the hijacker leave the plane. They were unharmed.
The rear door of the 727 was left open on the hijacker's orders. Parachutes had been put aboard the plan[e] here.
A Federal Bureau of In[vestigation] spokesman i[n] Las Vegas said the hijacker left the plane over Washing[ton] but this conflicted with other reports.
"There's no way he could have gotten off in Reno," said Harold E. Campbell, Jr., special agent in charg[e]
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P. Al Seattle Times Seattle, Washington
Date: 11-25-71 Edition: Author: Editor: Henry McLeod Title: UNSUB;Northwest Airlines, Flight 305, Portland to Seattle Character: 11/24/71 or CAA-HIJACKING;.. EX[T] Classification: 164S81 Submitting Office: SEATTLE
☐ Being Investigated
COPY SENT TO BUREAU
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[partially illegible stamps] DB Cooper-22510 FBI--SEATTLE
[...]of F. B. I. operations in Ne- vada, the Associated Press reported. "We had the air- port covered."
The ransom was the larg- est ever paid in an airline hi- jacking.
The hijacker had shown a stewardess what he said was a bomb in a briefcase. The briefcase was missing when the plane arrived in Reno.
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A Boeing Co. spokesman said no one has ever para- chuted from a Model 727, al- though it is quite feasible. The rear door drops down from the bottom of the plane and a parachutist would have no difficulty clearing the plane, the spokesman said.
The plane reportedly flew from Seattle at a reduced
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speed because the rear door was open. Cabin tempera- tures dropped below zero. The hijacker had parachutes put aboard the plane at Seattle.
Crew members aboard the plane when it reached Reno were identified as Scott; Bob Rataczak, first officer; H. N. Anderson, flight engineer, and Tina Mucklow, steward-
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ess. The crew was based in Minneapolis, the airline said.
The Federal Bureau of In- vestigation in Reno tenta- tively identified the hijacker as D. B. Cooper. His name was not among 36 on a list of passengers issued by the air- line.
(A Michael Cooper from Missoula was one of the 36 ransomed passengers inter- viewed briefly by the F. B. I.)
The crew was taken from the plane 35 minutes after it landed in Reno. Officials said the delay was due to the possibility that a bomb had been placed aboard. No bomb was found.
Jack Keillor, Northwest district sales manager in Seattle, said the hijacker had locked the four crew members in the cockpit dur- ing the flight to Reno. The hijacker stayed in the rear of the plane and did not ac- knowledge crew efforts to talk to him, Keillor said.
Art Wibom of the Federal Aviation Administration in Oakland said two Air Force jets and a C-130 cargo plane followed the plane to Reno. An Air Force spokesman said the pursuing planes may not have been able to see the hijacker jump from
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the jet because it was too low and too dark.
THE HIJACKED JET, Flight 305, originated in Washington, D. C., and stopped in Minneapolis; Great Falls, Mont.; Missou- la, Mont.; Spokane, and Portland.
It was hijacked as it left Portland for Seattle. A stew- ardess said the man gave her a note and said he had a bomb in a briefcase.
The stewardess said she saw "two red cylinders and wires" in the briefcase.
The plane landed in Seattle at 5:43 p. m. after circling for about two hours. It left Seattle - Tacoma Airport at 7:37 p. m. and took 3½ hours to fly to Reno.
Along with the $200,000 in ransom money obtained from Seattle-area banks by the airline, the hijacker also was given two parachute assem- blies, each consisting of a chest pack and back pack. Three packs were found aboard the plane in Reno.
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DB Cooper-22511
Serials: 164S81