Interview of Flight 305 hostess describing the hijacking
Interviewed 24 November 1971Dictated 26 November 1971
Part of: Interview of Northwest Airlines Flight 305 hostess at Reno
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Id: Cooper-Part-67:110-111
Subject: Cooper Files: Cooper-Part-67:110-111 Document: FD-302 interview of Flight 305 hostess describing the hijacking Id: Cooper-Part-67:110-111 Page: https://cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-67%3A110-111 What is wrong (title, date, type, which pages belong together, copies)? What does the scan show?
A person reads every report. Corrections are made by hand, to the data — titles, dates, names, which pages belong together — never to the scans, and they can take a while to appear.
FBI 164-81, Vault Part 67 pp. 110–111 (DB Cooper-28346, DB Cooper-28353), FD-302 interview, interviewed 24 Nov 1971 — cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-67%3A110-111
FD-302 (Rev. 4-15-64)
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
Date 11/30/71
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[REDACTED], residence [REDACTED], [REDACTED] was interviewed at the Reno Airport, Reno, Nevada, on the late evening of November 24, 1971, and early morning hours of November 25, 1971. She identified herself as a hostess on Northwest Airlines Flight 305.
Shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, en route to Seattle, Washington, in the afternoon hours of November 24, 1971, a male passenger on the flight, who was seated [REDACTED] gave a note to Hostess [REDACTED] showed the note to Hostess [REDACTED] who was also in the rear passenger compartment. The note indicated that the male individual was hijacking the plane and wanted the hostess to sit beside him. The note further indicated that he had a bomb and wanted $200,000.00. [REDACTED] stated she went back to the male passenger seated [REDACTED] with the note, at which time he indicated that he was hijacking the plane and was not kidding. He added that he wanted "no funny stuff". He had a black attache-type case in his lap, which case was partially open and he had his hand inside same. At this time [REDACTED] [REDACTED] sat down alongside the individual in seat [REDACTED] and after lighting a cigarette for the passenger, she told him that they would cooperate. Her best recollection is that it was while he told her he wanted no kidding and no funny stuff that he first partially opened the attache case and permitted her to see the contents. She recalls the contents as approximately eight cylindrical objects about six to eight inches long with four of the items being placed on top of the others and banded together with some kind of tape. She also recalled some covered and uncovered wiring running from the cylindrical objects to a dry cell type battery which had terminals on one end. She could not recall whether the wires were connected to the terminals. The battery was described as approximately eight inches long and about two and one-half inches in diameter. She stated that she had the impression [guess: that] it was
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SEARCHED _____ INDEXED _____ SERIALIZED _____ FILED _____ DEC 1 3 1971 FBI — SEATTLE
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on 11/24/71 at Reno, Nevada File # LV 164-60
SA U. E. HINDERLITER, JR. SA HAROLD E. CAMPBELL, JR. (HEC:tlw) Date dictated 11/26/71
This document contains neither recommendations nor conclusions of the FBI. It is the property of the FBI and is loaned to your agency; it and its contents are not to be distributed outside your agency.
DB Cooper-28346
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b6 b7C
LV 164-60 8
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secure the money in this rather than in the white bank-type bag which he had been furnished. Her recollection was that she did not see him tampering with the two large parachute containers other than to cursorily inspect them when she had brought them aboard.
After the plane was airborne, there was conversation between [REDACTED] and the hijacker regarding her opening the rear door and extending the stairway. She told him that she was fearful of being sucked out of the airplane and, accordingly, wanted to tie an emergency safety rope around her waist and attach it to a seat in order to prevent being sucked out of the door when she opened it. He told her at that time it would not be necessary for her to use the emergency safety rope inasmuch as he would cut one of the parachute shroud lines for her to insure her safety when she opened the door. It was at this time that he was still working with the para- chute to in some way secure the money to his body. Shortly thereafter he asked her to demonstrate to him the procedure for opening the rear door and extending the stairway. She did this and was under the impression that he understood how to do it. She commented that it occurred to her at this time that this was the only function of the aircraft which she had discussed with the hijacker during the time she had been with him which he did not seem to be fully aware of. She stated that as a matter of fact, he had even shown a knowledge of where the oxygen bottles were located at an earlier time, which information she felt is normally known only to air crew personnel. While she could not recall specifically, she stated there were several other comments he made which indicated to her that he had an extensive technical knowledge of this particular type of aircraft and perhaps aircraft and flying in general. She also commented that he appeared to be completely familiar with the parachutes which had been furnished to him.
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It was estimated by [REDACTED] that in less than five minutes after takeoff, the hijacker suddenly told her to go forward of the aft compartment, to close the curtain behind her and not to return to the rear compartment again. She
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b6 b7C b6 b7C
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DB Cooper-28353
Serials: LV 164-60