Parachutist magazine article 'The Mystery of D.B. Cooper' by Musika Farnsworth

Almost every skydiver who has ever flown on a commercial airliner has looked out the window and thought, "What would it be like to jump from this jet? Is this a good spot? Would I freefall or deploy right away? Where would I land? Where is the nearest town?"

On Thanksgiving eve in 1971, one person did jump from an airliner—with $200,000 of stolen cash strapped to his waist. His jump launched the largest manhunt in the nation and changed air travel forever.

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the mystery of D.B. Cooper by musika farnsworth

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The year was 1971. USPA had recently changed its name from the Parachute Club of America and was growing at the rate of 1,000 new members a year. The largest freefall formation on record was a 10-man star. Attempts to break the record that year with 14 jumpers failed. Most skydivers jumped with motorcycle helmets, and a stopwatch next to the altimeter helped with altitude awareness. USPA produced a new film called "This is a Sport," which sold for $100 to USPA members and $150 to non-members—that's $700 in today's currency.

Taking Control of the Plane On a rainy and windy afternoon before Thanksgiving, November 24, 1971, a man described as tall, thin and in his 40s purchased a one-way ticket from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle,

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Washington, aboard Northwest Airlines flight 305. He wore sunglasses, a dark suit and a tie and gave the name Dan Cooper. He checked in no luggage but carried on a briefcase. As the plane was taxiing for takeoff, the man handed the flight attendant a note, which she immediately put into her pocket, thinking he was merely trying to give her his phone number. Once in the air, he discreetly showed the attendant the explosives in his briefcase and instructed her and the crew to carefully read the note and follow the instructions. Cooper's instructions demanded a knapsack, $200,000 cash in small bills and "two front packs and two backpacks," or two complete parachute rigs including belly-mounted reserves. Cooper also demanded that the 727 land in an unlit, secluded and unused portion of Seattle's airport and that the aircraft not land until the parachutes and cash were ready for him. The

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'usually short, half-hour flight circled and maintained a holding pattern, as the captain calmly informed passengers that traffic at Seattle-Tacoma was delaying their arrival.

As flight 305 circled over Seattle, D.B. Cooper sat alone, wearing sunglasses during most of the flight, chain smoking and ordering two bourbons and water.

On the ground, the FBI immediately began searching for any information that could tell them who D.B. Cooper was. Without a psychological history of the hijacker, the airline decided that for the safety of the crew, passengers and civilians in the vicinity, all his demands would be met. Authorities quickly collected the ran- som money from several local banks and rushed two military rigs from McCord Air Force Base in Tacoma to Sea-Tac. But when Cooper learned authorities had provided military rigs, he said they were not acceptable and demanded state-of-the-art freefall rigs.

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Meeting the Demands

That evening, skydiver and master parachute rigger Earl Cossey of Washington received a telephone call from a business associate who also happened to be the manager of Sea-Tac International Air- port. The airport manager asked for two backpacks and two chest- pack parachutes as soon as possible—but couldn't disclose the reason. Cossey admits he wondered about the manager's request. "But I trusted him completely and did as I was told," he says.

Cossey phoned the local drop zone at Issaquah, Washington, and had a skydiver staying at the drop zone's loft collect the parachutes and hand them over to authorities. He gave them two of Cossey's personal backpacks—one freefall rig and one Navy emergency NB-8 backpack—and two of the DZ's chest packs. The parachutes were rushed 30 miles in a patrol car from the drop zone in Issaquah to Sea-Tac International Airport.

In the meantime, flight 305 continued to circle for two hours above Seattle, waiting for the ransom money and parachutes to arrive. Although the captain and flight attendants calmly reassured passengers it would be only a little longer, some passengers had already suspected something was amiss.

When flight 305 finally landed at 5:45 p.m. in an unlit and secluded area of the airport, passengers were told to remain seated until they got further instructions. As they patiently waited in their seats, the 36 passengers watched as the flight attendant walked down the aisle with a large money bag and parachutes. Cooper then released all passengers and crew mem- bers, save for the pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer and one flight attendant. As the lone jet fueled and prepared for takeoff with five people on board, sharpshooters surrounded the 727.

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Into the Night

Cooper instructed the pilots to fly to Mexico City in the following configuration: at an altitude no higher than 10,000 feet, no faster than 170 knots, landing gear down, flaps at 15 degrees and with the rear stairway lowered.

Once the hijacked jet took off, Cooper instructed the flight attendant and pilots to remain in the cockpit. The flight attendant was the last to see Cooper. She said he was "tying something around his waist."

Cooper demanded that the pilots fly the 727 manually, and their speed of approximately 170 knots came very close to the stall point. All air traffic for the entire northwestern United States was alerted of the hijacking and diverted from the area. However, two Air Force F106 fighters, a T33 fighter jet trainer and FBI agents in a helicopter trailed the 727.

During the flight, Cooper opened one of the reserve packs, removed the canopy and cut two lines off, perhaps to use as a rope to tie the money bag around his waist. The $200,000 in $20 bills totaled 10,000 individual bills, weighing 21 pounds.

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WANTED

A BULLETIN FROM THE F.A.A.

...Following is in [illegible] appeared at the hijacker who received $200,000 from Northwest Airlines on November 24, 1971.

DAG MAN IS DESCRIBED AS FOLLOWS

Race . . . . . White Sex . . . . . Male Age . . . . . Mid 40's Height . . . . 5'10" to 6' Weight . . . . 170 to 180 pounds Build . . . . Average to well built Complexion . . Olive, Latin appearance, medium smooth Hair . . . . . Dark brown or black, parted on [illegible], normal style [illegible] . . . . Possibly brown Eyes . . . . . . Family brown. [illegible] half part of [illegible] Voice . . . . . Low, spoke intelligently, no particular accent, [illegible] born [illegible] citizen of U.S.A. Clothing/marks . Heavy smoker of [illegible] close to [illegible] Warning Append : Black rain[coat/jacket], narrow black tie, white shirt; dark [illegible] [illegible] or dark [illegible] [illegible]

This FBI bulletin shows a composite sketch of the sought-after hijacker.

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It was approximately 8:15 p.m., and the northwest was experi- encing a heavy rain storm with occasional snow flurries, winds up to 80 knots and temperatures of 20 degrees at altitude. Wear- ing a long, flat backpack parachute and chest-mounted reserve over his business suit and slip-on loafers, Cooper descended the lowered aircraft steps. Investigators believe he held onto the hand rails and stood on the stairs at 10,000 feet in the wind and rain for up to two minutes—before jumping into the night.

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The Missing Man and Gear

The Northwest Airlines co-pilot politely and repeatedly informed Cooper over the intercom that they had to refuel in Reno before continuing. It was only after they landed that the crew discovered that Cooper, the money, his briefcase, raincoat and one backpack and reserve parachute were gone.

The fighter jets and helicopter that had followed the hijacked 727 in the stormy conditions never saw or picked up on radar any sign of Cooper or a parachute. As for the alleged bomb, it too was gone. According to the flight attendant's description of the explosives, the FBI suspected that the bomb was a replica, though they could not say for sure.

That evening, rigger Cossey heard on the news that there was a hijacking in progress. Stunned at the revelation, along with the fact authorities had just requested his parachutes, "I thought, 'Oh, crap! There go my parachutes!' " Cossey recalls. "I was just laugh- ing at the stupidity of the guy and thought, 'This guy's nuts.' "

After the jet landed in Reno, Cossey received another phone call from authorities and learned exactly which parachutes they gave to D.B. Cooper and which parachutes Cooper had left on the aircraft. "The skydiver staying at the loft had grabbed two of my personal backpacks and two chest packs from the drop zone," he says. "One was my B-4 sport rig, and the other was my Pioneer NB-8, a Navy emergency chute used for pilots."

It was only after the aircraft landed that authorities also

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HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?

[photograph of silhouetted figure]

Andy Farrington demonstrates how D.B. Cooper may have looked before he exited the hijacked aircraft.

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learned that, in his rush to provide the rigs, the skydiver accidentally grabbed the drop zone's dummy reserve, marked with a large "X" and red closing flaps. The DZ used the dummy reserve for students to practice deploying the reserve, scooping the canopy out of the container and throwing it into the air and over their heads. Cossey explains, "For the dummy rig, I cut the reserve in half and sewed the panels together so that when the student threw it out, I could just fold it up and put it back in the container in half the time."

Cossey learned over the phone that Cooper took his NB-8 pilot emergency backpack and that his freefall rig remained in the air- craft. "When I learned which rig was missing, I thought, 'Oh, this guy's crazy.' " Cossey explains that the Navy emergency backpack Cooper jumped with was specifically designed for pilots for emer- gency bailouts at potentially low altitudes. The round canopy, designed for extremely fast openings, didn't have a sleeve, much like today's slider, to slow the opening. "That rig has a bad open- ing shock. It'll just rip your crotch apart," Cossey says bluntly.

Compared to the freefall rig, the emergency rig was made of a slick nylon material, had absolutely no padding in the leg straps and was significantly thinner. "The differences in the rigs were obvious," Cossey says, "and anyone with any skydiving experience would definitely take the sport rig." Cossey adds that Cooper may have purposely selected the pilot's rig. "If he had military experience, he may have used the military rig because that's what he was familiar with."

In addition to the opening shock, Cossey also wonders if Cooper was even able to pull the ripcord, because the ripcord for the Navy emergency rig lies very flat against the pilot's chest. Cossey says, "The ripcords for the sport rigs were bent up so you could easily see and grab them. The Navy rig's ripcord is designed to lie very flat so that it doesn't catch on anything unin- tentionally. If Cooper was wearing his raincoat, I don't know if

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he'd even be able to find and pull the ripcord in the dark."

The dummy reserve marked with an X was also gone. Cossey says, "That reserve was half the density of a regular reserve, and it was obvious to anyone with experience that it wasn't a normal reserve." Cossey personally believes that Cooper had emptied the dummy reserve, stuffed the cash in its container and wore that on his chest as he jumped.

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The Manhunt

By calculating the last verbal contact with Cooper and when the jet's pressure gauges indicated the back stairway snapped shut (with the release of Cooper's weight) and open again, investiga- tors estimated that Cooper most likely exited over the rural and densely forested town of Ariel, Washington. Fifty-foot fir trees cover steep hills, rolling down to the 12-mile-long Lake Merwin.

Authorities combed the area inch by inch, looking for some sign of a parachute, broken trees or branches, money or clothing. They found nothing. How easily something could be overlooked in the difficult terrain was demonstrated by the fact that two elderly women found the body of a missing college student who had been strangled. Authorities had missed it. One wealthy investor, convinced that D.B. Cooper and the cash lay at the bottom of the lake, used his private miniature submarine to search the floor of the lake inch by inch. Again, the search came up empty.

News of the hijacking immediately hit the airwaves all across the United States. As authorities searched the area, country roads in Washington filled with cars and recreational vehicles searching for any sign of a parachute, D.B. Cooper or—especially—the money. In 1971, $200,000 in convenient $20 bills was an immense amount of money, equal to about $900,000 today.

The FBI agent assigned to the case from the moment Cooper hijacked the Northwest Airlines jet was Ralph Himmelsbach of Oregon. With his piloting experience dating back to the Army Air Corps in the 1940s, Himmelsbach served as the specialist for all aviation violations. With the intense media attention, calls from the public from all around the nation poured in. Needless to say, skydivers were suspect. "Many of the calls we received concerned parachutists," says Himmelsbach. "Often, the subject was a jumper who was also known to be bad, and that combination gave us particular interest."

Agent Himmelsbach goes on to say, "Many innocent citizens found themselves the focal point of FBI interest because of a change in lifestyle, participating in the sport of skydiving, a past

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INTO THE TREACHEROUS TERRAIN

[photograph of forested terrain]

Investigators searched this area inch by inch—Ariel, Washington, the heavily forested town where they originally believed Cooper jumped.

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The Mystery of D.B. Cooper

history of parachuting or just an attitude of thrill-seeking that made someone else suspicious." The FBI investigated about two dozen skydivers, but every suspect either had an alibi for the night of November 24, 1971, or was simply too young to be Cooper.

The Chances of Survival

Whether Cooper pulled off the jump from the Northwest Airlines jet was a source of immense controversy among skydivers at the time. Himmelsbach says, "Skydivers were mixed as to their opinions of the potential success of the jump." Some said Cooper could have easily pulled it off; others said not so because of the weather conditions and the jet's wind blast of almost 170 knots. Rigger Cossey says, "If he didn't have any experience, he probably did some awful maneuvers going out of that plane. I've seen jumpers spiral violently and never recover. I don't know if he would have even been able to regain his senses."

Also, Cooper wasn't wearing warm, protective clothing, goggles, a helmet, boots or gloves. He jumped in his business suit and slip-on loafers. The fact that he jumped in a suit and tie—but not the fact that he wore one—amazed investigators. In the 1970s, men and women dressed formally for air travel, and for Cooper to have done otherwise would certainly have aroused suspicion.

Cooper apparently planned the hijacking carefully, but it's not clear whether he carefully planned the jump and landing. Investigators concluded that Cooper hadn't pre-planned his exit spot, and Himmelsbach says, "It's unknown whether Cooper had survival gear, such as a knife, compass, food or matches, in his pockets."

Military experts advising Himmelsbach noted that a parachute alone is valuable as a survival tool, referring to a manual called "101 Uses of a Parachute for Survival." Other military specialists speculated that perhaps no parachute was found because Cooper buried his gear as soldiers are trained to do.

Effects on Air Travel

Hijackings during this era were common for political purposes, and sky marshals inconspicuously flew on many of the routes. But D.B. Cooper was the first to hijack an airliner for personal gain—and the first to actually make a parachute jump from a jet.

Others tried to copy his actions. According to Himmelsbach, "Half a dozen hijackers tried to pull off the same caper in the months following Cooper's extortion, but none got away with it. They either were killed in the jump, overpowered by crew or authorities or captured once on the ground."

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It was approximately 8:15 p.m., and the northwest was experiencing a heavy rain storm with occasional snow flurries, winds up to 80 knots and temperatures of 20 degrees at altitude. Cooper descended the lowered aircraft steps. He held onto the hand rails and stood on the stairs at 10,000 feet in the wind and rain for up to two minutes— BEFORE JUMPING INTO THE NIGHT.

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By 1970, pre-boarding screening had been in place in some airports for some airlines, but generally, as D.B. Cooper did, passengers simply walked up to the gate and boarded the aircraft with their carry-on luggage. The hijacking of Northwest Airlines flight 305 initiated mandatory FAA screening procedures, and at Himmelsbach's initiative, all aircraft with back staircases became equipped with a locking mechanism called the Cooper's Vain.

Agent Himmelsbach also initiated a regulation mandating that only FBI agents who are experienced pilots may interview hijacked airline pilots. The day of Himmelsbach's retirement, he learned that the plane actually drifted toward the east while the pilot flew it manually. The agent questioning the pilot at the time wasn't a pilot himself and did not pick up this information. Himmelsbach now believes that Cooper exited 40 miles east over Washougal, Washington, which prompted his rule.

Unsolved Mystery

Even with the intense media coverage and the enthusiastic public wanting to help, each and every suspect, lead, investigation and search led to a dead end. Months turned into years, and Himmelsbach and his team were no closer to finding out who D.B. Cooper was, his whereabouts or the result of the jump.

The largest and most significant piece of evidence in the D.B. Cooper mystery came in 1980, when a boy and his family digging a fire pit on the bank of the Columbia River uncovered 12 packets of deteriorated bills under three feet of wet sand. Geologists and hydrologists concluded that the money was deposited there by the river and had been in the sand for years. The $5,880 found matched the serial numbers of Cooper's cash, but the other 9,706 $20 bills remain unaccounted for.

The FBI continues to receive and investigate phone calls and leads regarding the case, and the file is literally ten feet long. Although Himmelsbach has retired from the FBI, he continues to give interviews to major magazines, newspapers and national and international television programs regarding the case.

The D.B. Cooper case is the only unsolved hijacking in the world. This infamous parachutist consumed Himmelsbach's professional and sometimes personal life for years. Ironically, he interacts with skydivers regularly now, as he hangars his 1952 Bonanza at Skydive Oregon. He says that pilots and skydivers have a lot in common and admits, "I've associated with a number of skydivers and have usually gotten along very well with them." Agent Himmelsbach even made a skydive once and says, "It was an enjoyable experience, but I prefer the power and control of an airplane."

As for the whereabouts of D.B. Cooper today—that unanswered question is what keeps the mystery alive.

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