FD-350 clipping, St. Paul Dispatch, re Northwest Airlines 727 hijacking and $200,000 ransom

FD-350 (Rev. 7-16-63) (Mount Clipping in Space Below) (Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.) 1 St. Paul Dispatch —St. Paul, Minn.

Date: Nov. 25, 1971 Edition: Evening Author: Editor: H.G. Burnham Jr. Title:

Character: or Classification: Submitting Office: Minneapolis

☐ Being Investigated

164-73 —27 SEARCHED _____ INDEXED ___ SERIAL... .......D — NOV 2 9 1971

b6 b7C

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Hijacker Parachutes Free

Extorts $200,000 With Bomb Threat

Dispatch Wire Services RENO, Nev. — A hijacker apparently parachuted to freedom from a commandeered passenger jet after extorting $200,000 from Northwest Airlines with a bomb threat, authorities say.

Two of four parachutes obtained by the middle-aged hijacker from airline officials in Seattle were missing when the plane landed here with four crewmen aboard, the FBI reported today.

"There's no way he could have gotten off in Reno," said Harold E. Campbell Jr., special agent in charge of FBI operations in Nevada. "We had the airport covered."

Campbell declined to comment on reports that the hijacker was an experienced parachutist, possibly a fire-fighting smoke-jumper.

THE PLANE'S CREW, all based in the Twin Cities, were identified as William Scott, pilot; Bob Radaczak, co-pilot; H. E. Anderson, flight engineer; and Tina Mucklow, stewardess.

An airlines spokesman said no passengers boarded the plane in the Twin Cities, one of five stops between Washington, D.C., and Seattle.

Officials at McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma refused to say whether the pilots of three planes that trailed the hijacked Boeing 727 airliner saw any parachutes during the flight.

Authorities said the hijacker probably parachuted from the plane sometime after it left Seattle Wednesday night, but apparently there were no witnesses to his escape.

As the plane reached Reno, pilot Scott was [guess: monitored] reporting to the airport tower by radio that the hijacker "took leave of us somewhere between here and Seattle."

Thirty-six passengers and two stewardesses had been let off the plane in Seattle. But airline officials said the hijacker locked the remaining four crew members in the cockpit after the plane took off again.

"HE'S IN THE back of the airplane and everyone else is in front," Federal Aviation Administration supervisor Art Wiborn said during the Seattle-to-Reno flight.

The plane made the run at 10,000 feet with its rear stairwell open so the hijacker could bail out. [guess: If] he chose. At that altitude no oxygen was required.

"It would be a very safe drop," said John Wheeler, a Boeing Co. spokesman. "He'd be away from flaps and other engines and go straight down."

The FBI's Campbell said [guess: to] his knowledge no hijacker had ever escaped by parachuting from a plane.

LAW ENFORCEMENT officers with dogs combed Reno International Airport and the surrounding area after the plane landed. There was no sign of the hijacker, the money or any bomb. A stewardess said the hijacker had cylinders which looked like dynamite and wires led to a briefcase he carried.

The hijacker, who offi- cials say probably boarded the plane in Portland, Ore., took over the jetliner short- ly before it was to land in Seattle on a flight from Washington, D.C.

A stewardess said he handed her a note, which said he was hijacking the aircraft, and ordered her to relay instructions to offi- cials on the ground that he wanted $200,000 and four parachutes delivered to him. when the plane landed. He displayed the briefcase and cylinders to the stewardess, officials said.

ORDERS to grant the hi- jacker's demands for $200,000 and parachutes and for authorities to stay away from the plane on the Seat- tle runway were issued by company officials in the Twin Cities.

The passengers apparent- ly were unaware a hijack- ing was under way.

"The crew just said some- thing might be wrong with the plane," Pat Minsch of Anchorage, Alaska, said in Seattle.

"There's nothing unusual looking about him," said another passenger, Richard Simmons of Seattle, "He is middle-aged and was wear- ing dark glasses."

After the plane was re- fueled and the money and parachutes delivered by an airline employe, Flight 305 took off with three crew- men, one stewardess and the hijacker.

THE PILOT said the plane would have to stop in [guess: Reno] 600 miles from Seattle, for refueling on a flight that airline officials said was headed for Mexico City. But BI spokesman Campbell [guess: later] said the hijacker have no destination" [guess: for] crew to follow. "We have no information on the man," Campbell [guess: told]

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reporters early today. He said the crew offered a de- scription of the hijacker but he did not elaborate.

"Scott said the hijacker "treated us very courteous- ly."

Because the rear door was open, the cabin area lost pressure and the tem- perature in the plane dropped to 7 degrees below zero, FAA officials said. The cabin lights were shut off on orders from the hi- jacker, they said.

Campbell said a search for the hijacker would begin in the Portland area of Ore- gon.

A passenger list made available by the airline list- ed a Michael Cooper as among those getting off the plane in Portland, Ore., po- lice listed a Dan Cooper among those they believed had boarded the plane there before it went on to Seattle, but that name was not on the airliner's list of those who got off in Seattle.

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-AP Wirephoto THE CREW OF A HIJACKED jet ap- peared at a news conference in Reno Inter- national Airport early today, about 2½ hours after the jet landed there. The crew, all based in the Twin Cities area, left to right, Capt. William Scott; First Officer Robert Radaczak; Stewardess Tina Mucklow and Second Officer Harold Anderson.

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DB Cooper-33784