FD-350 clipping, St. Paul Dispatch, FBI search for hijacker of Boeing 727

FD-350 (Rev. 7-16-63)

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Police Seek Chutist Hijacker

Dispatch Wire Services WOODLAND, Wash. -- FBI agents and police fanned out in the Cascade Foothills today searching for the daring hijacker who parachuted into the wilder- ness with $200,000 ransom.

Authorities held out little hope, however, that the hi- jacker would be found.

"He's p r o b a b l y long gone," a Clark County, Wash., s h e r i f f 's deputy said.

It was the first time an aircraft hijacker had used a parachute to make his es- cape and it was the largest sum of money an air pirate had ever escaped with in the United States.

The FBI said the search was being concentrated in the Cowlitz-Clark counties area in Southern Washing- ton as a result of informa- tion provided by the crew and "strictly conjecture on our part."

SEARCHERS were aided by helicopters and light planes.

Described as a tall, slim man of Latin American ap- pearance in his mid-40s, the hijacker took over the three- engine jetliner as it flew from Portland to Seattle on the last leg of a flight origi- nating in Washington, D.C.

He told a stewardess he had a bomb and that he wanted to go to Mexico. He also demanded four para- chutes and $200,000.

The FBI said he had used the name D. B. Cooper when he boarded the plane in Portland.

"That's the name he used when he bought his ticket" an FBI agent said. "But he's probably no more D.B. Cooper than I am."

When the parachutes and the cash were delivered to him at Seattle Tacoma In- ternational Airport, he al- lowed the 36 other passen- gers and two stewardesses to depark. The pilot, Capt. William Scott, and three other crew members all from the Twin Cities, were ordered to remain aboard.

AIRBORNE for a refuel- ing at Reno, the hijacker or- dered Scott to fly no higher than 10,000 feet, with flaps and landing gear down to keep the airliner's speed at about 200 miles per hour.

He also directed that the rear exit door of the 727 be left open, with the stairs ex- tended as they would be in taking on or discharging passengers on the ground.

And somewhere between Seattle and Reno he depart- ed. Also gone were the $200,000 and two of the four parachutes he had been giv- en.

In Seattle, Earl Cossey of Seattle Sky Sports said he had packed all four para- chutes delivered to the hi- jacker, including the two military 'chutes provided by officials at McChord Air Force Base, near Tacoma, Wash.

COSSEY, the parachute expert, said it was deliv- ered to the hijacker by mis- take. "They grabbed the first one in sight, not know- ing anything about para- chutes," Cossey said. "It (the training parachute) doesn't usually go off the ground."

He said the other three parachutes were functional.

In Las Vegas, Nev., an FBI special agent said one of the two 'chutes found aboard the 727 when it land- ed at Reno had been opened, but he said it had not been determined wheth- er it was the unusable train- ing model.

The military 'chutes nor- mally operate with a static line which rips them open almost immediately after the jumper leaves his air- craft. The sports 'chutes permit a free fall until the jumper himself decides to release them.

Officials said three Air Force planes trailed the 727 after it left Seattle, but they refused to say whether a parachute was seen. They did say that a man using a sports parachute in a free fall could easily have been missed.

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(Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.)

1 St. Paul Dispatch St. Paul, Minn.

Date: Nov. 26, 1971 Edition: Evening Author: Editor: H.G. Burnham Jr. Title:

Character: or Classification: Submitting Office: Minneapolis

☐ Being Investigated

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7 > -33 [illegible] [illegible] 1971 b6 b7C

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DB Cooper-33794

"It would be a very safe drop," Boeing's John Wheeler said of a parachute jump from the rear door. "He'd be away from the flaps and other engines and go straight down." The 727 is one of the few commercial aircraft models with an exit at its extreme rear, under the tail. THE HIJACKER confined Scott, flight officers Wil- liam Rataczak and H. E. Anderson and stewardess Tina Mucklow in the cockpit after the 727 reached flight altitude on leaving Seat- tle. He remained alone in the passenger compartment, where the temperature dropped to 7 degrees below zero with the rear entry door open. His, last communication with the crew came shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday and he is believed to have bailed out of the aircraft at about 8:13 p.m., the FBI said. That would have been 36 minutes after liftoff at Seat- tle.

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[illegible]

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DB Cooper-33795