Part 53, page 124

Transcript

The scan is the source; the transcript is machine-generated from it.

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

(Mount Clipping in Space Below)

---

Hijacker Hunt Near Woodland

BY DICK CLEVER

The search for the skydiving hijacker of a Northwest Airlines 727 jetliner was narrowed yesterday to a five-mile corridor in upper Clark County, sources said.

Meanwhile, The Post-Intelligencer learned that one of the two parachutes apparently used by the hijacker who escaped with $200,000 ransom was a non-functional training chute.

Linn Emrick, of Sky Sports, Inc., said he supplied the two chest pack parachutes that were put onto the plane Wednesday at Seattle-Tacoma Airport.

The hijacker, known as "D. B. Cooper" to the FBI, had demanded the money and parachutes before releasing the 36 passengers and two stewardesses. He commandeered the plane on a flight from Portland to Seattle.

Passengers and crewmen described the hijacker as in his mid-forties, with dark hair, about 6-feet-1, 175 pounds, wearing a black business suit and dark glasses. They said he was "very cool."

Along with the two chestpack chutes from Sky Sports, located in Issaquah, the hijacker was provided with two backpack chutes by Norman Hayden, of Renton Aviation.

The parachutes were obtained by Northwest Airlines officials, who also got $200,000 in cash from several Seattle banks Wednesday afternoon.

Clark County Undersheriff Tom McDowell said the FBI was searching a five-mile corridor a few miles southeast of Woodland, where a command post has been established.

McDowell said the area pinpointed for the search was based on information given the FBI by Northwest Airlines. Another source was more specific. He said authorities believe the hijacker bailed out of the low-flying 727 at 8:13 p.m., a little over a half an hour after taking off from Sea-Tac.

The area outlined for a full-scale ground and air search, which begins this morning, is described as "wooded and rugged."

The hijacker boarded the plane in Portland. When the jetliner was airborne, he showed a stewardess a briefcase containing two red cylinders and wires and said he would blow up the plane unless his demands were met.

Departing from Sea-Tac Wednesday night after a tense, two-hour fueling operation, the airliner flew south along what aviation authorities describe as a standard "Victor 23" route over Portland, the Willamette Valley, Eugene, Klamath Falls and finally turned southeast toward Reno, Nev.

When the plane taxied to a stop in Reno, the hijacker, the money, the briefcase, and two parachutes were gone.

Emrick said the missing chestpack chute would not have functioned had the hijacker been forced to use it.

"I didn't know that when I went over and picked it out," he said.

Emrick said the canopy of the chute had been sewn shut and the parachute was

---

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

p. Al Seattle Post- Intelligencer Seattle, Wash.

Date: 11/26/71 Edition: Final Author: Dick Clever Editor: Dick Lyall Title: UNSUB;Northwest Airlines, Flight 305, Portland to Seattle Character: 11/24/71 or CAA-HIJACKING;EXT Classification: 164-ol Submitting Office: Seattle

☐ Being Investigated

---

COPY SENT TO BUREAU

SEARCHED ......... FILED ......... [illegible] 1971 FBI—SEATTLE

---

DB Cooper-22462