Part 54, page 82

Transcript

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

Hijacked crew commanded final say

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By MILES GREEN of The Oregonian staff

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"No funny stuff," said the middleaged hijacker with what appeared to a dynamite bomb in his briefcase. And, the crew of the Northwest Airlines Boeing 727 jetliner indicated the same message to authorities as the plane headed for Seattle.

William Rataczak, first officer of the plane hijacked last Wesneday between Portland and Seattle, recalled Monday that he insisted that the crew of the plane be given the final say before there was any intervention or attempt to disregard the hijacker's demands. His comments came during a telephone interview from his home in Burnsville, a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.

This insistence was based at least partly on his awareness of an earlier hijacking of a private plane in which three persons died after the FBI rushed the plane as it was refueling in Florida.

"I said when, and if, we wanted assistance we would call for it and I asked that there be no outside intervention or interference unless asked for," said Rataczak.

As far as he knows, this request was followed, added the first officer, as he lauded all those who worked to help assure the safety of the passengers and the crew.

Hijacker confident

While the crew cautioned against unrequested intervention from outside authorities, it worked to gain and maintain the confidence of the hijacker, he added.

Once the hijacker had made his demands known, almost all communication with him was through one of the stewardesses, Tina Mucklow, Rataczak said. The three crew members who were in the cockpit never, er say, the hijacker, he said.

The hijacker ordered Miss Mucklow to sit beside him after another stewardess, Florence Schaffner, took his request for ransom to the cockpit of the plane.

Rat[aczak] said the hijacker appeared to be "as rational as anyone could be. Who

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would do something like that." Because the hijacker did not appear to be emotional, the crew felt that it could keep the situation in hand if it went along with his requests, he added.

Food requested

He said when Miss Mucklow told the hijacker the crew had been on duty for some time, and might become tired during the trip south, the hijacker said he had some benzedrine which they could take if they needed it. The hijacker also made sure there was food put on the plane so the crew could eat, added Rataczak.

He also reported the crew did not have any indication the man had left the plane at any certain time, and was "pleasantly surprised" when it found that he was not on board when the plane landed in Reno.

He said the captain attempted to communicate with the hijacker via the public address system as the plane approached Reno.

[He] said William Scott, pilot of the plane, said over the public address system that the plane could land with the rear stairway down (as it was after it had been lowered by the hijacker), but there might be damage to the stairway which would make it impossible for the plane to take off again. He said the message was given in case the hijacker was aboard, and wanted assistance in raising the stairway.

"When we didn't get any answer, we decided to land anyway. But, up until we shut the engines down we assumed that he was still with us. We were pleasantly surprised when the aft (rear) cabin and found that he was not there," said Rataczak.

He reported that all members of the crew expect to resume their regular duty in December, as scheduled, but they will not be flying together.

Flight crews change every month, he explained, and the trip during which they were hijacked was the last in November for the crew.

He said the hijacked flight was during the first day of what would have been a four-day trip together as a crew.

"We were looking forward to flying next from Seattle to Miami for some sunshine," said Rataczak.

The passenger who boarded in Portland using the name D.B. Cooper, changed all that, though. He was headed south, but not to Miami — at least not directly — and he was to provide an experience for the crew that they had discussed, but had hoped would never happen, Rataczak said.

"Of course we have talked about the possibility of this happening, and have discussed the procedures to be followed if it does. But, each situation is unique. Our only hope is that it never happens again, to anyone," said Rataczak.

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

THE OREGONIAN PORTLAND, OREGON

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Date: 11/30/71, pg. 8 Edition: Author: Editor: Title:

Character: or Classification: Submitting Office:

☐ Being Investigated

SEARCHED ______ [illegible] SERIALIZED ______ [illegible]

DFC FBI—POiti [illegible]

DB Cooper-23008