D. B.

Cooper

Mystery Man

Dr. S.N. Suresh

 D. B. Cooper
A 1972 FBI composite drawing of D. B. Cooper Other names Dan Cooper Occupation
Unknown Known for Hijacking a Boeing 727 on November 24, 1971, and parachuting
out of the plane in flight

D. B. Cooper is the name attributed to a man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in the
United States on November 24, 1971, received US$200,000[1] in ransom, and parachuted
from the plane. The name he used to board the plane was Dan Cooper, but through a
later press miscommunication, he became known as "D. B. Cooper". Despite hundreds of
leads through the years, no conclusive evidence has ever surfaced regarding Cooper's true
identity or whereabouts, and the bulk of the money has never been recovered. Several
theories offer competing explanations of what happened after his famed jump, but the
FBI believes he did not survive.[2]

The nature of Cooper's escape and the uncertainty of his fate continue to intrigue people.
The Cooper case (code-named "Norjak" by the FBI)[3] is the only unsolved U.S. aircraft
hijacking,[4] and one of the few such cases anywhere in the world, along with Malaysia
Airlines Flight 653.

The Cooper case has baffled government and private investigators for decades, with
countless leads turning into dead ends. As late as March 2008, the FBI thought it might
have had a breakthrough when children unearthed a parachute within the bounds of
Cooper's probable jump site near the town of Amboy, Washington.[5] Experts later
determined that it did not belong to the hijacker.

Despite the case's enduring lack of evidence, a few significant clues have arisen. In late
1978 a placard containing instructions on how to lower the aft stairs of a 727, later
confirmed to be from the rear stairway of the plane from which Cooper jumped, was
found just a few flying minutes north of Cooper's projected drop zone. In February 1980
on the banks of the Columbia River, eight-year-old Brian Ingram found $5,880 in
decaying $20 bills, which proved to be part of the original ransom. [6]

2
In October 2007, the FBI claimed that it had obtained a partial DNA profile of Cooper
from the tie he left on the hijacked plane.[7] On December 31, 2007, the FBI revived the
unclosed case by publishing never-before-seen composite sketches and fact sheets online
in an attempt to trigger memories that could possibly identify Cooper. In a press release,
the FBI reiterated that it does not believe Cooper survived the jump, but expressed an
interest in ascertaining his identity.[7][8]

Hijacking
On Wednesday, November 24, 1971, the day before Thanksgiving in the United States, a
man traveling under the name Dan Cooper boarded a Boeing 727-100, Northwest Orient
(subsequently Northwest Airlines, now part of Delta Air Lines) Flight 305 (FAA Reg.
N467US), flying from Portland International Airport (PDX) in Portland, Oregon to
Seattle, Washington.[9] Cooper was described as being in his mid-forties, and between
5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) and 6 feet (1.83 m) tall. He wore a black raincoat, loafers, a dark suit,
a neatly pressed white collared shirt, a black necktie, black sunglasses and a mother of
pearl tie pin.[10] Cooper sat in the back of the plane in seat 18C. After the jet had taken off
from Portland, he handed a note to a young flight attendant named Florence Schaffner,[11]
who was seated in a jumpseat attached to the aft stair door, situated directly behind and to
the left of Cooper's seat. She thought he was giving her his phone number, so she slipped
it, unopened, into her pocket.[12] Cooper leaned closer and said, "Miss, you'd better look

3
at that note. I have a bomb."[13] In the envelope was a note that read: "I have a bomb in
my briefcase. I will use it if necessary. I want you to sit next to me. You are being
hijacked."[14]
The note also provided demands for $200,000, in unmarked bills, and two sets of
parachutes—two main back chutes and two emergency chest chutes.[15] The note carried
instructions ordering the items to be delivered to the plane when it landed at Seattle-
Tacoma International Airport; if the demands were not met, he would blow up the
plane.[16] When the flight attendant informed the cockpit about Cooper and the note, the
pilot, William Scott, contacted Seattle-Tacoma air traffic control, who contacted Seattle
police and the FBI. The FBI contacted Northwest Airlines president Donald Nyrop, who
instructed Scott to cooperate with the hijacker.[15] Scott instructed Schaffner to go back
and sit next to Cooper, and ascertain if the bomb was in fact real. Sensing this, Cooper
opened his briefcase momentarily, long enough for Schaffner to see red cylinders, a large
battery, and wires, convincing her the bomb was real.[17] He instructed her to tell the pilot
not to land until the money and parachutes Cooper had requested were ready at Seattle-
Tacoma. She went back to the cockpit to relay Cooper's instructions.[15]
Releasing passengers in exchange for demands

4
FBI wanted poster of D. B. Cooper
Following Cooper's demands, the jet was put into a holding pattern over Puget Sound,
while Cooper's demands for $200,000 and four parachutes were met. In assembling the
cash demands, FBI agents followed Cooper's instruction for unmarked bills, but they
decided to give bills printed mostly in 1969 (although some were older or newer), that
mostly had serial numbers beginning with the letter L, issued by the Federal Reserve
Bank of San Francisco.[18] The agents also ran all of the 10,000 $20 bills quickly through
a Recordak device to create a microfilm photograph of each bill and thus record all the
serial numbers.[16][19] Authorities initially intended to obtain military-issue parachutes
from McChord Air Force Base, but Cooper said he wanted civilian parachutes, which had
manually operated ripcords. Seattle police were able to find Cooper's preferred
parachutes at a local skydiving school.[18] Meanwhile, Cooper sat in the airplane, drinking
a cocktail of bourbon whiskey and lemon-lime soda, which he would offer to pay for.
Tina Mucklow, a flight attendant who spent the most time with the hijacker, remarked
Cooper "seemed rather nice," and thoughtful enough to request the crew be brought
meals after the jet landed in Seattle.[18] However, FBI investigators for the Cooper case
claim the hijacker was "obscene," and used "filthy language."[18] At 17:24, airport traffic
control radioed Scott and told him that Cooper's demands had been met. Cooper then
gave Captain Scott permission to land at the flight's intended destination, Seattle-Tacoma
International Airport (SEA) near Seattle, Washington. The plane landed at the airport at
17:39.[20] Cooper then instructed Scott to taxi the plane to a remote section of the tarmac
and also dim the lights in the cabin to deter police snipers. He instructed air traffic control
to send one person to deliver the $200,000 and four parachutes, unaccompanied. [20] The
person chosen, a Northwest Orient employee, drove to the plane and delivered the cash
and parachutes to flight attendant Mucklow, via the aft stairs. The civilians left the plane
before it was taxied, however, because Cooper's actions were kept secret from the
passengers as to not stir panic. Among the released passengers was flight attendant
Schaffner. Pilot Scott, flight attendant Mucklow, First Officer Bob Rataczak and flight
engineer H.E. Anderson were not permitted to leave the aircraft.[20]
The FBI was puzzled regarding Cooper's plans, and his request of four parachutes. The
agents wondered if Cooper had an accomplice on board, or if the parachutes were
intended for the four crew members who were still on the plane.[18] Up to this point in

5
history, nobody had ever attempted to jump with a parachute from a hijacked commercial
aircraft. While the plane was being refueled, an FAA official, who wanted to explain to
the hijacker the legal consequences of air piracy, walked to the door of the plane and
asked Cooper's permission to come aboard the plane. Cooper promptly denied the
official's request.[21] A vapor lock in the fuel tanker truck's engines slowed down the
refueling process. Cooper became suspicious when the refueling had still not been
completed after 15 minutes. He made threats to blow up the plane, upon which the fuel
crew promptly tried to speed up the job until completion.[20]
Back in the skies
After refueling, careful examination of the ransom and parachutes, and negotiations
regarding the flight pattern and the position of the aft stairs upon take-off, Cooper
ordered the flight crew to take the hijacked jet back into the air at around 19:40 (7:40
pm). The crew was ordered to fly to Mexico City, at a relatively low speed of 170 knots
(310 km/h; 200 mph), an altitude at or under 10,000 feet (3,000 m) (normal cruising
altitude is between 25,000 and 37,000 feet (7,600 and 11,000 m)), with the landing gear
down and 15 degrees of flap.[22] However, First Officer Rataczak told him that the jet
could only fly 1,000 miles (1,600 km) under the altitude and airspeed conditions Cooper
ordered. Cooper and the crew discussed other possible locations, before deciding on
flying to Reno, Nevada, where they would again refuel. [20] They also agreed to fly on
Victor 23 as depicted on the Jeppesen air navigational charts, a low-altitude Federal
airway that passed west of the Cascade Range. Cooper then ordered Scott to leave the
cabin unpressurized. An unpressurized cabin at 10,000 feet would curtail the risk of a
sudden rush of air exiting the plane (and ease the opening of the pressure door) if he were
to attempt to exit the aircraft for a subsequent parachute landing. [20]
Immediately upon takeoff, Cooper asked Mucklow, who had previously been sitting with
him, to go back to the cockpit and stay there.[23] Before she went behind the curtain that
separates the coach and first-class seats, she watched him tie something to his waist with
what she thought was rope. Moments later in the cockpit, the crew noticed a light flash
indicating that Cooper attempted to operate the door. Over the intercom, Scott asked
Cooper if there was anything they could do for him, but the hijacker replied curtly,
"No!"[23]

6
Boeing 727 with the airstair open
The crew started to notice a change of air pressure in the cabin (an "ear popping
experience"). Cooper had lowered the aft stairs and jumped out of the plane never to be
seen again.[24] That was the last time he was known to be alive. The FBI believed his
descent was at 20:13 (8:13 pm) over the southwestern portion of the state of Washington,
because the aft stairway "bumped" at this time, most likely because of the weight of
Cooper being released from the aft stairs. At the time Cooper jumped, the plane was
flying through a heavy rainstorm, with no light source coming from the ground because
of cloud coverage.[7] Because of the poor visibility, his descent went unnoticed by the
United States Air Force F-106 jet fighters tracking the airliner.[25] He initially was
believed to have landed southeast of the unincorporated area of Ariel, Washington, near
Lake Merwin, 30 miles (48 km) north of Portland, Oregon ( 45°57′N 122°39′W /
45.95°N 122.65°WCoordinates: 45°57′N 122°39′W / 45.95°N 122.65°W).[26] Later
theories based on a variety of sources—including testimony on weather conditions from
Continental Airlines pilot Tom Bohan, who had been flying 4,000 feet (1,200 m) above
and 4 minutes behind Flight 305—placed Cooper's landing zone as much as 20 miles
(32 km) farther east, but its precise location remains unknown.[27]
Nearly 2½ hours after take-off from Seattle-Tacoma, at approximately 22:15,[23] with the
aft stairs dragging on the runway, the Boeing 727 landed safely in Reno. The airport and
runway were surrounded by FBI agents and local police. After communicating with
Captain Scott, it was determined Cooper was gone, and FBI agents boarded the plane to
search for any evidence left behind. They recovered a number of fingerprints (which may
or may not have belonged to Cooper), a tie and a mother of pearl tie clip, and two of the
four parachutes.[28] Cooper was nowhere to be found, nor was his briefcase, the money,
the moneybag, or the two remaining parachutes. The individuals with whom Cooper had
interacted on board the plane and while he was on the ground were interrogated to
compile a composite sketch; those interviewed all gave nearly identical descriptions of
him, leading the FBI to create the sketch that has been used on wanted posters ever since,

7
where Dan Cooper is described as being of Latin appearance.[29] As of 2009, the FBI
maintains that the sketch is an accurate likeness of Cooper because so many individuals,
interviewed simultaneously in separate locations, gave nearly identical descriptions.[7]

Vanished without a trace

Looping animation of how the 727's rear airstair was used by Cooper to escape. The
airstair had not been designed for deployment in flight and was gravity-operated,
meaning it fell open and remained that way until the aircraft had landed.
Despite aerial and ground searches of the projected 28-square-mile (73 km2) landing zone
in late 1971 and spring 1972, no trace of Cooper or his parachute was found. An exact
landing point was difficult to determine, as the plane's 300 feet (91 m)-per-second speed
in winds varying by location and altitude would make even small differences in timing
move the projected landing point considerably. This led the FBI to determine that Cooper
could not have known exactly where he would land, and therefore must not have had an
accomplice waiting to assist him upon landing.[7] Initial search efforts combined small
groups of FBI agents with local Clark County and Cowlitz County sheriff's deputies, who
probed on foot and by helicopter. Others ran patrol boats along Lake Merwin and Yale
Lake.[30] Because months passed with no significant leads coming from anywhere else,
the arrival of the spring thaw provided incentive for a thorough ground search, conducted
by the FBI and no fewer than 200 U.S. Army troops from nearby Fort Lewis. Teams of
agents and soldiers searched the area virtually yard by yard for eighteen straight days in
March and for another eighteen straight days in April 1972. After a combined six weeks

8
of searching the projected drop zone, one of the most intense manhunts in the history of
the northwestern U.S. revealed no evidence related to the hijacking. [31] As a result, it
remains widely disputed whether Cooper actually landed outside the initial estimated
drop zone, as well as whether he survived the jump and subsequently escaped on foot.
Shortly after the hijacking, the FBI questioned and then released a Portland man by the
name of D. B. Cooper, who was never considered a significant suspect. Because of a
miscommunication with the media, however, the initials "D. B." became firmly
associated with the hijacker and this is how he is now known.[24]
Meanwhile, the FBI also stepped up efforts to track the 10,000 ransomed $20 bills by
notifying banks, savings and loan companies, and other businesses of the notes’ serial
numbers. Law enforcement agencies around the globe, including Scotland Yard, also
received information on Cooper and the serial numbers. In the months following the
hijacking, Northwest Airlines offered a reward of 15 percent of the recovered money up
to a maximum of $25,000, but the airline eventually canceled the offer as no new
substantial evidence seemed to arise.[32] In November 1973, The Oregon Journal, based
in Portland, began publishing the first public listings of the serial numbers with
permission from the FBI and offered $1,000 to the first person who could claim to have
found a single one of the $20 bills.[32] Later, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer offered a
$5,000 reward for one of the bills.[33] Despite reported interest from around the country
and several alleged near-matches, the newspapers never received a claim of an exact
serial number match. In the decade before the Cooper hijacking, local law enforcement
and the FBI had solved at least two major crimes—a bank robbery and an extortion—in
the Pacific Northwest by tracing money serial numbers. But both cases, which took only
weeks for authorities to solve, involved instances of a perpetrator spending the traceable
money only days after the crime and in the same general region of the crime,[34]
circumstances that in all likelihood did not apply in the Cooper case.
In late 1978, a hunter walking just a few flying minutes north of Cooper's projected drop
zone found a placard with instructions on how to lower the aft stairs of a 727. The placard
was from the rear stairway of the plane from which Cooper jumped.[35]
On February 10, 1980, Brian Ingram, then eight years old, was with his family on a
picnic when he found $5,880 in decaying bills (a total of 294 $20 bills), still bundled in
rubber bands, approximately 40 feet (12 m) from the waterline and just 2 inches (5 cm)

9
below the surface, on the banks of the Columbia River 5 miles (8 km) northwest of
Vancouver, Washington.[36] After comparing the serial numbers with those from the
ransom given to Cooper almost nine years earlier, it was proven that the money found by
Ingram was part of the ransom given to Cooper.[35] Upon the discovery, then-FBI lead
investigator Ralph Himmelsbach declared that the money "must have been deposited
within a couple of years after the hijacking" because "rubber bands deteriorate rapidly
and could not have held the bundles together for very long."[37] However, several area
scientists recruited by the FBI for assistance with the case noted their belief that the
money arrived at the beach as a result of a 1974 Army Corps of Engineers dredging
operation. Furthermore, some scientists estimated that the money’s arrival must have
occurred even later. Geologist Leonard Palmer of Portland State University, for example,
reportedly concluded that the 1974 dredging operation did not place the money on the
Columbia's riverbank because Ingram had found the bills above clay deposits put on
shore by the dredge.[38] The FBI generally agree now that the money had to have arrived
at the location on the riverbank no earlier than 1974. Some investigators and hydrologists
have theorized that the bundled bills washed freely into the Columbia River from one of
its many connecting tributaries, such as the Washougal River, which originate or run near
Cooper's suspected landing zone.
Ingram's discovery of the $5,880 reinforced the FBI's belief that Cooper probably did not
survive the jump, in large part because of the unlikelihood that such a criminal would be
willing to leave behind any of the loot for which he had risked his life. Authorities
eventually allowed Ingram to keep a split of about $2,860 of the recovered money, with
the amount being a rough estimate because of the badly deteriorated condition of the
bills. On June 13, 2008, in accordance with Ingram's wishes, the Heritage Auction
Galleries' Americana Memorabilia Grand Format Auction in Dallas, Texas sold fifteen of
the bills to various buyers for a total of more than $37,000. [39] As of 2010, the rest of the
money remains unrecovered. The serial numbers of all 9,998 $20 bills that the hijacker
was given were databased and placed in a search engine for public search.[40]

Suspects

10
FBI sketch of Cooper, with age progression
The FBI has investigated over a thousand "serious suspects" and ruled out most of
them.[4]
The FBI believed that Cooper was familiar with the Seattle area, as he was able to
recognize Tacoma from the air while the jet was circling over the Puget Sound. He also
remarked to flight attendant Mucklow that McChord Air Force Base was approximately
20 minutes from the Seattle-Tacoma Airport. Although the FBI initially believed that
Cooper might have been an active or retired member of the United States Air Force,
based on his apparent knowledge of jet aerodynamics and skydiving, [18] it later changed
this assessment, deciding that no experienced parachutist would have attempted such a
risky jump and the fact that Cooper chose an older parachute from the two which were
packed in the craft. The other was a professional sport parachute, the ideal choice.[7]
John List
Main article: John List
In 1971, mass-murderer John List was considered a suspect in the Cooper hijacking,
which occurred only fifteen days after he had killed his family in Westfield, New Jersey.
List's age, facial features, and build were similar to those described for the mysterious
skyjacker.[41] FBI agent Ralph Himmelsbach stated that List was a "viable suspect" in the
case.[35] Cooper parachuted from the hijacked airliner with $200,000, the same amount
List had used up from his mother's bank account in the days before the killing.[42] After
his capture and imprisonment in 1989, List strenuously denied being Cooper, and the FBI
no longer considered him a suspect.[35] List died in prison custody on March 21, 2008.[43]
Richard McCoy, Jr.
Main article: Richard McCoy, Jr.

11
On April 7, 1972, four months after Cooper's hijacking, Richard McCoy, Jr., under the
alias "James Johnson," boarded United Airlines Flight 855 during a stopover in Denver,
Colorado, and gave the flight steward an envelope labeled "Hijack Instructions," in which
he demanded four parachutes and $500,000. [35] He also instructed the pilot to land at San
Francisco International Airport and order a refueling truck for the plane.[44] The airplane
was a Boeing 727 with aft stairs, which McCoy used in his escape. He was carrying a
paper weight grenade and an empty pistol. He left his handwritten message on the plane,
along with his fingerprints on a magazine he had been reading, which the FBI later used
to establish positive identification.
Police began investigating McCoy following a tip from Utah Highway Patrolman Robert
Van Ieperen, who was a friend of McCoy's.[45] Apparently, after the Cooper hijacking,
McCoy had made a reference that Cooper should have asked for $500,000, instead of
$200,000. He had a record as a Vietnam veteran and was a former helicopter pilot.[46]
On April 9, following the fingerprint and handwriting match, McCoy was arrested for the
United 855 hijacking.[44] [46] McCoy claimed innocence, but was convicted and received a
45-year sentence. Once incarcerated, using his access to the prison's dental office, McCoy
fashioned a fake handgun out of dental paste. He and a crew of convicts escaped in
August 1974 by stealing a garbage truck and crashing it through the prison's main gate. It
took three months before the FBI located McCoy in Virginia. McCoy shot at the FBI
agents, and agent Nicholas O'Hara fired back with a shotgun, killing him.[44]
In 1991, Bernie Rhodes and former FBI agent Russell Calame coauthored D.B. Cooper:
The Real McCoy, in which they claimed that Cooper and McCoy were really the same
person, citing similar methods of hijacking and a tie and mother-of-pearl tie clip, left on
the plane by Cooper. The authors said that McCoy "never admitted nor denied he was
Cooper."[47] And when McCoy was directly asked whether he was Cooper he replied, "I
don't want to talk to you about it."[44] The agent who killed McCoy is quoted as
supposedly saying, "When I shot Richard McCoy, I shot D. B. Cooper at the same
time."[44] The widow of Richard McCoy, Karen Burns McCoy, reached a $120,000 legal
settlement with the book's co-authors and its publisher,[44] after claiming they
misrepresented her involvement in the hijacking and later events from interviews done
with her attorney in the 1970s.[48]

12
FBI Special Agent Larry Carr does not believe McCoy was Cooper, saying McCoy didn't
match the description and that he was at home the day after the hijacking having
Thanksgiving dinner with his family in Utah.[49]
Duane Weber
In July 2000, U.S. News & World Report ran an article about a widow in Pace, Florida,
named Jo Weber and her claim that her late husband, Duane L. Weber (born 1924 in
Ohio), had told her "I'm Dan Cooper" before his death on March 28, 1995. [4] She became
suspicious and began checking into his background. Weber had served in the Army
during World War II and had later served time in a prison near the Portland airport.
Weber recalled that her husband had once had a nightmare where he talked in his sleep
about jumping from a plane and said something about leaving his fingerprints on the aft
stairs.[50] Jo recalled that shortly before Duane's death, he had revealed to her that an old
knee injury of his had been incurred by "jumping out of a plane."[4]
Weber also recounts a 1979 vacation the couple took to Seattle, "a sentimental journey,"
Duane told Jo, with a visit to the Columbia River.[4] She remembers how Duane walked
down to the banks of the Columbia by himself just four months before the portion of
Cooper's cash was found in the same area. Weber related that she had checked out a book
on the Cooper case from the local library and saw notations in it that matched her
husband's handwriting. She began corresponding with Himmelsbach, the former chief
investigator of the case, who subsequently agreed that much of the circumstantial
evidence surrounding Weber fit the hijacker's profile. However, the FBI stopped
investigating Weber in July 1998 because of a lack of evidence.[4]
The FBI compared Weber's prints with those processed from the hijacked plane and
found no matches.[50] In October 2007, the FBI stated that a partial DNA sample taken
from the tie that Cooper had left on the plane did not belong to Weber.[7]
Kenneth Christiansen
The October 29, 2007 issue of New York magazine stated that Kenneth P. Christiansen
had been identified as a suspect by Sherlock Investigations. The article noted that
Christiansen is a former army paratrooper, a former airline employee, had settled in
Washington near the site of the hijacking, was familiar with the local terrain, had
purchased property with cash a year after the hijacking, drank bourbon and smoked (as
did Cooper during the flight) and resembled the eyewitness sketches of Cooper. [11]
13
However, the FBI ruled out Christiansen because his complexion, height, weight and eye
color did not match the descriptions given by the passengers or the crew of Flight 305.[51]
However, a new book released in April 2010 by [2]Adventure Books of Seattle, titled
'Into The Blast - The True Story of D.B. Cooper' offers new witness testimony and
photographic evidence that claims Christiansen was the hijacker.
William Gossett
On August 4, 2008, Canadian Press reported that a Spokane, Washington, lawyer
believes that the ransom money is stored in a Vancouver, British Columbia, safe deposit
box under the name of William Gossett, a college instructor from Ogden, Utah, who died
in 2003. Lawyer Galen Cook says that Gossett matches the sketches circulated by the
FBI. Also, Gossett is alleged to have bragged to his sons about the hijacking and shown
them a key to the safe deposit box.[52] Gossett is also said to have confessed to two
people, including a judge and a lawyer, and his own son also believed his father to be the
hijacker.[53] By fleeing from the country, Cooper would be out of law enforcement
boundaries. (The value of this is unclear given Canada's extradition treaty with the United
States, though the current treaty came into effect five years after the hijacking.)

Aftermath
Effect on the airline industry
The hijacking caused major changes in commercial flight safety, mainly in the form of
metal detectors added to the airports by the airline companies, several related flight safety
rules set in place by the FAA, and modifications made to the Boeing 727 aircraft.
Following three similar but less successful hijackings in 1972, the Federal Aviation
Administration required that all Boeing 727 aircraft be fitted with a device known as the
"Cooper vane", a mechanical aerodynamic wedge that prevents the airstair or rear
stairway of an aircraft from being lowered in flight.[17]
Renewed FBI interest and new evidence
On November 1, 2007, the FBI released detailed information concerning some of the
evidence in their possession, which they had not revealed to the public before.[54] The FBI
displayed Cooper's 1971 plane ticket from Portland to Seattle, which cost $18.52. It also
revealed that he requested four parachutes—two main back chutes and two reserve chest
chutes. Authorities inadvertently supplied Cooper with a "dummy" reserve chute—an

14
unusable parachute that is sewn shut for classroom demonstration. The dummy chute was
not left behind on the plane, and some theorize Cooper did not realize it was not
functional.[54] This piece of information had been revealed in a 1979 episode of TV
documentary series In Search of.... The other reserve parachute, which was a functional
parachute, was popped open and the shrouds were cut and supposedly used to secure the
money bag.
On December 31, 2007, the FBI issued a press release online containing never before
seen photos and fact sheets in an attempt to trigger memories or useful information
regarding Cooper's identity. In the fact sheets, the FBI withdrew its previous theory that
Cooper was either an experienced skydiver or paratrooper. [55] While it was initially
believed that Cooper must have had training to have performed such a feat, later analysis
of the chain of events led the FBI to reevaluate this claim. Investigators said that no
experienced paratrooper or skydiver would attempt a jump during a rainstorm with no
light source.[55] Investigators also believe that, even if Cooper was in a hurry to escape, an
experienced jumper or paratrooper would have stopped to inspect his chutes.[7]
On March 24, 2008, the FBI announced that it was in possession of a parachute recovered
from a field in northern Clark County, Washington, near the town of Amboy. A property
owner was in the process of making a private road with a bulldozer when the blade
caught some cloth, and his children pulled the cloth until the canopy lines appeared. Earl
Cossey, the man who provided the four parachutes that were given to Cooper by the FBI,
examined the newly found chute and on April 1, 2008 said that "absolutely, for sure" it
could not have been one of the four that he supplied in 1971. The Cooper parachutes
were made of nylon, unlike the new chute that was recovered which is made of silk and
most likely made around 1945.[56] The FBI later made a press release confirming
Cossey's findings. Investigators reached their official conclusion after consulting Cossey
and other parachute experts. "From the best we could learn from the people we spoke to,
it just didn't look like it was the right kind of parachute in any way," said FBI
spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs.[57] Further digging at the site in southwestern
Washington turned up no indication that it could have been Cooper's. [57]
FBI Special Agent Larry Carr has theorized that Cooper took his alias from Dan Cooper,
a French-Canadian comic book hero who is a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force
and is depicted parachuting on the cover of one issue. This is referenced in the new book

15
on the Cooper case by Adventure Books of Seattle, who note that Kenny Christiansen
worked for three and a half years on Shemya Island, Alaska and saw copies of the comic
in the Day Room. This is supported by an interview in the book conducted with a
communications officer who worked on Shemya at the same time as Christiansen. [58]

Cultural phenomenon
Main article: D. B. Cooper in popular culture
Cooper's daring and unprecedented acts inspired a cult following, expressed through
song, film and literature. Cities in the Pacific Northwest sold tourist souvenirs and held
celebrations in his memory. He is remembered in Ariel with an annual "Cooper Day"
event on November 24, and elsewhere with Cooper-themed promotions held by
restaurants and bowling alleys.[59]

16