He had jumped somewhere between Provo and a small town called Springville, Utah. The FBI agents in Salt Lake City were on alert: when they got word the hijacker jumped, the men took off in pursuit. If this hijacker was in fact the infamous D B Cooper, the FBI knew they had to move fast to ensure he didn’t get away the second time. ibid.
This hijacking was remarkably similar to an event that occurred four months earlier when a man named D B Cooper jumped from a jetliner with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and vanished. The FBI wanted to ensure this hijacker didn’t get away. ibid.
McCoy was free to go. He didn’t seem to be the kind of criminal they were looking for. He was a Mormon, a father of two, studying law enforcement at Brigham Young University. Agents learned McCoy practised jumping with a local sky-diving school. ibid.
Both Cooper and McCoy used false names and disguises. They both gave instructions to the pilot on FAA forms. The way the passengers were moved to the front of the plane and finally released was identical in both cases. As was of course their unusual means of escape. ibid.
But the most intriguing evidence linking McCoy with Cooper was something Cooper left on the plane. A clip-on tie and tie-clasp, both of which were identified by relatives as belonging to Richard McCoy. ibid.
For McCoy the ninetieth day of freedom was his last. The FBI caught their man, but with McCoy dead perhaps the greatest chance of learning the truth about the infamous D B Cooper … ibid.
It was one of the most daring heists ever attempted: one man, two hundred thousand dollars and a parachute. Did D B Cooper survive his daring leap from a 727? Or did he perish in the rugged mountains of the American north-west? Unsolved History s2e20: The Great Plane Robbery, Discovery
Why is his crime the only unsolved skyjacking in history? ibid.
On a cold and windy November afternoon in 1971 a nondescript middle-aged man boarded North-West Orient 305. ibid.
The parachutes and ransom were brought on board. ibid.
Did D B Cooper survive his leap into the stormy void? If so, where did he go? Whose identity did he assume or re-assume? And what about the money? The serial numbers of each of the ten thousand $20 notes were recorded by the FBI before the ransom was paid. But not a single one has ever been found in circulation. Nor did any other evidence turn up ... So what became of D B Cooper? ibid.
Since 1971 hundreds of people have made jumps from a 727, but with much more modern sky-diving gear. Cooper demanded a military parachute. Similar to those used by paratroopers in the Second World War. But he was dressed in a business suit. And wore street shoes. ibid.
Darkness was the least of Cooper’s worries. The leap from the speeding jet would have been extremely dangerous. ibid.
Air and ground searches continued for eighteen days. They turned up nothing. Tips poured in from all over the country. They led nowhere. The cost of the manhunt mounted, becoming one of the most expensive to date in US history. But D B Cooper had vanished into thin air. ibid.
Nine years after D B Cooper jumped into the void, an eight-year-old boy was gathering wood for a campfire along the banks of the Columbia river. What he found would set off a new media frenzy and send a new generation of treasure hunters out into the wilderness of Washington state. ibid.
We do know that the banknotes weighed nine and a half kilos; what we don’t know is how Cooper secured the money to his person. ibid.
In addition to the main parachute Cooper donned a chest-mounded reserve chute. ibid.
The coincidences between the life of Duane Weber and what we know of D B Cooper are striking. The men’s physical descriptions are virtually identical. Both were chain-smokers. Both drank Bourbon. Both apparently had some military experience ... Both exhibited a detailed knowledge of aviation and the geography of the upper north-west. ibid.
Out of the top ten people that have come back out of these thousands of pictures Duane Weber is match number one. ibid.
Of all of America’s skyjackings only one remains unsolved. On November 24th 1971 a passenger using the name Dan Cooper hijacked North West Orient Airlines Flight 305 headed from Portland to Seattle. Brad Meltzer’s Decoded s1e6: D B Cooper, History 2011
At 10,000 feet Cooper jumped from the back stairs of the Boeing 747. ibid.
New evidence that points to Christianson. ibid.
Kenny Christiansen had the access and the motive and that shortly after the skyjacking came into a pile of money. ibid.
The hijacker left behind his tie and tie tag. He either threw out or took along his attaché case. He did leave behind two of the four parachutes. One of which he had opened on the cabin floor, and cut two of the shroud lines off with a sharp instrument probably to use to tie the money to his waist. Ralph Himmelsbach, former FBI agent
Why do you think D B Cooper has become such a folk hero? The Pursuit of D B Cooper 1981 starring Robert Duvall & Treat Williams, television interview & Kathryn Harrold & Paul Gleason & R G Armstrong et al, director Roger Spottiswoode
Athens Airport, Sunday June 27 1976. Victory at Entebbe 1976 starring Helmut Berger & Linda Blair & Kirk Douglas & Richard Dreyfuss & Helen Hayes & Anthony Hopkins & Burt Lancaster & Elizabeth Taylor & Julius Harris & Theodore Bikel et al, director Marvin Chomsky
Sit down and be quiet. ibid. terrorist
At least eighty-three Israelis. ibid. Hopkins
Monday June 28 1976: Uganda Welcomes You. ibid. airport
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. ibid. camp bloke
The Israeli citizen is always considered a front-line soldier. ibid. Lancaster
What military option do you have ready for me now? ibid. Hopkins
September 11th 1970 ... Dawson’s Field, a disused British airbase in the Jordanian desert is the setting for one of the most audacious air terrorist attacks in history. In the first ever multiple hijacking three planes from America, Switzerland and Britain are being forced to land on the desert airstrip. Days that Shook the World: Black September/Lockerbie, BBC 2003
For twenty minutes explosions rock the desert stillness. ibid.
I know how you feel. I’m not the guy to go running to the cops. I’m on the lam myself. I swear, I can prove it. Make time. I got the dough. Roadblock 1951 staring Charles McGraw & Joan Dixon & Lowell Gilmore & Louis Jean Heydt & Milburn Stone et al, director Harold Daniels, driver to dud with gun
On 24th November 1971 a male dressed in a suit and tie hijacked a commercial plane, he then parachuted into the night with $200,000, the equivalent of $1.2 million today. Never to be seen again. He’s a folk hero to some, an outlaw to others. And a mystery to all. D B Cooper: Case Closed? History 2016
‘He seems to know a little about an aeroplane.’ ibid. pilot reporting hijack
‘He knew more about the 727 than the pilots.’ ibid. expert
On 12th July 2000 Rio de Janeiro trapped a man who was trying to rob a bus. He took eleven hostages and the local SWAT team was called. The incident became known in Brazil as the Bus 174 affair. Bus 174, 2002
This is the story of the largest string of hijackings the world has ever seen. In a matter of days five planes were seized. The key hijacker a glamorous 26-year-old Palestinian who would become a worldwide sensation. Hijacked s1e1: Nightmare in the Desert, Channel 5 2017
‘This was a huge problem for Ted Heath and his government.’ ibid. Snow
This is the story of an ordinary flight that turned into a journey to hell. A hijack that pulled in an international pop star. And confounded a super-power. But it was also a story of unlikely heroes and daring plans. Against a backdrop of international intrigue and secret government deals. Hijacked s1e2: Terror in the Sky
Lebanon was in the midst of a civil war. In 1982 Israel joined in the Lebanese conflict … 1985: Athens Airport Greece: TWA Flight 847 was loading for take-off on a short flight to Rome. ibid.
The two hijackers headed towards the front of the plane. ibid.
12 noon: two hours after taking off from Athens, TWA Flight 847 touched down in Beirut. ibid.
They wanted to trade the passengers for the release of over 700 Shi’ite Lebanese prisoners held by Israel. ibid.
Algeria: 4 Islamist extremists are preparing to hijack an Air France plane. But this will be a hijacking with a terrible difference: no political demands, no negotiations over hostages. The hijackers are about to vent their fury on France. The plan foreshadows Osama bin Laden’s holy war against the West. 7 years before 9/11 the terrorists are planning to fly to Paris and crash the plane with over 200 passengers on board into the heart of the city. Peter Taylor, Age of Terror 3/4: The Paris Plot, BBC 2008