I told her a little of the story. How the average-looking middle-aged dude got on the plane and once they were airborne told one of the young stewardesses that he would blow them all up with his bomb unless he got $200,000 -- and four parachutes. That once he got the money and got the pilots to lift off again, he leaped out somewhere over the vast forests of Washington while alone in the cabin. That he knew that a 727 was one of the few jets that had a rear staircase openable from inside, that the plane could be flown at 10,000 feet so the cabin would not need to be pressurized and he wouldn't end up like Auric Goldfinger when the stairs were opened. That he and the money and the bomb disappeared into the cold, rainy night. That a reporter's mistake caused his name to be given as D. B., and that it's possible the hijacker was naming himself for a daring comic book character virtually known in the USA. That Cooper was never caught, and the case remains the only unsolved skyjack in history.
She said, in a nutshell, good for him. He planned a heist and got away with it.
It surprised me, although it's well known that Cooper was, and in some quarters still is, a folk hero. No one got hurt, he got his dough in a 22-pound sack of twenties, and vanished into the forests of the Pacific Northwest. Everyone likes a heist! And everyone likes a guy who can (all together now!) stick it to the MAN.
Well, he wasn't exactly Robin Hood. He stole all that dough and kept it for himself. Or at least that was his intention. Personally, I believe that ol' Dan Cooper has been rotting corpse for fifty-plus years, and one day someone will find him.
While parachutists have re-created the jump from a 727, they didn't do it at night in the rain over dense forests. Even then, the force of the jet engines has been described as being tackled from the back, so it's not easy feat. While at first the FBI thought Cooper had to be an experienced skydiver, it turned out that one of the parachutes, which was donated from a skydiving school, was used for ground training and had been sewn shut. Cooper took that one as a reserve chute. He may not have needed it, but a more experienced jumper would have realized it was no use. The other chute he took was an older type -- non-steerable. Which probably wouldn't have mattered anyway, in dense forest with the half-moon completely covered. But he would have had no control over where he came down.
Some of the money was found buried on a sand bar in 1980 -- $5,800, all clumped up. A massive search was once again raised, but no other bills were found.
I've always tended to be a law-and-order guy, so Cooper's no hero to me. Maybe no one got hurt, but there were three young stewardesses on that flight who thought it was going to be their last night on earth. One admitted to being paranoid and frightened for years after the event. The crew members were older, and the captain a tough veteran of World War II, but it was a hell of a night for them, too.
FBI agent Ralph Himmelsbach, who was on the case for years until his retirement, said, "He used foul language to the stewardesses. He's a sleazy rotten scumbag and I hope he died a miserable, wretched death."
Had Cooper survived, he'd be in his mid-nineties or more now, so I think Himmelsbach probably got his wish. But he, like agent Larry Carr, who took over the case, thought that Cooper did not survive the jump -- and even if he had somehow landed without dying or breaking a limb, he would have been deep in the forest, lost (the plane had to deviate from its flight path because of the need to conserve fuel at that altitude), wet and freezing, in a business suit and dress shoes.
The forests hold a lot of secrets. One day someone will find some bones, shreds of a cheap suit and some parachute fabric, maybe even a pair of busted sunglasses. And that will finally put an end to the story of the man who got away with it.
Looking back on it from the vantage point of today, my first thought is "Only 200,000??". Seems like a paltry sum when you're going to be on the run for the rest of your life. Maybe it was just a spectacular way of suiciding, and making sure he was remembered because of the search. I think he ended up stuck in the top of a tree and remained there until he died. That would have been justice.
ReplyDeleteLast time I watch a doc on Cooper, I got the theory that he faked the jump. I do not think anyone saw him jump. Throw out the chute with some of the money. Wait until plane lands and exit out the open rear door. It was dark so possible no one would see him.
ReplyDeleteSomeone may have thought about this before and had a good reason to dismiss but I never heard it said. Maybe they did think it but wanted Cooper to think he went undetected.
Hey, Bear! According to Himmelsbach's book, such a move was anticipated, and law enforcement ringed the airport. Dozens of officers were close at hand from the time the plane touched down, and the runway was lit up like a Hollywood shoot. It seems extremely unlikely the six-foot man laden with a sack of cash could have snuck through all that, plus the hundreds of looky-loos who heard about the hijacking in progress and went to the airport to see.
ReplyDeleteThanks Fred. The last doc I saw showed no such precautions so I wondered how they could have overlooked something that obvious. A detail they left out made me speculate.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting read. Wikipedia's entry states that "Several of Cooper's mannerisms led the FBI to conclude that he was more intelligent than a common criminal such as his vocabulary level, his proper use of aviation-related terminology, complete lack of profane language, his calm demeanor, his style of dress, and the respect he showed for the female members of the crew."
ReplyDeleteI wonder which account is accurate - the Wikipedia entry, or the FBI agent who had to spend years chasing what he thought was a ghost.