He’s probably the most famous hijacker there ever was, and he did his deed practically over our heads on Nov. 24, 1971 – we’re speaking of course about Dan “D.B.” Cooper, who hijacked Northwest Orient Flight 305 just prior to landing at Sea-Tac Airport, got his ransom of $200,000 cash, then parachuted out the back of the 727 during the flight, never to be seen again.
Cooper’s skyjacking remains the only unsolved one in the history of the U.S.
And now, nearly 39 years later, his caper is the basis for a Highline Historical Society exhibit at SeaTac City Hall (located at 4800 South 188th Street), where you can “re-discover the particulars of D.B. Cooper’s clever airborne crime and daredevil getaway (which) have been pondered, picked over and recapitulated for decades now.”
According to the FBI:

On November 24, 1971, an unknown subject, also known as Dan Cooper, purchased a one-way ticket on Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305. The flight was carrying 36 passengers and crew. The flight originated in Portland, Oregon with the final destination of Seattle, Washington.

This animation shows how "D.B. Cooper" parachuted out the 727.

The plane was hijacked just prior to its arrival in Seattle. In Seattle, the hijacker allowed the passengers and two stewardesses to depart the plane. Northwest Orient Airlines paid the hijacker $200,000.
The plane departed Seattle for Reno, Nevada. It is believed the hijacker parachuted from the plane during this flight. Authorities and personnel from Fort Lewis, Washington searched for Mr. Cooper but he was never found.
In 1980, an 8-year-old boy found $5,800 on the bank of the Columbia River. This is the only money ever recovered from the ransom.

Some more info:

  • Cooper dove into a freezing rainstorm at an altitude around 10,000 feet, wearing only his business suit and loafers.
  • The temperature was apparently -7 below zero, not counting a windchill factor estimated at minus 70 because of the plane’s speed of 200 mph.
  • He parachuted into dense forest at night, at the onset of winter, with no food or survival gear.

Oh, and next time you’re upset at having to go through security at the airport? Blame Cooper, as passenger screening didn’t start until after his stunt.
You can view the exhibit during regular business hours (9am – 5pm) at SeaTac City Hall through the end of November.
And who knows? Maybe the real D.B. will check it out?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGkhZ6D4gUY[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VY6jzgWJ7c[/youtube] ]]>

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15 replies on “Re-Discover D.B. Cooper At SeaTac City Hall Exhibit Through November”

  1. I disagree. He’s probably the most famous home grown highjacker, but let’s not forget the hijackers/terrorists from 9/11. Now, i couldn’t name a one of them 9 years later, but certainly they are the most famous highjackers.

  2. This is Robert Blevins, the co-author of the recent book on D.B. Cooper titled ‘Into The Blast – The True Story of D.B. Cooper.’ If this display doesn’t say anything about Kenny Christiansen…I’m going to be disappointed. My location: Auburn, WA

  3. It wasn’t Ken Christianson. The FBI has already established that “fact.” No one who works for an airline as a flight attendant would hijack their own commercial jet and imperil the flight crew and the passengers. Further, no flight attendant would risk getting caught by fellow flight attendants later during a flight “anywhere” NWA flies.
    The Christianson story is a totally fabricated hoax and should be extinguished forever.
    Cooper died the night of the jump. He’s buried somewhere in the ground along with his chute south of Lake Merwin, WA.
    The Christianson fairy-tail can’t even sell a book any longer. The public’s not buying it.
    Get Real.

  4. The Christianson fable was designed to get the DB Cooper story re-jumpstarted………which it did. It was also designed to get a major film about Christianson, which it will not. And it was designed to get BIG money into the pockets of PI Skipp Porteous……..which it will not. It was also designed to get Geoff Gray’s writing career in high gear…….which it did. Other than that, Ken Christianson was just a gay man who liked young runaway boys up in the Seattle area. He just happened to be a paratrooper in an earlier life and an employee at the time of NWA. He never confessed anything to anybody about being DB Cooper, because he was not DB Cooper. His BIG SECRET to his brother was that he was a homosexual man (maybe he died of AIDS). The Christianson story is full of holes. But the physical evidence held by the FBI speaks for itself, no matter how other crackpots want to spin it. Christianson didn’t have the criminal mindset, the courage, or the motive to be DB Cooper. Most of all, he was too smart to hijack his own airline, which speaks somewhat to the Christianson family DNA. Otherwise, the entire Christianson family (and their supporters) would be viewed as bunch of IDIOTS.

  5. Well stated above, ckret. Nice having you back again too. Logic and common sense will prevail in the Cooper case.

  6. Why the hell is the old gang coming back together at this remote site????
    When does the party really get started, anyway? (Soon as Jo and Snow show up)?????
    aaahahahahaha…………………………….

  7. I couldn’t resist. Placing me and Jo together again…………whew. Such an honor bestowed. And actually, I truly do admire Jo for her abilities to keep on going when the going gets rough. Hey, you gangsters in the DZ need to get outa there and come over for a visit at my place. Quade is just an old stick in the mud with no sense of humor anymore. I don’t wanna go back. And this guy named Blevins is really screwing things up for real DBC researchers. Obviously, he needs to get an education. And learning how to construct proper sentences would probably serve Blevins better in his next edition. No wonder the FBI thinks Blevins is a joy to have around the DZ. He just adds more discredit to the entire forum. And that’s why I’m never coming back.
    Snow.
    ps. pre-1959………it’s silk, stupids. Nylon was the fabric of all military models in the 60’s. Cossey’s no idiot. But don’t ask this guy Blevins about Cossey. The former can’t get a wet dream straightened out.

  8. You do realize that the Cooper picture used in this article of D. B. Cooper is a modified composite done to promote Wolfgang Gossett. I have FBI copies of the original if you are interested. One doesn’t notice the differences until you put them side by side (the one without the Glasses. Cook claimes he had NOTHING to do with this modification and the journalist who did the article did it.
    If this in indeed a Historical site then at least the right Composite should be used. Fact versus Myth is why this case has been in quicksand for yrs.

  9. hope you were referring to Blevins and not me. i always keep my wet dreams in good order. you bunch are too much for me. i only had to look at the Amboy chute for 10 seconds to know that it was not the one cooper was given. i outa know as i built the damn thing. and yes, it was an NB-8…..nylon……period. cooper died. only an untrained schmoe woud dare make that jump. this is the one thing i agree with the FBI on. as for Blevins being in a film about db cooper……………..i hope that he gets a good make-up artist. to me, he looks terribly anemic. he should stick to editing AARP magazine articles. he’s a bit over the hill to be starring in any film. i won’t be watching.
    cossey.

  10. Someone is doing some pretty good impersonations of major dropzone.com DB Cooper forum personalities here (Snow, Jo, Georger etc).
    The really blew the Coss post. (Cossey, the rigger who packed Coopers chute). NB 8 does not refer to a canopy type, just to a Navy harness-container type. Cossey would never refer to a canopy as an NB8…. well not unless he was messing with someone, like a non skydiver reporter. I think he told Bruce Smith that the Pioneer sport rig that Cooper declined to jump, contained an “PARADISE”canopy. No such animal. Cossey has been known to mess with media types.
    I am crushed. nobody spoofed me. I am obviously not a major dropzone.com personality.
    377

  11. Lilly says in part:
    ” His BIG SECRET to his brother was that he was a homosexual man (maybe he died of AIDS). The Christianson story is full of holes. But the physical evidence held by the FBI speaks for itself, no matter how other crackpots want to spin it. Christianson didn’t have the criminal mindset, the courage, or the motive to be DB Cooper. Most of all, he was too smart to hijack his own airline, which speaks somewhat to the Christianson family DNA. Otherwise, the entire Christianson family (and their supporters) would be viewed as bunch of IDIOTS….”
    Lilly: First off, his family knew of his orientation by the time he was sixteen. He died of cancer, not AIDS. What physical evidence by the FBI? They have little. Christiansen had the help of at least one and possibly two people, and he had plenty of courage I assure you. As you know, he was a former US Army paratrooper who quit in his senior year of high school to volunteer for World War 2. He entered his training with about 670 others, being only one of 170 who made it through the course. Insulting the Christiansen family, who by the way are signed to a simple permission contract with Adventure Books and have nothing to gain speaks to their character and your ignorance about them.
    Snowmman says in part:
    “And this guy named Blevins is really screwing things up for real DBC researchers. Obviously, he needs to get an education. And learning how to construct proper sentences would probably serve Blevins better in his next edition. No wonder the FBI thinks Blevins is a joy to have around the DZ. He just adds more discredit to the entire forum. And that’s why I’m never coming back…”
    My co-author Skipp Porteous is the real investigator for the book. I only did a few interviews. He sent teams to Washington and has done much investigating on his own. As far as my sentence abilities, I’ve edited more than a dozen books for AB of Seattle, plus another 30 or so privately on which I am paid between $800-$2,000 depending on the size and complexity of the work. It’s a good side income. I haven’t screwed things up for Cooper researchers. I just helped present an alternative theory to the crime. As far you not coming back to the Dropzone forum, the word I got is that you were BANNED. You also say you are certain the Amboy chute is silk. Fine, Brainiac. Now tell me how silk, which is biodegradable, stayed buried in the wet ground of Washington for either 37 or 62 years without a scratch. You’re the one who needs an education, sir.
    CKRET says:
    “It wasn’t Ken Christianson. The FBI has already established that “fact.” No one who works for an airline as a flight attendant would hijack their own commercial jet and imperil the flight crew and the passengers. Further, no flight attendant would risk getting caught by fellow flight attendants later during a flight “anywhere” NWA flies.
    The Christianson story is a totally fabricated hoax and should be extinguished forever.
    Cooper died the night of the jump. He’s buried somewhere in the ground along with his chute south of Lake Merwin, WA. The Christianson fairy-tail can’t even sell a book any longer. The public’s not buying it. Get Real.”
    CKRET: The FBI only thinks they’ve eliminated Christiansen. However, Ralph Himmelsbach said this to the New York Magazine regarding Christiansen: ‘ “All of this makes him look like a good suspect to me,” he said. “If I was still on duty and it were up to me, I’d say, ‘This guy is a ‘must investigate.’”
    That quote is from the 2007 Geoffrey Gray article.
    Contrary to what you believe, there is strong circumstantial evidence against Kenny Christiansen that can’t be dismissed with a wave-off. I won’t go through the list here, and it is getting stronger the more the History Channel folks and the staff of Adventure Books dig into the case. We fully expect the witness known as ‘Mike Watson’ (alleged accomplice) to reveal everything during his interview coming in October.
    Robert M Blevins

  12. The Coooper Case has and will always be clouded by mis-information, rogue authors, misguided conspiracy theorists, lack of and/or withheld evidence, time, and space. The Skydiving Forums, Sluggo website, and FBI homepage are great places to discern fact from fiction. Unfortunately, Mr Blevins’s does not provide nor does he explain how he calculated the DZ. Perhaps a group including a professional skydiver, a former river pilot, hydrologist, airplane pilot, meteorologist, a volcanologist (Mt Helens), and/or FBI agent could have provided a better and more believable theory to why Cooper survived and landed where Blevins says he landed. Until we receive a solid argument and explanation backed by scientific process and a knowledgable task force then we are left to believe due diligence was not given by Mr. Blevins. CKRET is correct. No one employee would do what Blevins alleges Christianson did. Nor would any government agency hijack a plane for ransom so as to prove the need for airline security. Conspiracy theorists who say such things lead destitute lives and wish to be apart or believe in something bigger than what they actually are. I would like to believe Copper survived. I would like to believe he knew where he was at the time of his jump. I would like to believe he planned everything out to a tee. I would like to believe he could see and control where he landed. I would like to believe he overcame time and space. I would like to believe his business attire was replaced by clothes he had in the bag. I would like to believe he later had a chance to use his business attire to disguise himself as an FBI agent searching for him the next day. I would like to believe the briefcase had a remote control device in it and or/ flares to guide him to the ground and out of the woods to meet his friend. I would like to believe in the extraordinary. Unfortunately, reason and logic tell me otherwise. What is left is hope. Hope that hikers, hunters, loggers, divers, or family members stumble upon some sort of new evidence some day. Until then may a secret be a secret.

  13. Now, now boys and girls. …calm down and be civil or this will all be trashed.
    I won’t tolerate any sense of entitlement by posters, especially anonymous. I don’t care a whit about Cooper or you whuffos, but I do care about what you guys post and why. If you can’t follow the rules, find another internet.
    I can tell when I need to step in, by the volume of “db cooper is an ass” searches at Google.
    And don’t think you can get my blood pressure up.

  14. hey all, this is kool site. Maybee I can post in hear without Jo followeng me around all the tyme. Wanted the gang to no that my wife bot me a new GPS last week and i put it on are fore-wheeler. wow!! After revueing the cordinates for three days, I finally figurd out that I was serching for DB Cooper in the rong forest. I’ll let you no whin I plot the new cordinates. I’m going to find that corpse and chute, you just wait. I think he bailed somewhere just east of Boisee. By the way this Blevins guy is a cracked-up. First he wants me to by his book, then he tells me not to buy it. I coulda used that money to take the kids to McDonalds. Wait for my film to come out? Right. Then Blevins tell us to not go see the film. I got an idea!! Lets move the DB Cooper daze from Areal, WA to the Auburn Commune where Blevins works. We can paint a big target on the roof and all jump in for the big pow wow. 377 can help instruct the whuffers. Quade and Snow can ride tandumb, as can me and Jo (i still think shees hot). Non jumpers can borrow my GPS to find Blevins new lecture hall. I just hope when we git there that Blevins wont cancil out and say “don’t listin to me anymore ether.” Wait. ….. That mite be a good thing.
    jerry.

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