Posted on 08/24/2013 12:58:06 PM PDT by Uncle Chip
Parachute used by mystery hijacker to escape aircraft after stealing $200,000 goes on display for the first time
It's one of America's most enduring crime mysteries, baffling authorities for more than 40 years. In 1971, a man who identified himself as Dan Cooper boarded Northwest Orient Flight 305 from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle.
FBI investigators have always argued that Cooper did not survive his risky jump, while at the same time maintaining an active case file. The mysterious hijacking has intrigued everyone from federal agents to amateur sleuths.
After getting on the plane, he ordered a whiskey and lit a cigarette before passing flight attendant Florence Schaffner 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 BING (sic) HIJACKED.'
Cooper told the captain that in return for $200,000 and four parachutes, he would allow 36 people to leave the plane when it landed.
The FBI agreed to the swap and the plane took off again under Cooper's orders to fly towards Mexico at an altitude of under 10,000 feet.
Somewhere over the lower Cascade mountains in southwestern Washington, Cooper jumped out of the plane with a parachute strapped to his back.
He has never been found or positively identified. Now, an exhibition at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma examines the 40-year mystery, revealing one of the four parachutes D.B. Cooper demanded for the first time.
The exhibit of America's most notorious 'skyjacker' also includes some of the ransom money, retrieved from the Columbia River in 1980, and photographs of the boy, Brian Ingram, who found it............
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Did she show you the seat he sat in??? Was there some kind of memorial there of some kind??
I don’t remember what she said exactly. That was so long ago. I know there was no memorial plaque or anything like that.
Did she by any chance point out the skeleton attached to the landing gear???
We are all entitled to a few mistakes... Hope it worked out for you later on
Yes...I wised up and raised a very good son
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