DB Cooper Stands for "Double Bourbon"
Today, I want to take a second to make sure everyone knows the story about DB Cooper, the man who Hijacked a Boeing 727 in the airspace between Portland and Seattle on the afternoon of November 24, 1971... One month before I was born.
He is an integral part of this week's Twisted History of Robberies, along with John Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, and Patty Hearst.
Here's the short story- He extorted $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to $1.3 million today), then parachuted out of a plane, and he was never caught.
If that's enough for you, take care.
But for those who want more, here’s the timeline of one of the greatest unsolved robberies of all time (and I put it in easy-to-read bullets stuffed with smut):
- He used cash to purchase a one-way ticket on Flight 305, a 30-minute trip north to Seattle.
- Cooper boarded the aircraft in the rear of the passenger cabin wearing a dark business suit with a black tie and white shirt.
- He ordered a drink… Bourbon and soda… While the flight was waiting to take off.
- Shortly after takeoff, Cooper handed a note to a flight attendant… The stewardess assumed the note simply contained DB's digits so she dropped it unopened into her purse. You see back then, stewardesses were attractive young ladies, for the most part. And they would JUMP at the opportunity to have sex with well-dressed passengers who simply took the time to write down their numbers on cocktail napkins.
Nowadays, they are called "flight attendants," they tend to look like me, and they DETEST uninvited sexual propositions.
- When he noticed she never read his letter, Cooper leaned toward her and whispered, "Miss, you'd better look at that note. I have a bomb."
- The note was printed in neat, all-capital letters with a felt-tip pen and it said that Cooper had an explosive device in his briefcase.
- After showing what kinda looked like a bomb in his bag, he stated his demands: $200,000, four parachutes (two primary and two reserves), and a fuel truck standing by in Seattle to refuel the aircraft upon arrival.
- The pilot informed local and federal authorities, and Northwest's president authorized payment of the ransom.
- The 35 other passengers were given false information that their arrival in Seattle would be delayed because of a "minor mechanical difficulty" and the aircraft circled Puget Sound for almost two hours to allow the FBI sufficient time to assemble Cooper's parachutes and ransom money.
- While they were circling, DB Cooper ordered a second bourbon and soda, and then he paid his drink tab… Smooth… Who knew the DB stood for "Double Bourbon"?
(You did if you read this blog's title.)
- When they finally landed, all of the passengers were allowed to deplane but the flight crew was ordered to remain… The plane refueled and then took back off with the dough and parachutes.
- While they were refueling, an FAA official requested a face-to-face meeting with Cooper aboard the aircraft, but DB told him to go fuck himself.
- Then Cooper outlined his flight plan to the cockpit: a southeast course toward Mexico City at the minimum airspeed possible without stalling.
- But 15 minutes after they took off, the pilot was alerted the rear door of the plane had been opened and they had no further correspondence with Cooper after that.
He jumped ship.
Initial extrapolations placed Cooper's landing zone within an area on the southernmost outreach of Mount St. Helens. FBI agents and sheriff's deputies from those counties searched large areas of the mountainous wilderness on foot and by helicopter.
Despite an extensive manhunt and 45-year FBI investigation, no conclusions have been reached regarding the perpetrator’s identity and fate.
No trace of Cooper, nor any of the equipment presumed to have left the aircraft with him, was found, and the FBI officially suspended active investigation of the case in July 2016, so the crime remains the only unsolved air piracy in commercial aviation history.
THE END
Take a report.
-Large