D. B. Cooper, FBI May Have Possible New Suspect

Dostie, yeah, in those days you could probably get on an airplane with all that cash and manage to go undetected. Problem is that the serial numbers for the bills were known. So he probably could have used some of the money but that would have eventually allowed his general location and travels to be tracked. The only money ever recovered or detected is the money found later on the Columbia river bank. No other of the serial numbers have ever been detected, so I think the consensus is that the money was never used. It’s probably hanging in a tree, or sunk in a lake.

This is the ONLY unsolved airline hijacking in US history, so it’s definitely a thorn in the side for the FBI who is supposed to always get their man.

I too look at the guy as a kind of folk hero, but at this point I’d also enjoy seeing the case solved. Also can’t forget that he did endanger a plane load of people by messing around with their flight path, requiring the plane to be manually flown down low so he could jump out, etc. He also said he had a bomb, and he very well could have, though some theories say his “bomb” was road flares which he then lit when he jumped out, so he could ostensibly see his landing. What he would have had to do is throw a flare down just before he hit the ground, so it would show his landing zone, distance. Otherwise he’d be landing blind, probably in boreal forest. Even by throwing a flare down he wouldn’t have had much choice on landing area, as if he’d tried to maneuver just before landing, he would have then gone past the ground where his flare was and thus be landing in the dark again. Basically, no win. Only thing that could have successfully happened is perhaps he landed in a clearing near a road in the area, and was somehow able to hitchhike or walk undetected back to the city.

For the sake of discussion, it’s also important to realize that Cooper had no specific idea of where he was when he jumped. It was night, raining, somewhere over the southwestern Washington backcountry. As far as I can tell from the reports, the FBI doesn’t even know exactly where he jumped out.

From the Wiki: “Night jumpers should be made aware of the Dark Zone, when landing at night. Above 100 feet jumpers flying their canopy have a good view of the landing zone normally because of reflected ambient light/moon light. Once they get close to the ground, this ambient light source is lost, because of the low angle of reflection. The lower they get, the darker the ground looks. At about 100 feet and below it may seem that they are landing in a black hole. Suddenly it becomes very dark, and the jumper hits the ground soon after. This ground rush should be explained and anticipated for the first time night jumper.”

That would be the ultimate mythbusters!

If I do, everyone whines that I’m giving away the goods! Last thing I want to do is let on where you can parachute out of an airplane with $200,000 and get away from the feebies.