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DB Cooper never claimed that was his name. He went by the name Dan Cooper. DB Cooper was initially a mistake within law enforcement.
It was actually a mistake by a reporter. The police were investigating someone named DB Cooper in the Portland area, I think it was.. The reporter got the tip right before deadline time, didn't do enough checking, and it hit the wire that DB was the name the hijacker used.
There really was someone named DB Cooper, but he was cleared in the initial stages of the investigation.
Lynn Doyle Cooper is actually one of the strongest suspects in my mind.
Bumping this thread, hoping a student of this case can help me understand..
I've read that no one ever saw 'Cooper' leave the plane, including aircraft tailing the plane.. So why is there a consensus that Cooper jumped around the Oregon border (right ?) Is it a theory based solely on when the plane door opened.. Would it be possible that Cooper could've hung in the compartment for an extended time after he opened the door.. or would there be too much of a vacuum, etc. Because that could completely expand theories of where he bailed no (?) Didn't the flight ultimately go all the way to Reno.
I've read about the found money in '80 along the Columbia River, and a sign from a plane that would've been consistent w/the plane from the case.. but they could've been planted later for mis-direction, no.. So what is the reason for a consensus on the jump site, or is there more disagreement than I've gathered as a lay reader on the case (?) (any sources, info. appreciated, Thanks)
There's plenty of witnesses that saw him jump. The Boeing 727 loaded it's passengers using a rear ramp. That was the ramp he jumped from. The aircraft had 3 engines in the rear fuselage and none on the wings.
Where and how he landed is the question, and that one will never be answered unless some physical trace of him is found. Any scenario of him landing on target in that wilderness, especially in a dark night, is very remote.
43 years later, DB would now be in his 80s if he did live, and if he has escaped for this long, it's sure that he won't ever be caught.
But you never know. I once read a newspaper account that was printed in 1941, after a hunter who disappeared in the Absarokee mountains of Montana was finally found. He was a stranger when he showed up to go hunting in 1901, and rumors about him persisted for decades.
His skeleton was found intertwined with the skeleton of a bull elk. His hunting knife was stuck into the breastbone of the elk, and his rifle was found underneath both skeletons, with a half-ejected cartridge still stuck in it's chamber. The guy shot the elk, and the dying elk got him before he could shoot again, but he got one last blow with his knife before the dead elk landed on him and trapped him forever. No one could tell how the man died. All they learned was he had some broken bones. he could have died instantly or slowly over the course of a week or more.
The wilderness may be slow to give up it's secrets, but time always seems to reveal them. I don't think DB's skeleton is hanging from a tree any more, if it ever did, but when it's found, there will be something that identifies him, and the mystery will be revealed. At least, his name will be remembered, unlike the guy who was killed by the elk. The old records narrowed down the list of possibilities to just 2 or 3, but his identity was never made certain.
There's plenty of witnesses that saw him jump. The Boeing 727 loaded it's passengers using a rear ramp. That was the ramp he jumped from. The aircraft had 3 engines in the rear fuselage and none on the wings.
Noone saw him jump. Conjecture and consensus lands the precise time he jumped as when the plane pitched down, indicating weight left the tail. All crew were in the cockpit at the time, and told to remain there.
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The wilderness may be slow to give up it's secrets, but time always seems to reveal them. I don't think DB's skeleton is hanging from a tree any more, if it ever did, but when it's found, there will be something that identifies him, and the mystery will be revealed. At least, his name will be remembered, unlike the guy who was killed by the elk. The old records narrowed down the list of possibilities to just 2 or 3, but his identity was never made certain.
The problem with the landing place is that if you don't know the exact time and place (remember this is pre-GPS) then you don't know where to look for the landing spot.. Plus the fact that the landing spot was covered up a few years later in volcanic ash from the MSH eruption.
He survived. The moneys long gone inflation took care of that.
Have you ever been in the wilderness there?
I haven't, but I live in a state next door that has a similar one that's just as large. I've spent time in a couple of them.
As a kid, I once hauled 2 bodies out of one.
The chances of survival in either are pretty damned remote, even for the best prepared.
The distances are the big killers.
One misstep in anything- underestimating distance, the terrain, preparedness, the unexpected, anything- will kill a person in the end. Little things all add up to one lethal disaster.
I'm not saying it is impossible Cooper survived, but under his circumstances, he would have to be a cross between Bear Gritz and Tarzan to come out undetected and intact. Remember that he was dressed in a pair of slacks, wearing a light jacket over a sports shirt, and wore loafers on his feet.
Don't we all. It's one of the best American Mysteries out there. Right up there with the Roanoke colony and Amelia Earhardt.
I think that it's a given he didn't survive the jump WITH THE MONEY.. It's possible that he survived the jump and lost the money.. Or survived the jump, hid the money waiting for the heat to die down and then died before that.. But the money was never spent. And I don't think the Ingram Money was planted.
I'm not saying it is impossible Cooper survived, but under his circumstances, he would have to be a cross between Bear Gritz and Tarzan to come out undetected and intact. Remember that he was dressed in a pair of slacks, wearing a light jacket over a sports shirt, and wore loafers on his feet.
Most of us want to believe he made it out alive, but your point is probably accurate.
Most of us want to believe he made it out alive, but your point is probably accurate.
Brings up an interesting thought.. WHY do we all want to believe that he made it out alive?
You're absolutely right.. But.. I wonder what the psychology behind that is? The whole "Robin Hood" thing? Not really, because he wasn't going to give the money over to charity or anything (That we know of)
I guess it has to go back to "Getting one over on the man".. who "The man" is in this case.. Not sure. It was the insurance company that lost money on it.. The airline didn't.. Government didn't.
Perhaps, it's the government that is "The man".. When someone beats what we generally think of as "The best law enforcement" in the FBI, we celebrate, at least when noone is hurt.
I think that had someone been killed or seriously hurt, different story. Look at Unabomber or Osama or Eric Rudolph.. Noone was particularly celebrating that they had kept from being caught.
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