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By: - 26th October 2007 at 22:16 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
This was such a fantastic story but unfortunately the real Cooper could be either still out there or he died in his Jump which might explain the money recovered 9 years later?, there was a programme on Discovery i think a while ago on this story and one of the experts said the guy had to a be ex military jumper as jumping out of jets (the 727 was still doing over 200mph!) was only taught to military jumpers.
But this will probably end up one of those where is Lord Lucan? or what really happened to Amelia Earhart? mysterys that will probably never be solved.
curlyboy
By: - 26th October 2007 at 23:46 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
"....and knew enough about planes to instruct the pilot to fly low and slow, as Cooper did...."
I'm going to guess that you didn't need to be an expert jumper..or a rocket scientist...to come up with that instruction.:D
It would be interesting to look at his Army jump records...did he ever jump out of a fast plane? My guess his service predates the days of jet transports, namely...C-141s.
He might have thought better of the plan if the fastest thing he ever jumped from was a C-119...or some other plane designed for the job.
Being the first guy to jump from a 727 rear stairway would require a leap of faith....especially in the winter over the Pacific Northwest and not being sure where you were going to land. When you consider the mountains in the area...or the Columbia River where they found some of the money...you'd think a guy would choose a better time of year or location to plan the heist..or it was an elaborate suicide.
I've heard of other guys suggesting their (invariably late) friends being Cooper too. I knew a USAF survival instructor who was sure it was an old friend of his.
By: - 27th October 2007 at 04:28 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Cooper asked for three parachutes. Later, it was determined that one of them was defective and had been accidentally provided.
Also, the position of the money in the soil was consistent with the bills having been there since the highjacking.
Those who believe that Cooper died or was fatally injured in the jump has cited these factors.
Posts: 8,849
By: Newforest - 26th October 2007 at 21:44
Is the mystery solved?
D.B. Cooper Unmasked At Last?
Fri, 26 Oct '07
Man Says Deceased Brother Fits The Profile
A modern-day Robin Hood mystery may finally be solved. At least, Lyle Christiansen thinks so.
In an extensive interview with "New York" magazine, Christiansen says he firmly believes his brother, Kenneth, was the famed hijacker who in 1971 jumped from a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 near Seattle, WA with $200,000 in ransom money.
Cooper's flamboyant hijacking became an instant legend... spawning books, a movie, a song, and at least one imitator. No trace of the man -- who purchased his ticket under the pseudonym Dan Cooper; the "D.B." comes from a reporter's later misprint -- was ever found, although a boy did come across some $5,800 in $20 bills confirmed to be part of Cooper's ransom in 1980.
Christiansen says his brother -- who died from cancer in 1994 -- fits the profile for Cooper... and the evidence is convincing. Kenneth's appearance matches a flight attendant's description of Cooper almost perfectly; he was a former US Army paratrooper, and knew enough about planes to instruct the pilot to fly low and slow, as Cooper did, to aid in an escape; he was also a disgruntled Northwest employee.
Furthermore, one year after the hijacking Kenneth paid cash for a small home in Bonney Lake, WA. Lyle also says his brother always had money, although he never had a bank account, and only earned a meager living as a purser for Northwest.
On his deathbed, Kenneth also reportedly told Lyle "There is something you should know, but I cannot tell you!" Lyle says he responded he didn't want to know.
When he put the pieces together, Lyle Christiansen tried to inform the FBI... but his statements fell on deaf ears at the agency. He then tried to interest filmmaker Nora Ephron in the story. Skipp Porteous, a private investigator Lyle hired to act as intermediary between he and Ephron (who never did reply) took notice of the story, and began his own investigation.
"It was uncanny, really," Porteous said. "He looked just like the sketch."
Others claimed to be -- or were accused of being -- D.B. Cooper. The most famous suspect was Richard McCoy, a former Sunday-school teacher who himself jumped out of a plane over Utah with a $500,000 ransom five months after Cooper pulled his daring attempt. McCoy was later arrested, and sentenced to 45 years in prison on suspicion of being D.B. Cooper, a charge he denied. He later escaped... only to die in a gunfight with authorities.
Another suspect, Duane Weber, allegedly told his wife "I’m Dan Cooper" before he died in 1995. The FBI collected fingerprints and some DNA evidence, though the case remains open to this day.
Florence Schaffner, the flight attendant to whom D.B. Cooper handed his ransom note, admits the resemblance between Kenneth Christiansen and the man she remembers from that fateful flight is uncanny.
"I think you might be onto something here," she told the magazine.
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