1st Plane Hijacking in the History of America
(Great Crime of the Century)
On November 24, 1971, a Boeing 727 plane of an American airline was minutes from take-off when a passenger in the back seat called an air hostess over and handed her an envelope. On which a few words were written, which caused a stir in the whole of America.
The story began in 1971 at Portland Airport. The man seemed to be a businessman. He booked a ticket from Portland to Seattle and headed straight for the plane. At that time, there was no restriction on domestic flights in the USA; there was no strictness and neither passengers’ baggage was checked nor their ID verification was done.
This plane was supposed to reach Seattle in 45 minutes.
Wearing sunglasses and carrying a briefcase, this man named Dan Cooper boarded the plane and sat down in his favourite seat, which was at the very end of the plane. He ordered a drink and started smoking; smoking was also allowed at that time. Everything was running normally.
The plane took off at exactly 2:58 pm. A few minutes later, Dan Cooper handed an envelope to an air hostess named Florence Schaffner. When she read the written note, the ground slipped under her feet. It read,
“Miss, I have a bomb here and I would like you to sit by me.”
When Florence sat next to him, he opened his briefcase and found a bomb inside. And now the plane was hijacked.
He had three demands:
- He wanted $200,000 in cash before 5 pm.
- Needed 2 parachutes
- Plane refuelling at Seattle Airport.
Then he said that if anything went wrong, he would explode the bomb. There were 35 other passengers on the plane who had no idea of this incident.
Then Florence narrated the whole story to the captain of the plane. Another air hostess named Tina Mucklow acted as the intercom between the captain and Cooper. Then the local authority and the FBI decided to fulfil all the hijacker’s demands.
Obviously, the authority also knew that Cooper would not be able to outrun them very far. The plane was scheduled to land in Seattle in just 45 minutes, circling the Seattle Airport for the next 1 and half hour.
The remaining 35 passengers were told that the plane was having trouble in landing due to technical problem.
Meanwhile, 10,000 $20 notes were collected from the Seattle National Bank. Whose serial numbers were noted and 2 parachutes were taken from a nearby Seattle sailing club.
At 5:45 pm the plane was landed at Seattle Airport, and as promised a bag full of money and 2 pairs of parachutes were also provided and the plane was refuelled.
After meeting his demands, he allowed 35 passengers and two flight crew to disembark, while asking the pilots and 2 flight crew to stay on board. By then it was night and the plane had once again taken off.
Cooper sent specific instructions to the captain through air hostess Tina that he wanted the plane’s landing gears and flaps open, and an altitude of 10,000 feet, a speed of 320 Kph, and a direct flight to Mexico City.
The pilot fulfilled all the demands but it was not possible to take the plane straight to Mexico City due to lack of fuel.
The pilot gave Cooper 2 options for refuelling: Reno or Phoenix. Cooper agreed to Reno.
On the other hand, the local and federal authorities were doing their job and two jets were sent after the plane. But they could not maintain a slow enough speed, so they started circling the plane.
The plane was still heading for Reno, when Cooper asked Tina to go to the captain and as she was about to leave, she turned to see Cooper tying something on his waist. After that, when the stairs of the plane opened, he jumped from there.
What happened next has been debated for the past more than 50 years to this day.
And when it landed in Reno after 3 hours, the entire plane was throughly checked. There was Cooper nowhere in the plane and no bomb was found.
Cooper has not been found dead or alive since this incident.
Who was Cooper after all? Where did he go after deceiving the whole of America? It is such a case as has never been closed. The FBI started looking for evidence. But unfortunately, it found his tie, 8 cigarette butts, and 1 parachute that he had left behind.
He did not even have his photo. After interviewing the passengers and crew, it was sketched.
Neither Cooper, nor the briefcase, nor money was found. And then, for the first time in American history, the FBI began to seek help from the public. His sketch and serial numbers of $2 lac were also published in newspapers. It believed that if Cooper were alive, he would spend the money.
But amazingly, not a single note of this serial number ever reappeared anywhere, but the case was never closed.
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