D.B. Cooper – Where Are You?

Yesterday (11/24/08) marked the 37th anniversary of the disappearance of the hijacker D.B. Cooper. Wikipedia, my favorite second brain, states the following; “D. B. Cooper (aka Dan Cooper) is an alias of an aircraft hijacker who, on November 24, 1971, after receiving a ransom payout of US $200,000, jumped from the back of a Boeing 727 as it was flying over the Pacific Northwest of the United States somewhere over the Cascade Mountains, possibly over Woodland, Washington. His body was never found, and only $5,880 of the ransom has been recovered.” For full details on Mr. “Cooper” see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D_B_Cooper.

The FBI does not believe that he survived but his body and parachute have never been found. Wiki goes on to say that this case has baffled government and private investigators alike. The unsolved nature of the crime and the idea that he may have gotten away with it continue to intrigue and beguile. There have been clues but no answers. “…Despite the case's enduring lack of evidence, a few significant clues have arisen. In late 1978 a placard containing instructions on how to lower the aft stairs of a 727, later confirmed to be from the rear stairway of the plane from which Cooper jumped, was found just a few flying minutes north of Cooper's projected drop zone. In February 1980, eight-year-old Brian Ingram found $5,880 in decaying $20 bills on the banks of the Columbia River.”

I’m not defending a guy who hijacks an airplane; especially in a post 9/11 world but there is something to be said about the elegant simplicity of his plan and how it was executed. If he pulled it off this was a work of pure genius. For his efforts, his success and his disappearance, D.B. Cooper has been rewarded with counter culture folk hero status (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D_B_Cooper#In_popular_culture). It's been said, “There is no such thing as the perfect crime.” While that may be true D.B. Cooper just might be the exception to that rule.

All the best Mr. Cooper, wherever you are.