In the evening of June the 21st 1985, 24-year-old Stein Huseby boarded Braathens SAFE Flight 139,
at Trondheim Airport, flying to Oslo. Just after takeoff, he surrendered a
flight attendant with his gun and demanded to be connected to the pilots, then he said to them:
“I have explosives placed in the toilet rooms, no one would be hurt if you cooperate”.
His demands were simple: first, the flight should continue to Oslo airport as planned,
second, he demands to speak to Prime Minister Kåre Willoch and Minister of Justice Mona Røkke
about his terrible treatment by authorities since he left prison.
But none would agree to his demands, Huseby drank terribly as the negotiation dragged on,
the plane landed in Oslo airport 15 minutes late and parked 700 meters from the terminal building,
after one hour, Huseby released 70 hostages in exchange for having the aircraft being moved
closer to the terminal building. Thirty minutes later, the remaining passengers were released,
leaving him and the five crew members on board, at this point, he has already finished the
plane's entire beer supply. While waiting for his demands to be met, he asked for more beer
and the police officers on the ground demanded he should trade his gun for it.
He suspected it might be a trap, but he couldn’t help his hunger for the beloved beer,
he agreed and threw out his gun, the plane was immediately stormed and Huseby was arrested.
That’s crazy right? Don’t go just yet, this is not the craziest airjack incident.
November the 24th 1971, is the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the United States,
a day off for many, but in Portland international airport, it is just another busy day.
A middle-aged man who identified himself as "Dan Cooper" walked into Portland Airport and used cash
to purchase a one-way ticket to Seattle on North orient Airlines Flight 305.
Once onboard, he took seat 18C in the rear of the cabin and had a smoke while the flight was waiting
to take off. Shortly after takeoff, Cooper handed a note to Florence Schaffner, the flight attendant
nearest to him. Schaffner, assuming the note contained a lonely businessman's phone number,
dropped it unopened into her purse. Cooper leaned toward her and whispered,
"Miss, you'd better look at that note, I have a bomb. After Schaffner read the note, Cooper told
her to sit beside him. Schaffner did as requested, then quietly asked to see the bomb. Cooper opened
his briefcase long enough for her to glimpse eight red cylinders. After closing the briefcase,
he stated his demands and it was quite simple. He wanted $200,000 in cash and four parachutes.
He also demanded a fuel truck to stand ready to refuel the aircraft once they landed in Seattle,
should they fail to comply with his demands, he threatened to blow up the plane.
For the next hour and half flight through, flight 305 maintained a holding pattern near Seattle.
While local and federal authorities scrambled to procure the ransom as well as the four parachutes.
10,000 $20 bills were collected from a local bank, while the owner of the nearby skydiving
school supply the shoots, the 35 other passengers were given false information
that their arrival in Seattle would be delayed because of a "minor mechanical difficulty.
At 5:24 p.m, Cooper was informed that his demands had been met, flight 305 finally
touchdown in Seattle. By this point, it was well after sunset, and the aircraft was brought to
a remote section of the tarmac. Once the flight came to a stop, both the ransom and the parachutes
were handed over, in exchange Cooper permitted to have the flight attendants as well as all the
passengers to disembark, many of whom had not yet realized the flight had been hijacked.
With a ransom paid and only four crew members remaining on board, Cooper outlined his flight
plan to the cockpit crew, that he wanted to fly to Mexico City. He demanded to fly with the landing
gear down the flaps at 15 degrees and below 10,000 feet. The lights and the cabin were to be switched
off and the aft stairway which opens from the underbelly of the fuselage was to remain extended.
Two of Cooper Cooper's demands could not be satisfied. First of all the flight configuration
he requested would not allow for a nonstop flight to Mexico City, the aircraft's range
was limited to approximately 1,000 miles under that specified flight configuration,
which meant that a second refueling would be necessary before entering Mexico.
Cooper and the crew discussed options and agreed to refuel at Reno, Nevada.
Second of all, it was not possible to depart with a ventral staircase extended. Cooper agreed
to retract the stairs on the condition that it will be extended once the plane was airborne.
At approximately 7:40 p.m, flight 305 took off with only five people on board, two F-16
fighter aircraft were scrambled from McChord Air Force Base to follow behind the airliner.
Somewhere between Seattle and Reno, a little after 8:00 p.m., the hijacker did the incredible:
He jumped out of the back of the plane with a parachute and the money. Three hours later,
flight 305 safely landed in Reno, the pilots landed safely,
but Cooper had disappeared into the night and his ultimate fate remains a mystery to this day.
As soon as it became clear that Cooper was no longer on board does, FBI agents converged upon
the aircraft, only to discover a disappointing amount of physical evidence, a black clip-on tie,
eight cigarette butts, and two of the four parachutes were all that Cooper left behind.
He brought the ransom and briefcase along with him. In interviews conducted on the night of
the hijacking, Cooper was described by the crew and passengers as a white male with brown eyes
and dark hair. Based on this description, the FBI produced the first of several composite sketches
before they could mount a search. However, the FBI had to figure out when Cooper abandoned the ship,
but that was easier said than done. None of the four crew members witnessed Cooper jumping from
the plane, nor the pilots of the two fighter jets which escorted the flight between Seattle
and Reno, which is not all too surprising given it was the middle of the night.
The FBI mounted an impressive search operation using helicopters, airplanes, and ground troops.
The loosely defined search area covered a vast stretch of mountainous wilderness,
it was like finding a needle in a haystack. Apart from the difficult terrain, the search
was further complicated by low temperatures and inclement weather which persisted for days.
Despite their best efforts, authorities never managed to find a single trace of Cooper
nor the items he brought along with him. Having made little to no progress by early
December, the FBI turned their attention to the $200,000 ransom.
The money had been collected from the Seattle First National Bank,
which maintained a ransom package of $250,000 just for such an occasion. Because of this,
the serial numbers of the 10,000 $20 banknotes given to Cooper had been documented in advance,
the serial numbers was quickly made available to financial institutions, government agencies,
and the general public. The intention was to make it as difficult as possible for Cooper to
spend his money. Northwest orient Airlines and several newspapers even began to offer rewards
to anyone who can find a note with a matching serial number. Despite these efforts, no one
ever did. That is until nearly a decade later. From the very beginning, it was assumed by many
that Cooper did not survive his daring escape. It would not make for a very thrilling conclusion to
this story, but that's the thing about stories, they're usually far more exciting than reality.
While there is no hard evidence for nor against Cooper's survival, the assumption that he fell to
his death is not without merit. When Cooper leaped into the darkness, flight 305 was plowing through
a rainstorm at roughly 170 knots and 10,000 feet above Southern Washington and wind was
so violent. To say that Cooper was not dressed for the occasion, would be an understatement.
The ground beneath him, meanwhile, was obscured by multiple layers of clouds,
which likely means that Cooper jumped without knowing his precise location. Even if he could
see the ground and had a specific drop zone in mind. The parachute he selected was nonsteerable,
meaning he would not have been able to steer his descent towards a specific landing spot,
thus precluding any potential coordination with an accomplice stationed on the ground.
It seems Cooper did not give enough thought to his eventual escape. Not only did he fail to specify
a route, but he was forced to make a last-minute destination change from Mexico City to Reno. He
could have demanded more appropriate parachuting equipment like a pair of boots, a helmet, or a
jumpsuit, he could even have specified the ransom to be delivered in larger denominations to make it
lighter and less cumbersome to carry. presuming he did survive the fall and made it safely to
the ground. He may then attempt to make his way through a dense snow-covered forest. Clearly,
Cooper's escape was much more of a leap of faith than a carefully executed jump.
The FBI followed thousands of leads to find Cooper, considering more than 800 suspects
in the five years following the incident. An Oregon man named D. B. Cooper who had
a minor police record was one of the first persons of interest in the case.
He was contacted by Portland police on the off chance that the hijacker had used his real name
or the same alias in a previous crime. He was quickly ruled out as a suspect.
KENNETH Christiansen first became a suspect in 2003, when his brother noticed certain parallels
between him and Cooper. Christiansen had briefly served as a paratrooper in the second World War
and since 1953, he'd worked for Northwest Airlines as both a mechanic and a flight attendant.
He was 45 years old at the time of the hijacking. He was left-handed which Cooper
might have been because Cooper used his left hand to interact with his briefcase,
and the clip-on tie he left on board was fixed applied from the left.
Shortly before he died in 1994. Christiansen had supposedly told his brother, there is something
you should know, but I cannot tell you. After his passing, his family discovered over $200,000
in his bank accounts, to top it all off. Florence Schaffner stated that photographs of Christiansen
bought a strong resemblance to Cooper. On the other hand, Christiansen did not match
the physical description of Cooper. He was both shorter and lighter. While Schaffner did see a
strong resemblance, she remarked that Cooper had more hair, and that is supported by the
composite sketches, and there was nothing suspicious about the large sums of money,
which he'd simply earned by selling land. Dwayne Weber first became a suspect in 1995,
when shortly before his death, he supposedly told his wife, I've got a secret to tell you, I am Dan
Cooper. Following his deathbed confession, Weber's recall a number of fascinating details, she claims
she found a black back resembling the one used in the hijacking. She claims Weber had sustained a
knee injury after jumping out of a plane. Weber supposedly had a nightmare about leaving his
fingerprints on the aft stairs. In addition, Weber was a world war 2 veteran, he had an
extensive criminal record, he matched the physical description, and he was 47 years old in 1971.
On the other hand, Weber's fingerprints did not match any of the prints collected from flight 305.
Although to be fair, there's no way to know if any of those prints belonged to Cooper. Furthermore,
Weber's DNA did not match a DNA sample collected from the tie clasp. But once again,
there's no way to know if the DNA of the tie came from the hijacker and not someone else.
William Smith first became a suspect in 2018. Smith served in the Navy during World War Two and
likely had some experience with parachuting. He was 43 years old at the time of the hijacking.
He had dark brown eyes; he matched a physical description. He shared a certain likeness with the
composite sketches, especially this speculative sketch of an older DB Cooper. A student named
Daniel Cooper, who was killed in World War Two attended the same high school as Smith. Smith
works as a yardmaster for a railroad company for most of his life, but in 1970, the company filed
for bankruptcy. As a consequence, Smith lost his pension, which might suggest a motive. He could,
for instance, have developed a grudge towards the airline industry for the role in bringing about
the downfall of the rail transportation industry. It's further speculated that Smith could have used
his knowledge of railroad networks to hop on a train and escape undetected. On the other hand,
Smith spent his entire life in the northeastern United States, given that the hijacking occurred
on the other side of the country, and was committed by someone who at least appeared
to be familiar with the local terrain. Smith is not the most ideal candidate. However, the fact
that Smith worked as a yardmaster is interesting. You see, the tie that Cooper left behind was
recently examined using an electron microscope which uncovered various metallic particles. Some
of these particles, especially pure titanium, were quite rare in 1971. This might suggest that Cooper
worked as a manager at some sort of chemical or metallurgical facility, or possibly a rail yard.
These three individuals look nothing alike. Yet any one of them could be DB Cooper. In 2016,
the FBI had to admit defeat and officially close down the case.