Where he was born, educated, even what his real name was, we don't know, and most likely never will. "D. B. Cooper" was the name the media hung on him, since he had identified himself as "Dan Cooper" at one point, but no one knows if that was or is indeed his real name.

On November 24, 1971, a 40-something man, approximately 5'11" with an olive complexion, paid $20 in cash for a one-way ticket on a midafternoon flight from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. Neither he nor his carry-on luggage was searched, since that was not the policy at the time. When the plane was in the air, he passed a note to the stewardess, who, thinking it was a proposition, put it in her pocket. "Miss, you'd better look at that note. I have a bomb," the man told her. He opened his briefcase and showed her the contents, revealing several red cylindrical objects and a mass of wiring.

The plane landed at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport three hours later, with the other passengers still unaware that there was a problem. Cooper had demanded $200,000 and four parachutes, and told the flight team to empty the plane. The FBI had given him the ransom money in 10,000 $20 bills, all of which had been photocopied. Once the plane was emptied and refueled, Cooper instructed the pilot to fly toward Mexico, giving him specific instructions as to how to fly low and slow to make parachuting easier.

Cooper sent the stewardess forward to the cockpit and about 30 minutes after takeoff, began opening the plane's rear stairway. The pilot asked him on the intercom if there was trouble and if the flight crew could do anything, but Cooper shouted back, "No!" That was the last anyone ever saw or heard from him again.

Parachuting into a night storm, with air temperatures around 7 degrees below zero, strong winds and freezing rain, dressed in a business suit and loafers, makes it seem unlikely that the skyjacker survived, although the investigation by the FBI is still open and nearly thirty years later, the agency is still receiving periodic tips. In the aftermath of the skyjacking, a modification in the manufacture of commercial aircraft that prevents the rear stairway from opening while the plane is in the air, called the "Cooper Vane" was invented and is still used to this day.

D. B. Cooper became a cult hero in the anti-establishment political climate of the 70s, particularly since he was seen as someone who beat the establishment and didn't hurt anyone. Songs, cartoons, and even a movie have fostered the legend of the skyjacker. A 1981 movie, THE PURSUIT OF D.B. COOPER starred Robert Duvall and Treat Williams, and portrayed the skyjacker as following a plan to disappear into anonymity, despite pursuit by a determined cop.

Speculation as to his personality and motivations during the subsequent investigation ranged from casting him as an embittered ex-Vietnam veteran to a con man who was on the run. In 1980, nine years after the skyjacking, a young boy digging along the banks of the Columbia River found an eroded package containing $5,800 of the ransom money. The eruption of Mount St. Helen's has since blanketed the jump area with ash and makes it even more unlikely that any clues to the disappearance will surface, although many people have searched, some making it a years-long project to find something, anything, about the mystery man.