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N0KFQ > TODAY 27.11.16 20:55l 38 Lines 1501 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 14183_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Nov 24
Path: IW8PGT<F1OYP<F4DUR<CX2SA<N0KFQ
Sent: 161124/1420Z 14183@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.13
1971
Hijacker parachutes into thunderstorm
A hijacker calling himself D.B. Cooper parachutes from a
Northwest Orient Airlines 727 into a raging thunderstorm over
Washington State. He had $200,000 in ransom money in his
possession.
Cooper commandeered the aircraft shortly after takeoff, showing a
flight attendant something that looked like a bomb and informing
the crew that he wanted $200,000, four parachutes, and "no funny
stuff." The plane landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport,
where authorities met Cooper's demands and evacuated most of the
passengers. Cooper then demanded that the plane fly toward Mexico
at a low altitude and ordered the remaining crew into the
cockpit.
At 8:13 p.m., as the plane flew over the Lewis River in southwest
Washington, the plane's pressure gauge recorded Cooper's jump
from the aircraft. Wearing only wraparound sunglasses, a thin
suit, and a raincoat, Cooper parachuted into a thunderstorm with
winds in excess of 100 mph and temperatures well below zero at
the 10,000-foot altitude where he began his fall. The storm
prevented an immediate capture, and most authorities assumed he
was killed during his apparently suicidal jump. No trace of
Cooper was found during a massive search.
In 1980, an eight-year-old boy uncovered a stack of nearly $5,880
of the ransom money in the sands along the north bank of the
Columbia River, five miles from Vancouver, Washington. The fate
of Cooper remains a mystery.
73, K.O. N0KFQ
...on the road again.
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