Flight 305 crew statements
Testimony
Schaffner, Mucklow and the cockpit crew described the demand, the Seattle exchange and the aft-stair departure. Those statements fix the crime even without a body.
Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
Notoriety90
Mystery96
Scale42
Evidence38
Legal impact74
Culture88
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Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology
Quick answers
Who was D.B. Cooper?
An unidentified man who used the ticket name Dan Cooper on Northwest Orient Flight 305 on 24 November 1971. D.B. Cooper is a press error that stuck. No one was convicted. The FBI suspended the case in 2016.
What did he demand and receive?
He demanded $200,000 and four parachutes. Northwest Orient delivered that sum in $20 bills whose serial numbers were recorded, plus the chutes, at Seattle-Tacoma before the passengers were released.
Where did he leave the aircraft?
After the Seattle departure, over southwestern Washington, using the Boeing 727’s aft airstairs. The FBI’s first search box centred near Ariel; later wind models widened the corridor. No confirmed landing site was found.
Was any of the ransom found?
Yes. On 10 February 1980 Brian Ingram found about $5,800 in deteriorating $20 bills on Tena Bar, a Columbia River beach near Vancouver, Washington. The FBI matched serial numbers to the ransom list. The rest of the money remains unaccounted for.
Did the FBI identify a suspect?
The Bureau investigated thousands of names and publicly discussed several persons of interest. None was charged as Cooper. Richard McCoy, a 1972 hijacker, was a recurring comparison and was not adopted as the Flight 305 jumper.
Why is the case still unsolved?
No body, unused chute or unused ransom cache was authenticated. Witnesses aged. The 1980 river find did not lead to a person. In 2016 the FBI said active investigation was no longer justified.
Evidence quality is enough to prove a hijacking and a jump, and not enough to name a defendant.
The 1980 bills are the only authenticated physical recovery of the ransom.
Exhibits
Ransom serial list
Document
Banks and the FBI recorded the $20 serial numbers before the bag went aboard. That list later authenticated the Tena Bar find.
FBI composite sketches
Archive
1972–73 portraits that became the public face of Cooper. They are witness memory rendered by an artist, not a photograph of a known man.
Tena Bar $20 packets
Physical
About $5,800 found 10 February 1980 and matched to the ransom list. Soil and placement have been argued ever since; they did not yield a name.
727 flight-path data
Technical
Speed, altitude and a pressure change used to bound the jump corridor over southwestern Washington. Models have shifted; no wreckage of a jumper was found.
2016 FBI closure notice
Document
The Bureau’s public statement that NORJAK would no longer be actively investigated. It is an administrative end, not an identification.
How strong is the record?
Identity of the jumper10
No charge, no consensus, no authenticated remains.
Proof of the hijacking92
Crew, passengers, ransom paperwork and the empty aircraft at Reno.
Ransom recovery18
About $5,800 of $200,000 authenticated at Tena Bar.
Jump-zone precision35
A reconstructed corridor, redrawn more than once; no confirmed landing site.
The strongest evidence names a flight and a bag of bills. It does not name a man.
Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.