Citation Needed - D. B. Cooper, the Parachute Pirate [True Crime Special]

Episode Date: February 19, 2020

Dan Cooper is the pseudonym of an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in the northwest United States, in the airspace between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 24, 1971.[1][2] The man purchased his airline ticket using the alias Dan Cooper but, because of a news miscommunication, became known in popular lore as D. B. Cooper. He extorted $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to $1,260,000 in 2019) and parachuted to an uncertain fate. Despite an extensive manhunt and protracted FBI investigation, the perpetrator has never been located or identified. It remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in commercial aviation history.

What are you talking about? It's totally Jim and Pam. Yeah, absolutely. Jim and Pam, get out of here. Okay, then who? And if you see Ross and Rachel, I'm gonna fucking poison you. Well, Ross and... And then, we jump out and start our new life as podcast millionaires.

Right? Yes, Chris. Yes, Chris. What are you guys doing? Oh, hey Cecil, Eli and I are gonna be rich. Dude, I mean we're nothing. Not someone say rich. I'm in.

I wanna be rich. On the off chance that this one is the good plan, I'm also in. Right, okay, okay fine, I'll let you guys in on it. So I got a buddy, right? And he found out where iTunes keeps their downloads. Yeah, untraceable stats. Yeah, so the plan is all Heath and I have to do is scale the 24 floors to the vault,

Riggle our way through the poison vents and bam mark Marin money, baby. I Don't think Mark Marin has that much money. You think it'd be happier if he did, right? Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, scaling 24 floors, wriggling your way through Poison vents. There's no way. You're just gonna end up dead. And besides, I don't think iTunes keeps hard,

untraceable copies of their downloads. I mean, have you seen how the ranking system works, Cecil? Yeah. I mean, that's fair. It could be paper-based. You know, you know, that's true. So are the events filled with poison? Are you just not supposed to lick them both?

Yes. Okay. Hello and welcome to Citation Needed, the podcast where you choose a subject read a single article about on a Wikipedia and pretend we're experts. Because this is the internet and that's how it works now. I'm Cecil and I'll be commondering this vessel, but I'm going to need some accomplices. First up, two guys that think hijacking is jerking off in the bathroom in flight. Heath and Tom. Well, there's no I in team Cecil. But there's two in mile high club.

So, and me in my club actually. And Lou, and Paul, there's a bunch of stuff in there. It's all in there. And they said if I didn't stop, they would land the plane and I didn't stop. So they land the car. Oh, that was stop. So they did land a good one. Oh, that was great.

That's not my proudest moment. And also joining us. Just stop playing words with friends for a second. Also joining us two guys that are still trying to figure out how they can use these box cutters to make lines with their cocaine. Eli, I know. I am telling you guys, magic bullet. We're gonna have the best cocaine. Oh, I don't know about that.

Hey, look, look dude, my mom listens to this show. I don't need her left with the impression that I wouldn't know to just unscrew the thing and take out the blade. You don't wanna do it stupid. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Patrons, every week we ask you to donate and some of you still haven't done that,

and I can see how not giving these other guys money is okay, but I have to edit. That means I have to listen to this show at least twice. That's gotta be worth something folks. So listen to the end of the show, and I'll tell you how. And with that, the way it tells Heath, what person-place thing, concept, phenomenon, or event. We'll be talking about today.

We're gonna be talking about DB Cooper. I'm very excited. All right, and Tom, you tend to write sympathetic stories about morally ambiguous to downright evil people. Are you ready to idolize some robbing weirdo? I'm jumping for joy to do this one. Mostly I'm jumping for cash. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.

So tell us about DB Cooper. All right. Well, I guess the first thing we have to clear up is the issue of the name. You see, for almost 50 years, America's been obsessed with the story of DB Cooper. And it's kind of fitting that as obsessed as we are with the intrigue, we are,

and I love this, characteristically uninterested in accuracy. I get it. There was no DB Cooper. DB Cooper is the household name love this, characteristically uninterested in accuracy. I get it. There was no DB Cooper. DB Cooper is the household name that never actually was. The skyjacker that the world has come to know as DB was just a reporting mistake. The pseudonym given by the hijacker at the time was Dan Cooper, not DB, that never happened.

And even though the correction itself is also 50 years old, we still haven't bothered to correct our own mythical American figure. Well, at least we still have Paul Bunyan, King Arthur, and people who like their health insurance. So, I mean, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

All right, so the story of DB Cooper, and yes, I will actually be using the popularized wrong name as well because, by my blood runs red white and stupid So it's captured not only America's imagination for five decades But it's also a big part of the reason you can't go to the airport without getting indifferently finger blasted by a reticol Yeah, the indifference is what really gets you right? Yeah Like a little enthusiasm would be nice at that point.

Just like you look at him and you go, look, if just one of us is into it, it's even weird. Making me feel weird. All right, so our story begins on November 24th, 1971, when Noah found his first grade pubic hair. I should explain that joke to the listeners who have seen both of us believe it or not,

despite appearances I'm older than Tom. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. So on that day, the man approached the desk of Northwest Orient Airlines in Portland, Oregon.

He bought a one-way ticket to Seattle. This was a 30-minute flight. That's how long it's supposed to last. The man paid in cash. He was described as middle age to carry to black at the shake case. And as I mentioned earlier, he identified himself as Dan Cooper because it was 1971. That was all that you needed to buy an airplane ticket. No idea. He was required. And the cash means there was no formal paper trail. Yeah. Can I get one ticket to Seattle? And can I put this cocaine in the overhead or do I have to check it?

I'm not sure where Sure, it's it's 1971 you can do bumps off the pilots dick So DB Cooper board that flight it was a Boeing 727 and he sat toward the rear of the cabin I tried to Google the 727 to see what it might look like and the 727 is still in use today So you think that would be more useful. Problem is when you look at pictures now, it looks like a pretty small jet, maybe 18 to 20 rows, configured three seats, an aisle, two seats.

In 1971, it was probably something like two seats, an aisle, a stewardess, a smoking lounge, a wispy car. Yeah, it's a different world, guys. The little mind kiosks. a smoking lounge, a wispy car. Yeah, yeah. There's a different world, guys. Thelidimide, kia. So, still, this is not a tiny jet, but it's also not one of those massive two-story monsters that spit in the face of God every time they take off. Yeah, when it's the 737 max, sometimes he spits back and forth. So, DB himself was described as somewhere in his mid mid 40s, wearing, I love this, a business

suit and quiet. He ordered a bourbon in soda, which is gross. Obviously, it was villainy before the flight took off. Because again, this was the 70s when flying with something civilized and not the desperate act of personal, transportational self-flagulation that it is today. Right? Like the stewardess has anything to do pre-flight other than shoulder slam carry-on bags into the overhead to get them stowed, right?

Oh, yeah. So not long after takeoff, Cooper made his move. And I love this. This is so classic 1970s, right? This middle age would be hijacker, passed his hijacking note to the stewardess, who was, I guess, so used to being clumsily hit on by middle-aged men handing out indecent proposition notes that's just absent-mindedly slipped it into her purse, unopened and unread. It just passed it. Turned to walk away. She's like, no, again.

Be sure to dick pic really quick is. Here you go. So this exasperated Cooper, he had a lean torter and whisper. And again, I look politeness. This is just amazing. He said, miss, you'd better look at that note. I have a bump. All right, man, yeah, this is weird to say out loud.

No, no, yeah, this is weird to say out loud. Now, now I have to though, but do you like my bomb? Yes, no, maybe, please circle. You have to circle on, it's a bomb. Every time we go out to eat, the waitress does the same thing with Eli's 437 page dietary restriction manual. So, it's a good thing. Okay, is it really so much to ask the pH of everything I eat? I just. Yes, absolutely.

It's inappropriate every time. You sound just like her, but you're not crying. So the exact wording of DB's note is unknown because I don't know, maybe he felt rejected, but he took his note back from the sturdis after he passed the tour. The sturdis, Florence Sheffner later recounted that the note was printed in all caps using a felt pen. It indicated that it bomb in his suitcase and asked her to sit beside him. So Florence took a seat next to Cooper. And again, this is amazing.

She turns to him and asks to see his bomb. So I don't know, like probably a lady Cooper slowly opened the latches of his case to reveal eight red cylinders, all taped up to a great battery. And as you can see, I made all the wires the same color so there's no way to boil me. So Cooper then closed up shop and he gave his demands. He wanted $200,000 in cash, four parachutes, two primary, two reserve, and a fuel truck waiting in Seattle where they were in land. Florence excused herself from Cooper and relayed the situation to the pilots.

When she returned to Cooper, he was calmly sitting in his seat, but now he was wearing large, dark sunglasses, mission fucking accomplished bitches. When she reopens, the notice just reads, deal with it and she looks back up and the glasses are slowly falling into place over his eyes. So the pilots then relayed the demands and the bomb threat to air traffic control who of course told all the federal and local authorities and The president of the airline Donald Nirob was contacting was like oh hell yeah, give him $200,000 We're northwest oriented the airline that will last forever. Even our name will always be a great idea. I know.

I know. So all the employees were told to cooperate fully with Cooper. The airplane circled Seattle for two hours, while everyone scrambled to get the parachutes and the money. And because it was 1971, the other passengers and the plane had to be lied to about what was happening because unplanned, interminable, and inexplicable fucking delays were not yet just part of the expected flying experience.

Okay, so is it just me or is whatever you do don't make this hard on them, a weird stance to take in this situation. President to set. So while they're circling above Seattle, Cooper continued to interact with the staff. He ordered another bourbon, which again, he fucking ruined by mixing with soda. He paid for the drink and he tipped the stewardess that brought it to him. That stewardess Tina Muckleau described him as polite, calm and well-spoken. She said he was never nervous or cruel or nasty.

She thought he was thoughtful and calm all the time. And I love this. He even offered to request meals for the flight crew since they were now gonna miss their dinner because of all of this. The 70s are amazing. He's like, yeah, I know of a carton of promos and a wheel of cheddar waiting for him

to go all over. I love a key party, whatever you want. I don't know. a palmaw's in a wheel of cheddar waiting for him to come over. Love it, keep party, whatever you want. I don't know. So the FBI gathered together all the ransom money. They had a cobbled together from several local banks. The money itself was unmarked, but most of the serial numbers began with an L, which meant the money was from the Federal Reserve in San Francisco.

All the bills were photographs so they could be traced later. Initially, he was offered military parachutes, but Cooper demanded civilian shoots with manual rip cords, which the FBI obtained from a local skydiving school. Once they let Cooper know that his demands have been met, Cooper cleared the plane to land and had the pilots taxi to the jet to an isolated, but brightly lit part of the airport.

Well, I'm not supposed to say this, I'm sure, but fuck, man, I'm bringing on a bomb just to dictate what gaily pulled in to worth it. So what's the money and parachute that's been delivered? Cooper let everyone off that wasn't part of the flight crew of the plane. Now, I don't know why, but he kept a flight attendant, so I'm guessing we should order more of the ungodly bourbon and sodas while While the plane was refueling, Cooper gave the details

for part two of his plan to the flight crew. Well, I'm sure the audience is thinking what I'm thinking, what drinks do this guy order after the break? Stick around and find out. Hi, I'm No Illusions. And I'm Cecil Bada, beam, beam, bomb, beam, bomb, but a beam, but Eli, that's not my name. Might as well be. Okay, whatever.

Anyway, a story like DB Cooper is such a part of its time that we here at Citation Needed Podcast couldn't help but wonder What would happen if you tried the same thing today? Hello miss my name is Dan Cooper and I'd like to excuse me sir This is the line for exclusive plus card member lounge club patrons calling where where can I buy a ticket to that? How should I know Finally out of ticket now just get through security here Shes an underpants in the grey bin laptops and childhood memories in the silver bin Wait, sorry, did you say sure you are? You are me and my 14 orthodox Jewish children that are somehow always at the airport, I'm very angry at you.

Okay, through security on the plane now, I just need to get as stewardess' attention. Excuse me? Not right now, I'm going to the back to get pretzels. It's just that... I have a bomb. I said that right now! Jesus, okay. I'll wait with my bomb.

Dacer! Alright now! Jesus, okay. I'll wait with my bomb. Dacer! Ladies and gentlemen, we have now landed in Seattle. Uh, everyone please claw your way out of the plane like this was a zombie move. SOOOOOO! Maybe I'll just...

I'll try the bus next time. Better service. Maybe I'll just I'll try the bus next time the better service So I have a feeling he's gonna change it up a bit maybe go gin and tonic Tom. What did he order from the bar next? What was his next drink? No word on a third drink, Cecil, but probably a bourbon and soda. He is a fucking monster after all. It's an important character point. It really is a dry minute. It's like those things really flesh it out. Context, guys, context.

So his plan was this, fly the plane as low and slow as possible without stalling and head to Mexico City. At this point, he also demanded that the landing gear for the flight remain down, that the wing flaps be lowered to 15 degrees and that the cabin not be pressurized. The 727 would be flying at 10,000 feet at 115 miles an hour, which meant that the plane was going to experience much more drag and would be much less fuel efficient than normally in flight. At this altitude and speed, the plane was going to need to refuel before getting to Mexico experience much more drag and would be much less fuel efficient than normally in flight.

At this altitude and speed, the plane was going to need to refuel before getting to Mexico city. So Cooper and the pilot discussed options and settled on Reno, Nevada, which is always settling. So that made some sense. I mean, look, if he was going for murder in methamphetamines, it's a great compromise. I'm just saying it is. So once refueling was complete,

DB demanded that the plane take off with the aft door and stairs still hanging open, like old timey pajama pants, you know. What did they think he was planning to do at this point? It seems pretty obvious. Personnel for Northwest Orient objective, they said that this was unsafe, but then Cooper reminded them that the bomb he was carrying

was rather much more unsafe than the back door. Yeah, but even with reminded them that the bomb he was carrying was rather much more unsafe than the back door. Yeah, but even with the bomb in it, Boeing does an issue with the recall. It's crazy. It's crazy. Well, they ultimately agreed though, Cooper consented to close the door once they were in the air. Five military aircraft were scrambled to shadow the Skyjax 727, all of them flying out

of visual sight of Cooper, some flying just above, others just below the hijacked aircraft. He jumps out, just smashes into the windshield of the jet right below him. So once the flight was in the air, Cooper instructed Mukla to get in the cockpit with the flight crew and to shut the door. And while she was heading back to the cockpit, she noticed Cooper beginning to tie something around his waist. Several minutes later, a warning light in the cockpit indicated the aft air stare apparatus had been activated. And again, I love this.

The flight crew used the intercom to offer Cooper assistance, which he refused. I know, Goddamn sheep hell works, okay? Okay. I honestly don't know how any of that safety equipment works. I've been on planes a bunch of times. Seat belt. Yeah, but like the other stuff, I have no idea.

That shit's all a farce to make you feel better. None of it has gonna help at all. So the crew then noticed the change in the air pressure, indicating that the back door of their airplane was now open. Several minutes after that, the plane bounced a little bit, enough to require a slight correction to bring the plane back to level. And two hours later, the plane landed in Reno

with his ass hanging open and without DB Cooper. Yeah, that bounce was DB celebrating as windfall. That was definitely that. Yeah. Hahaha. So the FBI began their investigation among many, many pieces of mundane boring physical evidence they collected.

They recovered from onboard the airliner Cooper's tie. Because remember, he was wearing a business suit when he jumped out of this airplane. The tie they recovered was a fucking clip on tie. So possibly the most successful for ransom airline sky jacker of all time was wearing the business equivalent of Velcro shoes when he gets it. All right, I'm like 50-50, this was Eli somehow. I know the times when I said,

now this is Eli. Are you sure the Burbin and Soda wasn't a tomato juice at 98.6 degrees. Exactly. Guys, guys, I hate to be the one to debunk this, but Eli doesn't have a collard shirt that closes all the way around his neck. Where is he going to cut the time? It's fair.

Cecilia, you simple fool. I paint one of my chin's white and I clip it there. All right, check. You don't have to paint any part of who whitey's in your jeans are. Yeah. Yeah. Beard.

They're beard. It's true. It's a good trick. So even though they had five fucking airplanes watching this airliner, no one actually saw Cooper jump out. So trying to figure out where the search area should be was incredibly difficult. They didn't know exactly when he jumped,

how long he might have waited to pull the rip quarter, even where exactly the wins might have moved him once he deployed the shoot. Using the time when the plane kind of bounced a bit as the time that most likely indicated when Cooper jumped, they had at that moment been flying through a heavy rain storm over the Lewis River in Southwestern, Washington. Yeah, so guys, you see the place that begins

somewhere between Seattle and Reno Goodlock. Yeah, no shit. So based on this, they began searching the area on this southernmost outreach of Mount St. Helens near Lake Merwin. And I've actually been to Mount St. Helens near Lake Merwin. And I've actually been to Mount St. Helens many times in the surrounding area, and I can say that to describe that area

in the 2000s when I was there as wooded and remote, that would be a vast understatement. Nonetheless, the FBI and Sheriff's Department went full Tommy Lee Jones, they had dogs and helicopters, they searched the mountainous woods, they went door to door to every residence and the suspected drop zone, they found nothing. No parachute, no dead guy missing a tie, nothing at all.

They clearly wasted more than 200,000 looking for the guy. It doesn't make any sense. So a month goes by and the FBI figured, okay, we can't find the guy, but we know what money we gave him. So they figured they would just trace the money. They sent out a list of all the serial numbers for the ransom money to banks, casinos,

racetracks, pretty much any business that dealt with large sums of cash. Northwest Orient offered a 15% reward for any of the money recovered. In 1972, the serial numbers for the cash were made publicly available and still none of it turned out. All right, so just to be clear, your offer is 15% of the money this guy would be actively in the process of giving my bank casino or racetrack. Oh.

Yes. Great. Yeah, I'll keep an eye out, totally. You will? No. What? What? So in 1973, the Oregon Journal

republished a serial numbers and they offered a thousand dollar reward to the first person to present a bill with one of the Cooper serial numbers on it. The Seattle Post Intelligence are flexed and made a similar offer, but with a $5,000 reward. Still nothing turned up.

In 1975, giving up any hope of recovering the money, Northwest Orients insurer paid out the insurance claim to Northwest. But that was like four years of being like, yeah, sorry, but the hijacker was a pre-existing condition. You was planning it before you sign the policy. So that's, yeah. It's you every time.

In 1978, a placard with instructions for lowering the aft stairs of a 727 was found by a deer hunter along a logging road and within the flight path. In 1980, three packets of the ransom money were found. They were found by an eight-year- old kid just fucking around with his family on vacation near the Columbia River. The bills were in terrible shape, but they were still bound together by rubber bands. The bills, totaling 290 of them,

were divided up between the insurance company that kid who found the money and then the FBI took 14 of them. The kid sold 15 of the $20 bills at auction in 2008 for about $37,000. None of the rest of the nine thousand. I have no idea if you would fucking memorabilia, right? It's like fucking Nazi plates. None of any of the rest of the 9,700 bills

have ever turned different. People are Nazis, Tom. Tom's just trying to defend his plate collection. That's all. All right. You know, what do you guys break out when you have guests here? Now I'm way less mad at you for murdering Kevin Spacey though. So like, close and go.

All right. So I have to say, the weirdest part of this story to me is the dollar amount, right? Because like, even when you account for inflation, this is like 1.2 million. This guy, after all of this, shit, the guy's set for two and a half years. I mean, this is the, the ocean's getting the team together one last time. That knock over a 7-Eleven. It really is not that much money. It does seem crazy. Maybe it was just too much to carry otherwise. Whether Cooper could have survived the jump is open to some dispute.

What is not disputable though is that if it was survivable, the jump was almost unimaginably dangerous. The FBI initially believed that Cooper was likely an experienced jumper, but they later concluded that the jump was so dangerous that that simply couldn't be the case. Here's a quote,

no experienced parachutists would have jumped in the pitch black night in the rain with a 172 mile per hour wind in his face wearing loafers and a trench coat. See, Vera, I'm one of those weirdos that thinks jumping from a plane regardless of wind speed is unimaginably dangerous. So there's almost no reason to believe that he survived. He survived. He did not request a helmet. The temperature was 15 fucking degrees Fahrenheit.

Dins arrived. And it was raining. He was jumping without knowing the conditions for the landing zone into what was very likely trees or rivers or lakes. That's all that's down there. He had no gear. And the conditions that he was jumping in,

the FBI doesn't actually believe that his shoot would open. And my favorite part, the reserve shoot that Cooper chose was actually a dummy shoot provided an error by the skydiving school. It was so shut, it was inoperable. So, probably that was something a trained jumper might have noticed. Hey, okay, just quick note for skydiving schools in general. Please stop having dummy shoots lying around. Just like, mixed in with your real ones.

Is a strange scene in the deer hunter where they're all sitting around that table picking shoots out of the bag And has one dummy shoot in a Weird scene. Of course even if Cooper did manage to land safely Somehow deploying his shoot in the rain and avoiding all of the fucking trees that define the Pacific Northwest mountains He still would have landed in the winter, in the wilderness, in Washington state, in a suit. The idea that he would have either timed his jump and landed perfectly enough to somehow land near where he might have stashed a car or where an accomplice would be waiting for

him is laughably improbable. It did not happen. The idea that he would have landed and somehow walked out of the mountains, found civilization and gotten away without attracting attention from the throngs of the public, the media, or the authorities is actually even more absurd. So nevertheless, the sheer balls of this thing inspired copycat hijackings a lot of copycat hijackings. That's actually the meat of the story, guys.

In 1972, the next year, Garrett Trapnell hijacked a TWA airliner headed to New York from LA. He demanded $306,800 in cash. A figure. Super weird. He arrived at that figure because he had just lost a court case and he needed the money to pay that He also wanted the release of Angela Davis a Marxist political activist from prison and the release of one of his buddies

Also from prison because you know fucking while you're at it and then he thought maybe he'd be in trouble for all this So he'd like a formal pardon from president Nixon Right, it's a fool proof if he pardons me sure it said the FBI just shot him and took him in a custody and sent him to life and i love that he thought partens are like magical like a pumpkin or something like like a swat team's about to rest and he's like no time out pardon i'm on base

uh... it's time to say I have a part flying tackle. Let's look at the fuck. So also in 1972, this time in January, Richard LePoint boarded a flight in Las Vegas claiming to have a bomb while still in the runway not evidently needing the considerable additional leverage of being airborne during a hijacking. This guy demanded $50,000 two parachutes this time time he wanted a helmet. He was given his demands, he released the passers- and then he ordered the plane to fly toward Denver. The land in Denver and he's just like, fuck, all right, I keep messing up the order of the plan.

I'm not, he just dives out the window onto the tarmac. Okay, no, that was still,. I'm pulls the rip core. So he's successfully bailed out of the plane in north eastern Colorado. Um, but authorities literally just followed his footprints in the snow and caught him like two hours late. That's fantastic. The police followed his footprints with like an oversized magnifying glass They find him and he's just like me me no, I'm just gonna ski trip with my money It's funny because there were initially like two sets of footprints and then they just apprehended Jesus carrying him along In April of that same year Richard McCoy hijacked a flight leaving Denver, and he bailed out over Utah with $500,000 in ransom.

He landed safely, but he was caught two days later. Frederick Haneman got a little more time. He used a gun hijacked a plane in May of 1972. They flew that fucker all the way from Pennsylvania to Honduras where he bailed out and landed with $303,000. The FBI put a bounty on him of $25,000, which has made his life in Honduras impossible, and he ultimately surrendered to the US Embassy

28 days later. Ah, man, if only the number 303 was bigger than 25. Well, again. I know, right, but once Honduras has more than 12 guys who want that bounty, I see how this can get straight. Right. In June of, and again, I am not making this up also 1972 Rob Heady hijacked an United Airlines flight, ransomed his way into two parachutes as well as $200,000.

He jumped out near Washoe Lakeake about 25 miles south of Reno. Police found his car with a bumper stick grenade that read United States Parachuting Association parked near that lake and they just waited for him and arrested him when he went to his car. He's floating down. He just sees the giant circle of cops. He's trying to eat 200 grand. down. He just sees the giant circle of cops. He's trying to eat 200 grand later that same month in June. Martin McNally hijacked a plane headed to Tulsa. He ran some himself up $500,000. He got some parachutes bailed out over Indiana. He made it a few days on the run, but he was arrested in Detroit. Well, which is honestly just as enjoyable as anything else that you would do in Detroit. Well, which is honestly just as enjoyable as anything else that you would do in Detroit.

That's true. In 1972, there were 15 parachute copycat hijackings. They're just running into each other at the airports. Oh, you do. They take the wrong briefcase, but it's their both bombs. They're like, oh, whoa, that's fortuitous. This is good work. You do nice work.

Who's this? You got to color the wires all the same. Tell her. None of these were ultimately successful. In 1973, luggage began to be searched and the incidence of skyjacking's for ransom plummeted to zero until 1980. In 1980, Glen Trip hijacked a flight again in Seattle.

He demanded $600,000, two parachutes, and he also demanded that his boss be assassinated. Awesome. A flight attendant spiked his alcohol with volume, which I guess she just had. And then a very weird standoff, I guess, continued. 10 hours of negotiating later, Glen had reduced his demands from $600,000 in an assassination to three cheeseburgers in a head start getting away. He did not get away, but somehow he got probation,

probably because the whole thing was so fucking ridiculous and in 1983 he again hijacked a plane this time demanding to be taken to Afghanistan but the FBI just saved him the hassle and shot and killed him. She's just, she's telling them he dressed as boss up in his clothes so totally worked long. I like that he tried his terrible plan again. I know. He's sitting there.

Okay, this time no drinks with white dust at the bottom and my floor is five cheeseburgers and I'm dead. Okay. I'm dead. So it was really because of all this crazy bullshit that airport security even became a thing. Luggage was being searched, peepholes were installed on cockpit doors,

and then the 727 was retrofit, so you couldn't open the goddamn back door of the thing while it was in flight. Probably a move. The security precautions that were put in place in 1973, they would not be substantively revised until the changes and restrictions that went into effect after 9-11.

One final note. Remember that reserve shoot that turned out to be a dummy, the one that was sewn shut? So that dud of a parachute came from a man named Earl Cossie who owned the skydiving school. In 2013, Earl was found murdered in his home. Oh Jesus Christ. Nobody has been apprehended for that murder, especially not DB Cooper. See, he's already dead.

Of course not. He's too smart. Oh God. If you had to summarize what you learned in one sentence, what would it be, Tom? Uh, if you're gonna jump out of an airplane where a business suit, I'm not really sure. Yeah, yeah, that's fair.

Yeah, I don't know anything. All right. Yeah, I know you're ready for the quiz. My clip on Ty is spring loaded for comfort. Let's do this thing. All right. All right, I know you're ready for the quiz. My clip on Ty is spring loaded for comfort. Let's do this thing. All right. All right. I'll go first.

Tom, which of the following is a true detail about the aftermath of the DB Cooper story? A, the FBI question the guy named DB Cooper in Oregon. And he was like, you're all stupid. Wow. You should question me last of all the people in the world. B, DB Cooper went on to become the protagonist of Twin Peaks. Yeah.

C, the writers of Mad Men were planning to make the big reveal at the end of the show that Don Draper was DB Cooper, but everybody in their audience guessed it early. And they definitely rewrote the series finale without that part for spite. Or D, the FBI had a dedicated agent on the DB Cooper case until 2016. When that guy was like, please stop paying me to watch sovereign citizens reenact this whole thing with do you have to action figures? Yeah, those are all distressingly true things actually All right, Tom what tunes did DB Cooper use to psych himself up for the big caper?

Was it A, gonna die now? That's the theme from Land Somewhere Rocking. B, I fall to pieces by Governor Patsy Climber. Patsy Climber's pretty good. C, bone to bone by Aero Plane Smith. That's terrible. That's terrible. It's a terrible ordeal. I believe I can fly.

My favorite part of this is that after the I believe I can fly, you wrote in, this is a song by Arkali. So I'm going with that one just for the explanatory exposition that you've just tried to set everybody up for jokes. So, okay. What's the name of DB Cooper's board game, Tom? Yes, sir. A, Kirk Plunk, B, shoots and splatter, C,

splatter, Geronino, or D, Candyland. Oh, Candyland. Toronto no or D Cannyland oh It's canny land you know why it's canny land because when I read it I didn't get it. That's why it's canny land. Okay, oh That's I bow to you sir bowed. It's always the D You can sneak them in even when we see his goddamn script he can still sneak them in. Well played. All right, I have a tough one here for you Tom. What is the saddest aspect of this tale? Okay.

Hey, the realization that you wouldn't have to give me 200 grand, I would parachute out of a commercial flight just to not be on it. B, Dan Cooper is an anagram for canoe drop, which is only the first of the same. Yeah. And there's six other interesting to buy the money, but the misreporting fucked up his whole scavenger hunt. It's me, Thomas B. It's probably see I personally pay all the fucking rancoms if it just meant we didn't

have to do airport security. Or D holy shit, I just realized that's what pre check actually is in the TSA are now the high jack. Clear. Well, he's he's chimed in now. I think it's got to be the anagram canoe drop. He's scavenger hunt. We do want to scavenger hunt already doing it. All right.

Let's get I'm put my shoes on. See that you're wrong, but I so don't want to tell you that now that you guys are heading to Oregon. No, I'm sorry. It actually is D, the TSA, and much of fucking high-divers. So it's true, but worse than DB Cooper, and we're thought of. This is worse than anyone thought of. We're still doing the scavenger hunt, Tom. Yeah, oh yeah, that's on.

That's locked down. Yeah, for sure. I'm recording from a burning station in Oregon that I've taken over. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. No one. Yeah, no, go get him. All right, awesome.

That means I get to decide who the essay is just gonna be next week. Cecil, I think that version fall to you. Already came back to me. Jesus, we're skipping two guys anyway. I'm not gonna talk. Noah, like we're skipping two guys anyway Noah Eli and Heath I'm Cecil. Thank you for hanging out with us today. We'll back next week and by then I Will be an expert on something else between now and then listen to our other stuff You know where it is and if you stole a bunch of money

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But as I do, I throw my ninja star to knock out the camera on the far wall. This is important. Maybe we'll just ask nicely and everybody who hears this will take a minute to give us a good review on iTunes. It's free and it really does help the show. You're realistic, Noah, really? No, that's fair. So you're saying the ninja star right to the camera. Yeah, knocks out the camera. So when do I use my nun chucks?

When the where monkeys are asleep from the gas, I told you this. Fine!