GLOBAL TERRORISM: SKYJACKING
PAGE 40 GLOBAL TERRORISM: SKYJACKING
The date was November 24th 1971, the night before Thanksgiving and the plane he skyjacked was a Boeing
THE SOPHISTICATED SKY PIRATE: UNRAVELING THE MYSTERY OF D.B COOPER’S SKYJACK Though it’s been more than four decades since the skyjacking incident, traces of the cunning man known as D.B Cooper is still yet to be found. Thousands of suspects have been closely investigated but the Federal
727 from Portland, Oregon to Seattle. Having purchased a one-way ticket and gaining the seat number 18C, Cooper walked into the plane so casually. On the plane, he ordered a whiskey, lit up a cigarette and handed the flight attendant Florence Schaffner a note:
“I HAVE A BOMB IN MY BRIEFCASE. I WILL USE IT IF NECESSARY. I WANT YOU TO SIT NEXT TO ME. YOU ARE BEING HIJACKED”
Bureau of Investigation could not come close to capturing the man. Bravo for the sky pirate for pulling
Having seen the eight red cylinders attached to wires
off such terror but how can we even begin to describe the terror it has caused and inspired! The story of this
was petrified and she made sure she jotted down his demands: $200,000 in 20 dollar bills and four
skyjack alone has inspired dozens of books and
parachutes. In exchange for the ransom, Cooper agreed to release the passengers and later the crews. Cooper
movies, inspiring even more terror to be caused to the world. Five months after the skyjack, a Vietnam veteran Richard McCoy was inspired to stage a similar skyjack, demanding $500,000 ransom in hand.
with red insulation bomb in his briefcase, Schaffner
also demanded the plane to head to Mexico City but the plane was headed to Reno instead.
Furthermore, 31 skyjacks were committed in the following year and a large majority of them demanded money as well. Granted, there are no casualties caused by this terror as all 42 passengers including crew were released safely but Cooper managed to escape with the $200,000 ransom in 20 dollar bills, which was his main demand. If you look at it that way, he did get what he wants, making it a very successful mission. His motifs to stage the hijack in the first place remain unknown but judging from the $200,000 (roughly 2.5 million dollars in today’s value) he get to carry away, it’s most likely that he’s just in it for the money. His demands were the money in cash as well as four parachutes for him to escape the plane with. SOME OF THE RANSOM MONEY IN $20 BILLS