Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 was a scheduled flight operating from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington on the 24th of November 1971, ironically on Thanksgiving eve. It was operated on this day with the aircraft registered November 4 6 7 Uniform Sierra, a recent Boeing 727 and, it was operated by a crew of six people, amongst which Captain William Scott, First officer, William J Rataczak and a mechanical officer, named Harold Anderson, and Flight attendants Florence Shaffner and Tina Mucklow, as well as Alice Hancock. The flight boarded 37 other passengers who would be later on completely unaware of the current situation. Nothing specific was to declare on this day, at least in the cockpit, apart from the fact that the weather wasn’t great and, as such, pilots knew that the flight was expected to be a bit turbulent. I mean… this will soon turn to be an understatement.  

Now, before we go to anything, let’s talk a bit about Boeing 727 in itself. This aircraft was, back in the days, the only “Boeing aircraft” that never truly looked like the current classic Boeing we see today, and, this one, which is no longer in commercial service today, had a lot of peculiarities. First, it had his three engines in the rear side of the aircraft and not under the wings as modern Boeings do,  which, for pilots, was definitely a plus in the event of an engine not working, it would considerably be an advantage so we wouldn’t have to use the rudder too much to manoeuvre the aircraft in case of an emergency landing. Yet, just like any airplane model, the Boeing 727 had its fair share of issues, amongst which, to have a relatively short range, as it was merely used for domestic flights, but was also very noisy, and, this led several countries to eventually ban it from its airspace because of that. But the Boeing 727 had this very own particularity, which was to have a retractable staircase in the rear section of the aircraft under the tailplane, along the front and rear doors, and it was sometimes used to disembark passengers. This staircase could be also use in-flight, at least until this very flight, and this peculiarity will turn out to have great consequences in today’s depicted events.

Either way, the story of today, like I mentioned, won’t happen in the cockpit, but elsewhere. First, it was before the flight that a man, in his mid-forties, showed up at Portland Airport, and purchased a flight ticket for Seattle. Yeah, before the invention of the smartphone, you could do that. I mean, you still can today in some airports, but now, everything is mostly done online. This man identified himself as Dan Cooper, but since no identification proof were required, he paid his ticket cash in hand. This guy was described by eyewitnesses as a white male in his mid-40s, wearing a black business suit (black or brown, this remained unclear), had a white shirt, a thin black tie, a black raincoat and brown shoes. He carried, however, a briefcase, and a brown paper bag. He was also described as someone with dark short hair and brown eyes. He purchased the ticket for the seat 18E, in the last row of the aircraft, and once on board, before takeoff, he ordered a bourbon and a 7-up. Yes, because back in the days, you were allowed to be served drinks before takeoff once in the aircraft, which, I’m pretty sure may have lead to funny situations during takeoff and climbing phase.

Anyway, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 got granted takeoff clearance on time, at 2.50 Pacific standard time, and took off on time, performing an absolutely normal takeoff. The flight to Seattle wouldn’t be very long, it was scheduled to fly for half an hour, but, weather wasn’t really great on that day, so, usually, during short flights, planes aren’t climbing very high, and it’s unclear at what altitude the airplane was flying on that day, but most likely it didn’t fly very high.

But, like I mentioned, Cooper purchased the last row’s ticket, and, it’s during takeoff that things would become quickly interesting. As, usually, you may have noticed, during takeoff, flight attendants are always seated on jump seats next to the front and rear doors, but fir this flight those jump seats were right behind our passenger Dan Cooper who, shortly after takeoff, handed a paper note to Flight Attendant Florence Shaffner sat right behind him. At first, Schaffer dismissed the note, and just folded it and placed it in her purse, because she thought that, this was AGAIN one of those lonely businessman giving his phone number because he was looking for a bit of fun (yes… this used to happen, certainly the joys of being a flight attendant), but… this paper would trigger her interest very shortly as he leaned towards her and said, “Miss, you’d better look at that note. I have a bomb”

So Shaffner opened the note, and, in a neat, all capital letter, cooper had written “Miss – I have a bomb in my briefcase and want you to sit by me.” And as a clever, and probably cautious move, he asked Schaffer to return his note. Shaffner, understanding the critical urgency of the situation, immediately complied with Cooper’s demands, and sat next to him, and, very professionally, quietly asked to see the bomb. Cooper opened his briefcase, and she could see inside two rows of four red cylinders that looked like dynamites, all wiretapped to what she had assumed and described to be a battery. Which was also large, and cylindrical. After having shown that, he closed the suitcase, and here was about to start quite a stressful situation. Shaffner understood the seriousness of the situation, and Cooper told Shaffner of his demands, and those demands were expected for some, and peculiar for others: first, he asked to have delivered upon landing at Seattle $200,000 in cash in a knapsack by 5.00 pm, and have also delivered two front parachutes, and two other in the back. But one important detail: he wants the money in negotiable American currency. Now at this stage, you may be wondering, okay, so that’s a heist, and, in a way it is. But… four parachutes? Yeah. Because, it was not excluded that hostages could be taken. So it would prevent authorities from providing non-functional equipment.

Yes, here we go.

Once the plane successfully climbed and stabilised, now en route to Seattle, Shaffner managed to have Cooper’s demands written, in order to remain discreet and not start making a panic amongst other passengers, and she headed to the cockpit to inform Capitain Scott of the current situation. At this stage, Captain Scott understood what was going on, he told Shaffner to stay with him for the remainder of the flight and make notes of what was going on. Meanwhile, Captain Scott gave the commands to his first officer and contacted his head office located in Minnesota, through radio, informing of the current situation of the flight. And it’s here that our lovely friend Tina Mucklow enters the stage: as she left her seat, Shaffner ordered her to remain sat down with Cooper until she comes back, so she could act as a liaison between Cooper and the cockpit. As they wanted to keep things discreet in order to avoid panic on board, it was all about keeping it as an inside job, and, that’s why Mucklow was forced to stay here, so Shaffner could remain in contact between Cooper and the flight deck. And it’s here, if you think you had a bad day, imagine the flight attendant’s workload at this situation: your flight to Seattle might be quick, but you have now a terrorist on board. And a guy who seemed to be a skilled con artist.

Either way, as the flight continued and with now Captain Scott in touch with Northwest Orient Airlines head office, waiting for instruction, our first officer continued flying as scheduled to Seattle. Of course, everybody was informed, but the calm remained on board, with passengers oblivious of the ongoing mess that was taking place behind them. Seattle ATC, or Air Traffic Control if you missed the Air Florida episode was now informed that there was a problem on board of Flight 305 and, as a result, contacted the local police and the FBI. But in the meantime, Cooper made additional demands: upon landing, passengers must remain seated until Mucklow brings the money inside the airplane, after which passengers must disembark. Meanwhile, the airplane must be refuelled, ready for departure again. Oh yeah, and, in his demands, there was also this: Cooper asked to have someone subscribing to this channel… wait, no, that’s something else!

At this stage, for the crew, things were quite strange, but in the end, made some kind of sense. Anyway, at this stage, informed of the situation his crew was, Donald Nyrop, the CEO of Northwest Airlines at the time of the incident, authorised the payment and ordered for the entire crew, whether on ground or in flight, to comply with cooper and his demands. But, of course, this took a certain time, and approaching Seattle, the Boeing 727 got denied landing clearance and instead was given a holding pattern, waiting for landing clearance, as nothing was really prepared and, the other idea was to make sure all fuel inside would be burned, and it would leave the airport staff, as well as the police extra time to have everything organised on time when the plane lands. But the holding pattern the airplane was given was above the water, in the Puget Sound, in order to make sure that if Cooper goes crazy and detonates the bomb, then no damages would be done to local habitations. The Captain, at this stage, had to announce the passengers via a PA that, due to unforeseen circumstances, the airplane was to be delayed by two hours for Landing in Seattle Due to minor mechanical difficulties.  

But, one thing came flagged during the subsequent investigation following the incident: Cooper seemed to have an excellent knowledge of the terrain. For example, on the flight path of Flight 305, he perfectly recognised the city of Tacoma on the ground, and he also recognised from his window seat the presence of the McChord Air Force Base not far away from Seattle Tacoma International Airport, through the window. Mucklow said about his behaviour that, he was not nervous at all. They actually talked during the flight, and Mucklow, when Cooper asked her where she was from, stated that she was originally from Pennsylvania, but was currently living in Minneapolis. He also said that Minnesota was a very nice state. In return, she asked him where he was from and he refused to respond, becoming upset. And when Mucklow asked why he picked North-west Airlines for his hijack mission, he laughed and replied that “it’s not because I have a grudge against your airline, it’s just because I have a grudge.” In fact, he was confident and he was a quite nice guy, not cruel or nasty at all. And, even, as a gesture of sympathy, Cooper offered a cigaret to Mucklow, but even though she replied that she had quit, she still took the cigarette. But, either way, passengers got quite frustrated by this delay and, of course, started moving on and about in the aircraft.

Either way, the other reason as to why the plane didn’t receive clearance was also because, at the same time, the ransom was being gathered, and it was placed in a bag weighing about eight kilograms and consisted of ten thousands $20 notes, all having a specific serial number issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. At the same time, the police managed to obtain the parachutes from a local skydiving school and another stunt pilot. Then, once everything was gathered, Seattle ATC cleared the aircraft for landing. And at 5.46, Flight 305 successfully and safely landed in Seattle Tacoma Airport. Considering the fact that this mission was slightly special, and of course in agreement with Cooper, the aircraft parked on a partially lit runway, away from the main terminal, and there, some strange gathering was about to take place.

First, once the aircraft was taxied and parked, Cooper requested to have a representative of the airline coming with the parachutes and the money, but also requested another very important thing: if someone was to enter or leave the aircraft, it would be via a mobile staircase unit through the front door. The operation manager of Northwest Airlines was now in charge of going to the aircraft for the ransom transaction. And as per Cooper directives, Mucklow exited the aircraft to get the money and the parachutes for coming back inside the aircraft afterwards. And then, the transaction between Mucklow and the manager of Northwest Airlines went without any issue, but meanwhile, people were wondering why, first, they weren’t allowed to disembark straight away and why so much of a drama on the ground, now that the engines were off. But the secrecy remained. Mucklow came back in the aircraft, carrying the money, of course in front of every passengers, and delivered it to Cooper, as instructed.

But that was the deal. You have the money, now, the passengers need to be disembarked and, as agreed, Cooper allowed the passengers to be calmly disembarked. Of course, before that, Cooper counted the money, checked if everything was in there, whilst still holding everyone on board with the threat of the bomb to detonate if his demands are not met. Everybody was allowed to disembark, but the entire crew must remain on board. And, a funny story happened at that moment when Mucklow asked Cooper, as she saw him with all the cash, if she could have a bit… and I would have certainly done the same thing, to try to soothe the tensions. And Cooper was like, “oh yeah, of course”, handing her a pack of bills, but Mucklow declined, saying that it was against the company’s policy to accept tips from a passenger. But, of course, the money was there, and the parachutes were still to be delivered. Mucklow was in charge of getting them. But in the meantime, cooper, the pilots, Shaffner and the last flight attendant Alice Hancock were still on board. Shaffner politely asked if Cooper could retrieve her purse, to which Cooper replied, “I won’t bite you” and then asked if they could with Hancock leave the aircraft. Whilst Cooper needed Mucklow on board, increasing somewhat a psychological pressure over her, he said to Shaffner, “whatever you girls like.” Personally, if I were Mucklow, I’d have been badly upset with my two colleagues.

Either way, whilst Mucklow was now retrieving the parachutes, Cooper instructed the pilots: now, we need to refuel the aircraft, and takeoff again. This time, direction Mexico. But, problem was, Seattle-Mexico is, for the Boeing 727, impossible to do in one go, a refuel was needed at least at Reno, Nevada, in order to continue with the flight. At least that’s what Rataczak told Cooper. But at this stage, perhaps the grand final of the plan was scheduled in Cooper’s mind, so he accepted. Either way, the refuelling of the aircraft was ordered, and, as it took longer than expected due to the fact that, other aircraft’s requested refuelling, other trucks were sent to the aircraft in order to make it faster. But either way, three events happened during the time the refuelling was taking place: first, Cooper complained that the money was delivered in a different bag, requiring him to review his plans, but that didn’t seem to make him more upset or threatening. Second, an FAA official (so the FAA is the American Aviation Authority, FAA stands for Federal Aviation Authority) requesting a meeting with Cooper but this was, of course, declined by Cooper, and third, Cooper asked that, during take off, the aft staircase would be deployed and remained open during in flight. And it’s here that things would become really interesting and gave a different angle to the investigation that followed.

From a pilot point of view, the first officer stressed Cooper that taking off with the aft staircase deployed was absolutely unsafe, but Cooper said that, it can easily be done, so it will be done. And, in a way, he was right, taking off require an important speed and that would, in the end, damage the aircraft, but Cooper knew at this stage that it could be done, meaning that he had a good knowledge of the aircraft in itself. Second, he asked the pilots to make… what certainly would be the most dangerous flight of their lives: the plane must not climb above Flight Level 100 or 10,000 feet, and not exceed 100 knots in speed. Cabin must remain unpressurised, of course, and, with Landing gear deployed, during the flight, flaps must remained deployed at 15 degrees. And it’s here that, it can give a certain clue as to who Cooper could have been. Oh yeah, and, of course, Mucklow must remain on board in order to assist him. Yeah, when I told you it was such a nice day for her. She must have been living the dream.

Throughout his requests, we could identify here someone who has perhaps either been a pilot, or has been initiated to piloting. Though his requests, it clearly highlighted that he wanted the aircraft to remain close to the minimum speed to avoid a stall, so a loss of lift. If you guys want to know more about stalls, please listen to the Air Florida episode. Now, the altitude, he also knew that, reaching Flight Level 100, you would be high enough, but not too high, but still be able to breathe as, passed Flight level 100, you need to have the aircraft pressurised. You can still breathe at this altitude, though it could be harder. Plus, it was reported that, the way he handled the parachutes indicated that he was someone who knew what he was doing when he cut the canopy with a knife he had on him. Now, you guys may wonder… how comes he could be able to say with a certainty that the aircraft could take off with the aft staircase open? The answer was simple: the CIA, in the previous years, had its interest picked by the Boeing 727 and its aft staircase. Why? Because it could deploy troops in a war zone. Either way, the pilots accepted his requests because, even though challenging, they could be achieved, and with those configurations, the airplane got granted its takeoff clearance by Seattle ATC by 7.40 pm after full refuelling.

Anyway, after a fantastic day, everybody was back in the air, Cooper was assisted by a fantastic crew, composed of Captain Scott, first officer Rataczak, Mechanical Flight Officer Anderson and Flight Attendant Mucklow who were, alongside wondering where the joke would finally end, en route to Reno International Airport, hostages of Cooper. But, for this flight, of course, it was not just them: two F-106 took off from the McChord Airfield, and a Lockheed T-33, another military aircraft, diverted from its initial mission, were required to closely follow the aircraft from now on. All flew at a safe distance from the 727, flying in a S position, in order to capture every instant of everything that was on board and leaving the aircraft. This move was certainly calculated by Cooper who, after takeoff, asked Mucklow to open the staircase. But Mucklow objected, saying that this wasn’t really safe, she could get sucked out of the aircraft and, I would understand that. So she asked if she could go to the cockpit to get a safety rope, and Cooper said, no. Mucklow was certainly exhausted at this stage, but instead, he asked her to head to the cockpit but to close the partition between the Coach and First class section, and never return.

As Mucklow understood Cooper was about to escape, she begged him to take the bomb with him, to which he remained quite elusive. Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. Either way, as Mucklow did what was instructed, she headed to the cockpit, and, at 8 o’clock, whilst no one knew what was happening in the cabin, a light indicating that the staircase was opened flashed in the cockpit. Using the Intercom, the captain asked Cooper if he needed assistance, and, at this point, the very last answer from Cooper was a “no.” And this was the very last interaction the crew had with Cooper for this flight.

As the flight carried on and landed at Reno, Mucklow asked Cooper through the intercom to close the staircase, but no one was on board. As they got cleared for landing in Reno at 11 o’clock, once the aircraft was parked in the airport after a safe landing, FBI agents searched the aircraft. Cooper was nowhere to be found. Only two parachutes were found, as well as clip-on tie. Oh, yeah, one detail: the aircraft was flying the outskirts of Portland when the staircase creaked open. Upon the search, Cooper was missing… along with a parachute and the money. What became even more interesting was that, in the years that followed, we knew that the money has never been spent, given that the notes had serial numbers that couldn’t be identified, and only part of the cash has been found near a river down Vancouver in Canada. But to this day, all we know is that Cooper survived his fall from the 727, because Vancouver was not on the flight path of Flight 305 en route to Reno. As far as we know, the pilots kept flying afterwards, and Mucklow… when I told you she had an amazing day that inspired her the rest of her career, here’s why: after a few more years at the service of Northwest Airlines, she entered in a convent and became a Nun. As, no evidence were found, after what is still today a perfect heist, it was on the 8th of July 2016, after nearly forty five years of investigation that the FBI suspended the investigation the case, releasing it to the public. This remains today the only unsolved case of air piracy that has never been solved.

And there we have it, the elusive tale of D.B. Cooper, a name that has become synonymous with one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the annals of crime. As we draw this episode to a close, you’re left, much like the investigators of the time, with an enigmatic parachute jump into the void. Despite the serial numbers, the sketches, and the scattered bundles of cash found years later, D.B. Cooper remains an indelible question mark in the ledger of American folklore. He vanished into the forests, yes, but also into the realm of legends and hypotheticals. Who was D.B. Cooper? A thrill-seeker, a criminal mastermind, or simply a man desperate to disappear? In the grand scheme of things, the true story might be as elusive as Cooper himself. As you ponder this airborne enigma, I invite you to share your theories and speculations in the comment section below. Are they the missing piece of this puzzle, or just another twist in a tale that refuses to be unraveled? Until our next rendezvous with the enigmatic and the inexplicable, keep your minds open and your eyes skyward. See you next week, fellow seekers of the unknown!