# D B Cooper - still? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 15, 2017, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711 "2017-08-15T13:52:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2017, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/21 "2017-08-19T13:18:49Z")
> [@Pippers](#): > > Very interesting. I wonder if they could ever figure out exactly when he jumped. No additional info is forthcoming, so no. The plane’s actual path was/is well known to investigators, plus/minus the couple of miles that was common to radar and nav accuracy in that era. The earliest moment he could have jumped is also known plus/minus a minute or so which is a few miles. From that point forward there’s a swath a few miles wide and a few hundred miles long that definitely contains Cooper’s jump point. Yes, there is one suspicious moment shortly after the airstairs were lowered when the whole airplane jumped a bit. Which is the most probable jump point. And which still has a position uncertainty of a few miles. After that there’s simply nothing more to be known or discovered from the air side. If somebody ever finds any incontrovertible evidence of Cooper on the ground even that is suspect as to location. How could the evidence have moved or been moved in the 46 and counting years since he jumped? Even the find of Cooper’s currency in 1980, nine years after his jump, is controversial in that it was in too good condition to have spent the whole time exposed to the elements in the wilds. So where was it during the 9 years, how was it protected by who or what, and how did it come to be in that part of the river? Net of all the dredging and other human activity along there? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2017, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/22 "2017-08-19T13:25:22Z")
I thought the area’s topography was more or less altered for good by the Mt St Helen’s eruption? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2017, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/23 "2017-08-19T14:54:34Z")
Here’s a decent map of the situation. [http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/07/31/article-0-0D3C060800000578-208\_634x359.jpg](http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/07/31/article-0-0D3C060800000578-208_634x359.jpg) From the town of Ariel, Mt. St. Helens is 20+ miles northeast. So a bit off the top of the map image a little to the right of where the dashed gray vertical border line leaves the image. The vast majority of the eruption’s destruction went north & northeast, not southwest. And massively affected the watershed up that way. I don’t specifically know about watershed effects to the south, but I don’t recall there being much news about that. The current consensus, to the degree there is one, is that Cooper probably landed further south than the original search area. IOW, even further away from the eruption’s influence. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/24 "2017-08-19T16:53:09Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Could they even prosecute him? There were no deaths attributed to him. Was there a federal statute of limitation on hijacking back then? There was, 5 years, but a grand jury indicted him for ‘air piracy’ in absentia. So, unfortunately, if D.B. Cooper did manage to survive, he can’t public a book explaining it all and smugly go on a media tour. I do wonder why the FBI kept him on their most wanted list so long - he stole far less money than the FBI spent investigating the crime, and the aircraft wasn’t damaged and no one was killed except himself, so… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2017, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/25 "2017-08-19T17:25:17Z")
_Pour discourager les autres_. Besides, although it’s the Mounties who always get their man, the FBI \*hates \*failing to resolve a high profile case. It ruins their reputation for smug infallibility. Keeping ol’ Cooper on the top ten list made it look more like a work still in progress than the failure it was. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/26 "2017-10-26T01:02:12Z")
I’m not a Cooperologist or whatever the conspiracy theorists are called, but did have a question. One argument against his surviving the jump is that none of the currency has been found in circulation. But how carefully does currency get checked? How carefully could it be checked in the 1970s and 1980s? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/27 "2018-11-18T17:25:33Z")
Updating this thread it’s time for another theory: **New suspect in D.B. Cooper skyjacking case unearthed by Army data analyst; FBI stays mum** > **[New suspect in D.B. Cooper skyjacking case unearthed by Army data analyst;...](https://www.oregonlive.com/news/erry-2018/11/e18eba2aa14557/new-suspect-in-db-cooper-skyja.html)** > > A researcher pieced together a fascinating tale of lives turned upside down and a daring plan to make a big statement. ---
**Author:** ![JB99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JB99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JB99)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/28 "2018-11-19T13:10:57Z")
Rottweiler Farm. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/29 "2018-11-19T13:12:32Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Updating this thread it’s time for another theory: > **New suspect in D.B. Cooper skyjacking case unearthed by Army data analyst; FBI stays mum** > [New suspect in D.B. Cooper skyjacking case unearthed by Army data analyst; FBI stays mum - oregonlive.com](https://www.oregonlive.com/expo/news/erry-2018/11/e18eba2aa14557/new-suspect-in-db-cooper-skyja.html) I had read that story, and it struck me as one of the more flimsy theories I’ve seen about Cooper. Too few dots to connect, and most of them are blurry. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/30 "2018-11-20T03:03:58Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Yeah, but I thought the money was found on the banks of the Columbia, and it would have had to have traveled upstream from the area where Cooper is thought to have jumped. > > I heard a podcast about the case a while ago, and it seemed like there was some possible uncertainty in exactly when he jumped out of the plane. They took off from Seattle and flew south. Cooper put on a parachute and told the flight attendant to go to the flight deck. The pilots saw a warning light that indicated the rear air stairs had been opened, and there was a small disturbance to the plane’s trim. The plane landed in Reno and Cooper was not on board. > > It seems to be taken as gospel that Cooper bailed out over southwest Washington, but he was out of anyone’s sight for quite some time. I’ve always wondered if he might have jumped later, but I don’t know if that was ever seriously considered. The “small disturbance” at the rear of the plane was what many people believe to be his launching himself into the night from the bottom of the stairs. However, some think this was a ruse meant to throw off law enforcement. All he did was jump up and down on the stairs, but did not jump at that time. If he had jumped at that time, he would have landed in a heavily forested area and been killed. Some believe he waited until the plane got just outside Reno to jump where the terrain was much more suited to a parachute landing. Remember, no one saw him jump. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/31 "2018-11-20T12:56:41Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > The “small disturbance” at the rear of the plane was what many people believe to be his launching himself into the night from the bottom of the stairs. However, some think this was a ruse meant to throw off law enforcement. All he did was jump up and down on the stairs, but did not jump at that time. If he had jumped at that time, he would have landed in a heavily forested area and been killed. Some believe he waited until the plane got just outside Reno to jump where the terrain was much more suited to a parachute landing. > > Remember, no one saw him jump. Remember, they found some of the money in the Columbia river downstream of where he is thought to have jumped. To hypothesize that he jumped much later on requires assuming that Dan Cooper threw away a bag of money. Why? To throw people off? That would presume he was so stupid that he thought that a bag of money would be easily found in mountainous, heavily forested terrain. Right. And I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you. No, he jumped in the region the FBI thinks he did. Period. Note that no money from the hijacking was ever spent. If Dan Cooper lived and kept some of the money you have to explain that. There is a plus 1 for this new thing: The Canadian connection. Almost all theories fall down on the lack of a Canadian connection that Dan Cooper had based on his language. But there’s a big minus 1000: Dan Cooper almost certainly did not survive the jump. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/32 "2018-11-20T15:00:10Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > The “small disturbance” at the rear of the plane was what many people believe to be his launching himself into the night from the bottom of the stairs. However, some think this was a ruse meant to throw off law enforcement. All he did was jump up and down on the stairs, but did not jump at that time. If he had jumped at that time, he would have landed in a heavily forested area and been killed. Some believe he waited until the plane got just outside Reno to jump where the terrain was much more suited to a parachute landing. > > Remember, no one saw him jump. Could he have just stowed away on the plane and walked away when it landed, making people think he jumped? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/33 "2018-11-20T15:15:58Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > Could he have just stowed away on the plane and walked away when it landed, making people think he jumped? I like my theory - that there never was a hijacker. That the entire thing was staged by the flight crew. Hey, it’s as good a theory as any. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/34 "2018-11-20T16:21:35Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Note that no money from the hijacking was ever spent. If Dan Cooper lived and kept some of the money you have to explain that. How is this checked? If it was just bank tellers being given a list then you would expect few bills to actually being checked–and then only for a few months and probably only within a few hundred miles of the hijacking. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/35 "2018-11-20T16:51:55Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > How is this checked? If it was just bank tellers being given a list then you would expect few bills to actually being checked–and then only for a few months and probably only within a few hundred miles of the hijacking. Money eventually goes back through the bill counting machines that check serial numbers. It will show up. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/36 "2018-11-20T16:57:10Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > … > But there’s a big minus 1000: Dan Cooper almost certainly did not survive the jump. I don’t know, if he didn’t survive the jump, wouldn’t someone have found the parachute eventually? It might be more plausible that he did survive the jump, but was badly injured. He was able to dispose of the chute somehow (burned it or buried it) and died shortly after from his injuries. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/37 "2018-11-20T18:22:32Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > Could he have just stowed away on the plane and walked away when it landed, making people think he jumped? Again, you really would have to dream up a very weird explanation as to why he threw at least some of the money out of the plane in the area where he is believed to have jumped. People, please. Some of the money was recovered in the Columbia in 1980. If you think he jumped elsewhere, step 1: Explain that. And we’ve also explained to death the fact that otherwise none of the money entered circulation else it would have turned up in the banking system. It may seem like magic to some people, but it’s a very doable thing. My go to example, as usual, is the [Weyerhaeuser kidnapping](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Weyerhaeuser_kidnapping#FBI_investigation). ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/38 "2018-11-20T18:57:48Z")
Would the money have turned up in the banking system if the robber took the money overseas? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/39 "2018-11-20T19:02:57Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Money eventually goes back through the bill counting machines that check serial numbers. It will show up. And worn out bills go back to the Treasury, and not a single Cooper bill has shown up. That doesn’t prove he didn’t survive, but it does prove he never spent any significant part of the money. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711/40 "2018-11-20T19:04:08Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Would the money have turned up in the banking system if the robber took the money overseas? Eventually. The bills move all over the world, and worn out bills get back. Sure, overseas you’d expect less bills, but not Zero. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-still/793711.md?page=3)