D. B. Cooper is a media epithet (actual pseudonym: Dan Cooper) used to describe an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in United States airspace between Portland and Seattle on the afternoon of November 24, 1971. After a stop at Seattle-Tacoma airport to collect $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to $1.28 million today and four parachutes, he leapt to an uncertain fate over southwestern Washington. Despite an extensive manhunt and a 45-year-long FBI investigation, the perpetrator's identity and fate remain unknown. The crime remains the only unsolved air piracy in commercial aviation history.
Available evidence and a preponderance of expert opinion suggested that Cooper probably did not survive his high-risk jump, but the FBI nevertheless maintained an active investigation for 45 years after the hijacking. Despite a case file that grew to over 60 volumes over that period, no definitive conclusions were reached regarding Cooper's true identity or fate.
A young boy discovered a small cache of banknotes from the ransom along the banks of the Columbia River in 1980, which triggered renewed interest but ultimately only deepened the mystery. The great majority of the ransom remains unrecovered.
