DB Cooper

On November 24, 1971, a quiet passenger boarded a flight from Portland to Seattle. He wore a dark suit, ordered a bourbon and soda, and gave his name as Dan Cooper. Then he told a flight attendant he had a bomb.

Cooper demanded $200,000 and four parachutes. After the airline met his demands and released the passengers, the Boeing 727 took off again into a rainy night. Somewhere above Washington State, Cooper lowered the rear stairs and vanished. No one saw him jump. No one knows whether he survived.

In D.B. Cooper: The Man Who Vanished, Gary J. Rose takes readers aboard Flight 305 and into the investigation that followed. Through the experiences of the flight attendants, pilots, and investigators, this I Witness History (Short) explores the hijacking, the search, and the clues that kept the mystery alive—including ransom money discovered years later along the Columbia River.

Who was the man the world came to call D.B. Cooper? What happened after he left the airplane? Grounded in the historical record, this short book separates evidence from speculation and invites readers to examine one of America’s most enduring unsolved mysteries.