How Did D. Cooper Pull Off The Perfect Crime

Vanished in the Night
Vanished into thin air is usually a term reserved for magician and wizards, not for a hijacker of a Boeing 727 airliner, however, in 1971 that became the exact case. This paper shall detail the crime as it was carried out and the subsequent investigation, the theories and suspects, and the aftermath of the crime and how it affects us today. Could this hijacker in 1971 pull off the perfect crime and become a legend in his own right.
On the cool 48 degree afternoon, (Weather History for Portland, OR) the eve of Thanksgiving, November 24, 1971 at 2 pm a man dressed like many other business men of the times purchased a one way ticket to Seattle for the sum of $20.00. The man identified as D. Cooper boarded the plane along

Based on Cooper’s directions to the flight crew it is believed that he had a good working knowledge of aviation and of parachuting. With the flight, settings that cooper gave to the crew, 10 thousand feet, 15 degree flaps, landing gear down and a cruising speed of 150knots puts the plane real close to its stalling speed of 106 knots (Aircraft Performance Data for BOEING 727-200 Advanced). This gives him an exit speed of approximately 176.2 miles per hour; the normal speed for parachuting is around 90mph, with army personnel using the T-10 system being able to withstand exit speeds of 173mph (T-10 Parachute). Combine all of this with the fact that the jump was completed at night during a light rain, accumulates to a very small window of survival. Both the FBI and the Army made extensive searches of the country side where is was suspected that Cooper bailed out of the plane, neither search proved fruitful. The investigation itself started out under false information, a news reporter who was getting information from police scanners misinterpreted the name of the suspect as D.B. Cooper and ran with it, many other news factions jumped on the wagon as to not be left in the dark. The hijacker of flight 305 who started as Dan Cooper had now become D.B. Cooper a name that lives on in infamy (Gray). The FBI had

The year before in 1970, President Richard Nixon put in affect the use of air marshals on select flights, in hope to deter any hijackings. However, since at the time it was unfeasible to have a marshal on each flight, midair hijacking still took place. Following Coopers hijacking, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered all airports to begin screening passengers and baggage for weapons and bombs (Wu). Many argued that this violated the fourth amendment rights, which prohibits against unreasonable searches and seizures and all warrants to the affect must be based upon reasonable cause (The Constitution of the United States, p. 529). The people took the FAA to court over the decision and the court agreed with the general public that yes the act did violate the 4th amendment rights, however they would allow it so far as it abided by two rules, one that if must be applied universally so there would be no chance for discrimination. Second, the search must be limited to looking for weapons or explosives only (Wu). The next action that the FAA ordered was for all Boeing 727’s to have a device installed, properly called the Cooper Vane. This device was simply a mechanical aerodynamic wedge that would not allow the aft stairs to be lowered during flight. The wedge operated on a spring and air pressure, when the plane