For now, the only unsolved hijacking of an American  passenger jet over US soil remains unsolved.

The FBI reports the DNA from a "promising" sample is NOT a match to that believed to be of D.B. Cooper.  It remains one of the greatest mysteries of American folklore;  November 24 1971, a man who called himself Dan Cooper, or D.B. Cooper, hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 headed from Portland to Seattle.  He passed note to the stewardess saying he had a bomb.  After receiving 200k in ransom, he allowed the passengers off at Sea-Tac, then the plane took off for Mexico.  However,  Cooper ordered the pilot to lower his flight to 10,000 feet, and Cooper parachuted out of the back of the plane over what was believed to be an area between Vancouver WA and Portland--and was never seen again.   The FBI had hoped to match DNA from figerprints they obtained to personal items that had been left behind by the highjacker, but the DNA did not match.  The case remains a low priority for the FBI because the alledged suspect is dead.  The only real tangible piece of hard evidence ever discovered was in 1980, when $5800 of the ransom money was discovered by a child digging along the shoreline of the Columbia River in the general vicinity of  the area Cooper jumped out of the plane.  The money was traced by seriel numbers to be part of the 200k ransom.  Artist renderings and sketches from the flight crew and passengers portrayed a professional, clean cut individual wearing a suit and tie--which has only added to the mythology of the case.   It is also the only hijacking in history to result in design changes being made to an airliner.  Prior to the hijacking, the long stairway that lowered from the rear of the 727 well below the engines could be deployed while the plane was in flight,  but following Cooper's sky jump, the controls were changed so the exit became inoperable when the plane was airborne.  It offered an easy, relatively safe exit--so much so that many experts beleive Cooper was able to safety leap away from the plane and pull his chute.  The mystery continues....

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