This episode kicks off our coverage of the only unsolved airplane hijacking in United States history.

On November 24, 1971, a nondescript man boarded a flight to Seattle. He wore a dark suit. He carried a briefcase. As the plane took off, he told the flight attendants that he had a bomb. He demanded $200,000 in ransom money, plus four parachutes.

The airline, along with federal agents, scrambled to meet his demands. When the plane landed in Seattle, he allowed the passengers to leave. Then the man – who would later be known as D.B. Cooper – instructed the crew to fly him to Mexico. His instructions revealed a high level of knowledge about the Boeing 727 jet. And then? He did the unthinkable. He parachuted out of the plane with the ransom money in tow, never to be heard from again.

The book, “Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper,” by Geoffrey Gray

The documentary, “DB Cooper: Where are you?!”

The documentary, “The Mystery of DB Cooper”

“Who was the mysterious hijacker D.B. Cooper?” by Ella Morton for History.com

“D.B. Cooper Hijacking, FBI.gov

“The missing piece of the D.B. Cooper story,” by Andrea Marks for Rolling Stone

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