The Hijacking of Flight 305 by D.B. Cooper:     CASE SOLVED! Robert Rackstraw Did It.

On the afternoon of November 24, 1971 a man identifying himself as Dan Cooper purchased a one way ticket from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. He boarded Northwest Airlines flight 305, a Boeing 727, carrying a briefcase and wearing a suit with a black overcoat. Cooper took a seat in the rear of the plane. Once in flight he lit a cigarette and ordered a drink from the flight attendant. After receiving and paying for his drink, Cooper passed a note to the flight attendant which stated that he had a bomb. The note went on to say that he wanted $200,000 in twenty dollar bills and two parachutes upon landing in Seattle. Wearing sunglasses, the mystery man remained calm and cordial to the flight attendants.

FBI sketch of DB Cooper from 11/24/1971

Robert Rackstraw's Army ID photo taken 9/1970

Once on the ground in Seattle, the FBI provided the ransom money after thoroughly documenting and photographing each of the bills. Two parachutes were provided to the hijacker and the plane was refueled. Upon receiving all of his ransom demands, Cooper released all of the passengers and flight attendants. All who remained on the plane were the pilot, co-pilot, the flight engineer and one flight attendant. He then instructed the pilots to fly toward Mexico City at 200 miles per hour at an altitude of 10,000 feet. The hijacked airliner took off from Seattle at 7:40 p.m. with the flight crew under instructions to stay in the cockpit. Shortly after take-off, flight attendant Muklow observed the hijacker tying something to his body.  At 8:00 p.m., the rear staircase indicator light came on in the cockpit as the rear staircase of the craft was being lowered manually from inside the aircraft. At 8:13 p.m. with two parachutes and twenty-one pounds of ransom money in hand, Dan Cooper jumped into history.  At the time of his jump, the plane was traveling 196 mph at 10,000 feet. Cooper jumped out into an icy, dark sky with a wind chill well below zero degrees.

In the days following the hijacking the FBI began to investigate the crime. A search of the plane yielded very few clues but it was discovered that before jumping from the aircraft, Cooper had removed his tie. Many witnesses were questioned and on a hunch detectives questioned a Portland, Oregon man named D.B. Cooper. Anxious reporters put the man’s name out as a person of interest and the name of “D.B. Cooper” has been attached to the hijacking and Dan Cooper ever since the crime was perpetrated.

With help from the U.S. Air Force the FBI recreated the jump conditions of the jump and placed his landing at Lake Merwin near Ariel, Washington. The FBI with help from state and local law enforcement, the U.S. Air Force and the National Guard began to comb the woods in the area of the supposed landing site of Dan Cooper. The searches, eyewitness questioning, suspect list and a trace of the numbered bills used to pay the ransom failed to yield any leads at all. To this day the hijacking of Flight 305 by Dan Cooper remains an open case.

Who is Robert Rackstraw?
Robert Rackstraw is a Vietnam veteran and former Army Helicopter and airplane pilot. He has a genius IQ and a penchant for criminal activity. He was awarded the silver star for valor in combat duty in Vietnam in 1970.  Before going to Vietnam, he attended US Army Airborne School, also known as jump school. Here, he learned how to parachute out of an airplane.  He also has military explosives training, special forces survival training, evasion and detection training, etc. Rackstraw also worked for the CIA, where he learned how to use the 727 rear stairway as a jump platform on secret jump missions during the war. After the war, he became a charter pilot in Washington state taking aerial photographs for realtors.  He's had multiple aliases and has committed many crimes. In summary, Rackstraw had the skill set needed by Cooper to pull this job off.  Robert Rackstraw even has a cousin named Ed Cooper who may have inspired the Dan Cooper alias.
The flight attendant who was seated next to Cooper stated he had "penetrating brown eyes and was wearing makeup to darken his skin".  This is important because at the time of hijacking, Rackstraw was 30 y/o and most described Cooper as being older (40 to 60 years old). Even today, people who have met him say one of Rackstraw's characteristic features are his penetrating brown eyes.

Rackstraw Crime Link Chart

Handwriting experts matched the letters from DB Cooper to Robert Rackstraw. 

DB Cooper Time Line

1967  Rackstraw attends infantry jump school at Fort Benning
1969  Rackstraw serves in Vietnam as Huey chopper pilot
1970  Rackstraw awarded silver star

1971  DB Cooper hijacks flight 305 and jumps into history

1978  Hunters find sign from rear stairway of flight 305 near Lake Merwin WA

1980  Ransom money found shore Columbia River Vancouver WA

2008  Parachute piece found Amboy WA
2016  FBI closes case