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Welcome to Northwest Orient Flight 305. Destination Seattle. 43 souls aboard. And one of the last to arrive is a passenger who looks just like any other. Dark suit, black tie. Just another anonymous businessman headed home for the holidays.

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Our passenger has bought himself a ticket using the name Dan Cooper. He carries a briefcase which hasn't been inspected by airport security. That's because here in 1971, despite a rash of attempted hijackings, there isn't any airport security.

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On board, passengers are stowing their belongings, taking their seats and settling in for the short 28 minute flight. Thank you.

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Mr. Cooper settles into seat 18E at the back of the aircraft and orders himself a bourbon and 7-up, a sophisticated drink at the time.

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It isn't until the plane taxis away from the gate that he hands 23 year old flight attendant Flo Schaffner a note. Of course, a lot of businessmen pass notes to Flo, so she promptly disregards it.

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But this one was different.

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And just like that, the fate of this normal commuter flight has suddenly changed course and is about to become the stuff of legend.

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He is known as D.B. Cooper, mastermind of the only unsolved skyjacking in history and what some believe to be the perfect crime.

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In 1971, this mysterious traveler threatens to blow up Northwest Orient Flight 305. He's given $200,000 and four parachutes before vanishing out the back of a Boeing 727, never to be seen again.

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The crime captivates the nation and sets off the largest manhunt in U.S. history. But now, decades later, the FBI is officially giving up on the case unsolved.

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But not everyone is throwing in the towel. Journalists, scientists and passionate citizens may be closer than ever to cracking the case wide open.

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They're uncovering FBI documents, pushing the scientific bounds of forensic testing and developing mind-blowing, groundbreaking theories about who D.B. Cooper was and what happened to him.

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So fasten your seatbelts and place your seatbacks in the upright position because we're taking off on an expedition unknown manhunt chasing aviation's most legendary outlaw.

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My name is Josh Gates.

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Look at that!

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With a degree in archaeology and a passion for exploration.

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I have a tendency to end up in some very strange situations.

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This is horrible. This is officially horrible.

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My travels have taken me to the ends of the earth as I investigate the greatest legends in history.

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We're going to try. Let's go.

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This is Expedition Unknown.

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Everything we know about what Cooper said and did that night comes from witness statements and the vast case files of the FBI, which are sealed and now shelved.

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So I'm starting my investigation right here in New York by meeting with Jeffrey Gray, the author of the best-selling book Skyjack.

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He's also the only investigative journalist with a copy of the full FBI files.

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Have all of these been seen publicly before or no?

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These are documents that have never been released or never really been shown in any forum until right now.

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How did this come to pass?

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You know, I'm an investigative reporter, so I cannot tell you where I got these FBI confidential case files.

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It wouldn't be a DB Cooper story if you could. It has to be some sense of mystery.

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Cooper's taken on this kind of cult status as a character and we have this image of him, you know, from that sketch.

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The two FBI composite sketches of DB Cooper are iconic.

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In them, Cooper looks suave, black suit, straight-slicked hair, dark glasses, a cool and collected criminal mastermind.

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Do you think that's accurate?

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One of the new things I can tell you from these FBI files is a description from Robert Gregory.

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No passenger gave a more detailed description of the Skyjacker than Robert Gregory, who was sitting diagonally across from him.

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And what he would later tell the FBI in his interview may forever change what we think we know about DB Cooper.

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He says that his hair, okay, you can see here was jet black, wavy, a greasy patent leather sheen.

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So Gregory also tells us something else.

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The clothing, reddish brown suit with wide lapels, color was unusual, more of a russet color, and then he had the tie.

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This guy's tie wasn't a Pierre Cardin, it was a town craft, which means he got it from J.C. Penny.

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It was actually a three-year-old tie that Busboys used.

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Sounds like an ugly 70s suit.

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A completely ugly suit. This is like a leisure suit, Larry.

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We have evidence that shows a very different guy.

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Right.

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The Cooper who took over this airplane, the Skyjacker, and the Cooper who everyone knows are two different guys.

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Cooper, it turns out, wasn't exactly Don Draper. His appearance was much more ordinary. His clothes disheveled and thrown together.

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But for some reason, that description was never factored into the now famous sketches.

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Over the years, the FBI interviewed nearly a thousand potential suspects based on the drawings, including men turned in by their own suspicious families.

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None were ever charged with the crime.

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If we really want to understand who D.B. Cooper is, we have to understand that there is no D.B. Cooper.

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He's right. It was only through a widely repeated media error that he even became known as D.B.

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The man who hijacked Flight 305 was ticketed under the name Dan Cooper.

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That is probably one of the biggest clues in the case.

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Now, for years, the FBI was stumped. What they didn't know was that there actually was a Dan Cooper, but that Dan Cooper wasn't a person.

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It was actually a comic book character.

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And I'll show you what Dan Cooper looks like.

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This is the comic.

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That's Dan Cooper.

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So hold on. This is a comic about a guy named Dan Cooper, and the cover is literally him jumping out of an airplane with a parachute.

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I mean, that's an impossible coincidence, isn't it?

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I think that that is a coincidence that is too coincidental to ignore.

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The comic book was published in Belgium, but was popular in Canada.

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It features a brazen military parachutist.

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If this was Cooper's inspiration, he could well be French-Canadian in the military, or a wannabe daredevil.

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So the current state of affairs with this case publicly is that the FBI has said, kind of, we give up.

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This case is being investigated every day.

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And the people, I think, who have the best grip on the case are the civic sleuths that are actually, you know, are responsible for making the big, the big latest breaks.

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There are really, I'll diplomatically use the word, passionate people who are really deep into this.

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Well, you know about the Cooper curse, right?

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No. What's the Cooper curse?

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The Cooper case is an obsession.

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There's no way not to get obsessed with it once you start getting into it.

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And just when you think you're onto them, you learn something else that takes you in another direction.

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What is it about the Cooper story that's so obsessive?

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It's a treasure hunt, and the hunt is unveiling the true identity of the hijacker, and the stakes are very high.

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Armed with a handful of new clues and a plan not to go off the deep end, I begin my investigation to find out who D.B. Cooper really was, how he commandeered that aircraft, and how he got away.

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The flight from Portland to Seattle is less than half an hour.

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A few minutes after takeoff, Cooper lists his demands to flight attendant Florence Schaffner.

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She jots them down and then quickly takes them to the cockpit.

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Cooper's demands are fairly straightforward.

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He asks for $200,000 in negotiable American currency, four parachutes, a fuel truck to be waiting in Seattle, and, thoughtfully, food for the flight crew.

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Flight 305 is being hijacked.

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The crew immediately follows the required protocols.

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We're not going to 305, we're being hijacked.

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When they land in Seattle, Cooper exchanges the passengers for the money and parachutes, and he tells the flight crew he wants to go to Mexico.

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Since he claims to have a bomb, they have no choice but to oblige.

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With the money and the parachutes aboard, Flight 305 gets back in the air.

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But what route it takes when it leaves Seattle is, like everything else in this case, a mystery.

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To chase Cooper, I catch my own flight to where Northwest Orient 305 first took off.

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Portland, Oregon.

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Portland is a unique town.

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We'll never use that.

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It's the perfect place to hitch up your tiny unicorn,

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try a hipster bacon-covered donut,

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get me a work application.

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I work here now.

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It's happening.

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I'm a full-time employee at a store.

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Or hit up a craft brewery.

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Surprise!

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Surprise!

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Oh my God, that's a lot of beer.

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Happy 50th State!

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My crew has arranged a little surprise party for a milestone I'm honored to reach.

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I'm finally visiting my 50th state.

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50 beers for 50 states.

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Oh my God, okay, so it's one beer per state.

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Where are you from?

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Alabama.

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Alabama.

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Texas.

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Texas, there we go.

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Connecticut.

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The mean streets of Connecticut.

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Michigan.

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Michigan gets a beer.

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Cheers, everybody!

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Cheers!

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Cheers!

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Cheers!

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Cheers!

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But I'm not just in town to celebrate.

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I'm here to investigate.

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Cooper hijacks the plane here in Portland.

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After getting the money and parachutes in Seattle,

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the plane heads south toward Mexico.

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Based on when the FBI believes Cooper jumped out of the plane,

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they establish a search zone in the forests around Ariel, Washington.

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Which is where I'm headed next.

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So this is the original FBI search area.

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Miles and miles of nothing but forests and mountains.

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And frankly, this is a terrible place to jump out of an airplane.

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I mean, look around.

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You've got nothing but incredibly tall trees that you could get impaled or snagged up on.

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You've got lakes, you've got rivers.

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There's very little infrastructure here, very few roads that he could escape out on.

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But after four decades and thousands and thousands of investigators pouring through these woods,

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nobody's found a parachute, nobody's found a body.

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The man who called himself Dan Cooper appears to have just vanished off the face of the Earth.

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But what if the reason the FBI never found anything in these woods

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is because Cooper was never here?

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I grab a car and drive 20 miles to connect with three dedicated aviation experts and researchers

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who have asked me to meet them at a spot called Tina Barr.

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Hey, Josh.

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I'm Josh. How are you?

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Hi, Josh. I'm Bruce.

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Hey, Bruce, nice to meet you. How are you, sir?

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Nice to meet you, Josh. I'm Myer Lillie.

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Myer, nice to meet you guys.

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The FBI established their drop zone pretty far away from here.

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And how did you guys come up with one that's so different?

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The FBI was looking where most commercial airplanes flying at 10,000 feet or lower would be flying.

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And that would be in that area about 20 miles that way to the east.

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The speculation is this. With a bomb on board, the pilots didn't want to fly over populated areas of Vancouver and Portland.

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So if they flew a few miles west, they would avoid that.

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Right.

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And that puts them right here.

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The planes accepted flight path over aerial Washington established the FBI search area.

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But since the pilots wanted to avoid major cities, the men theorized that the actual course would have been further west over this very spot.

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This spot is significant because it's the only place where any money from the D.B. Cooper story has ever been found.

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In February of 1980, a family on a camping trip was building a fire pit when their young boys swept his hand through the sand and found three stacked bundles of cash totaling $5,800.

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All bearing the serial numbers of D.B. Cooper's ransom money.

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Some are convinced that it was placed here by Cooper himself as a diversion. Others think it washed up after Cooper died in the fall.

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So when that money was found, the FBI, I'm sure, churned up here in droves, right?

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Yes.

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But did they search this whole area, the spot you've identified as the new drop zone?

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No.

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So they focused here, but not the rest of this new drop zone?

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Yes.

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We think that area needs to be searched more.

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What stands to be found here, do you think?

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Basically the remnants of a parachute and a harness.

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The metal hardware on the parachute, the frame, harnesses, clips, and some personal items like belt buckles, pocket knife, things like that.

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Let's not forget the rest of the money.

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And the money.

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Yeah.

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Right?

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Yeah.

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All right, boys, well, let's get to it, huh?

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This is a fairly vast area so the men have called in reinforcements in the form of a small army of D.B. Cooper enthusiasts.

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And with metal detectors in hand, we all fan out to see if history might be right under our feet.

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Part of me feels really confident about this search.

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You know, I do buy into the logic behind it, but it's hard to escape the fact that what we're looking for is a real needle in a haystack.

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It's not just one man or a parachute or money.

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It's in an area that has changed so much.

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We're talking about almost 50 years on now.

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So the hunt may be in a promising place, but that doesn't mean that it's easy.

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Lucky for us, it only takes an hour to get a solid hit on our metal detectors.

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Something big there.

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Myer, I got a pretty big hit.

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Did Josh find something?

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I'm chasing new leads in the hunt for infamous skyjacker D.B. Cooper.

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In Southern Washington, I'm working with researchers who believe this is the real location where Cooper parachuted into the unknown more than four decades ago.

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Something big there.

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Myer, I got a pretty big hit.

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Did Josh find something?

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Thanks, man.

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I got a good hit on the metal detector just trying to figure out what it is.

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What is that?

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Robert.

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Piece of something.

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I got a good hit on the metal detector.

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Piece of something.

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Some kind of clip.

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Some kind of a ring.

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Could be an accessory from the parachute.

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Anyone who's ever strapped on a parachute, which I have not, thank you very much, knows they contain rings and clips.

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And this metal does resemble the hardware from Cooper's shoot.

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But it's a long shot.

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Or it could be nothing.

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Could be nothing.

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Right, that's the mystery.

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What do you say to people who would say, look, it's been four decades, even the FBI's given up on this.

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It's not going to be solved.

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Well, look at the history of the case.

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The biggest clue, the biggest lead, the biggest break in the case occurred eight years after the skyjacking.

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By an eight-year-old kid, getting ready to cook hot dogs on the beach.

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Right.

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Wasn't the FBI.

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It wasn't the FBI.

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They showed up two days later.

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Right.

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Okay.

225
00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,000
All we need is that one piece of evidence.

226
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:10,000
I think that's what keeps us going.

227
00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:14,000
That one piece of evidence is going to be the piece that puts the puzzle all together.

228
00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:17,000
If you find that critical piece of evidence, I hope you give me a call.

229
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:18,000
We'll call you right away, we promise.

230
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:19,000
Thank you, Josh.

231
00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:20,000
Thank you very much.

232
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,000
The metal will be sent to a lab for testing.

233
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:30,000
Just another sliver of hope to find something connected to a man who didn't leave anything to chance.

234
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:36,000
After Cooper gets the ransom money in Seattle, he says he wants the plane to fly to Mexico

235
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:41,000
at an altitude of 10,000 feet with the flaps trimmed to 15 degrees.

236
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:46,000
The pilots insist in that configuration the plane won't make it all the way to Mexico.

237
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:49,000
So they decide to make a refueling stop in Reno.

238
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:53,000
On the way, Cooper settles in and ingratiates himself with the flight attendant.

239
00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:59,000
He makes small talk and he smokes a total of eight cigarettes throughout the entire ordeal.

240
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:04,000
The cigarette butts represent the one source of potentially viable Cooper DNA,

241
00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:10,000
which is a shame because in the years that follow, the FBI will lose this crucial evidence.

242
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:17,000
In 1971, Cooper couldn't have known that DNA from a cigarette could be used to identify him.

243
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:22,000
Still, he's scrupulous in collecting all potential evidence, such as the notes that he wrote.

244
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:24,000
But he makes one huge mistake.

245
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:28,000
He forgets that he's taken off his black clip-on tie.

246
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:33,000
Very few outside investigators ever tested the tie,

247
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,000
which is why I can't wait to talk to one of them.

248
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:39,000
Tom Kay from his lab in Tucson.

249
00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:40,000
Tom.

250
00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:41,000
Josh.

251
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:42,000
How are ya?

252
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:43,000
Good to see you finally.

253
00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:49,000
I really wanted to chat with you because I know that you had this really special access to some of the evidence in this case.

254
00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:53,000
Yeah, that's true. Primarily we were interested in D.B. Cooper's tie.

255
00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:58,000
The thing about a tie is, it follows you around everywhere you go, and you never wash it.

256
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:03,000
And that's the important point here because it accumulates particles from everywhere you've ever been.

257
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,000
And so what's the process? How do you get particles off a tie?

258
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:10,000
Well, we went there kind of loaded with these stubs they're called.

259
00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,000
They're small aluminum discs, and they have carbon sticky tape on them.

260
00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,000
And then we stick it to the tie and peel it back off.

261
00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:20,000
We got 19 sticky stubs off of Cooper's tie.

262
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:24,000
And on those stubs, how many different particles were you able to identify?

263
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:30,000
We looked at the particles by hand, and we were able to identify about 700 different particles.

264
00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:31,000
Wow, that's a lot.

265
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:37,000
And so when you say you looked at it all by hand, do you feel like you've gotten all the evidence there is to get?

266
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:43,000
You know, we have a lot of particles, and we have only the ability to look at them manually,

267
00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:47,000
which really hinders our ability to analyze the particles one by one.

268
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:51,000
We know that there's hundreds to thousands of particles waiting to be analyzed.

269
00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:54,000
What's the process to actually look at those additional particles?

270
00:19:54,000 --> 00:20:00,000
Well, you know, in a perfect world, there's a device, and it can do 3,000 particles per hour.

271
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,000
That's what we need.

272
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:08,000
With the FBI having shelved the Cooper case, I can't resist jumping into the citizen-led search myself.

273
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:13,000
I mean, I don't want to be too forward here, but if I could help facilitate that,

274
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:18,000
if we could find a way to get a lab, and if we can, let's see if we can get those tested

275
00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,000
and see what modern technology can bring to the equation.

276
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:26,000
If your team could pull off something like that, we would absolutely be at the door instantly.

277
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:30,000
Okay, great. Well, let me look into it, Tom, and we'll pick up the conversation from there.

278
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:31,000
Sounds good.

279
00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:32,000
Great talking to you.

280
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:33,000
Bye-bye.

281
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:34,000
Bye.

282
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:42,000
Eager to help Tom out, my team and I start reaching out, hoping to find a lab willing to crack one of our greatest unsolved mysteries.

283
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:49,000
Back aboard Northwest Orient 305, the man who once owned that clip-on tie tells flight attendant Tina Mucklow

284
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:56,000
to join the rest of the crew in the cockpit, instructing her to close the first-class curtain and for no one to come out.

285
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:08,000
That was the last anyone saw of the man now known as D.B. Cooper.

286
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:19,000
The hijacking of Northwest Orient Flight 305 by D.B. Cooper remains one of the great unsolved crimes of the 20th century,

287
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:27,000
but examining the timeline of the case may reveal crucial new evidence that could help identify where Cooper jumped

288
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,000
and whether he really got away.

289
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:34,000
With the flight crew sequestered in the cockpit, Cooper straps on one of the parachutes

290
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:38,000
and finds the man who was the first to land on the plane.

291
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:43,000
The pilots report feeling movement in the tail of the aircraft around 8.13 p.m.

292
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:49,000
An indicator that Cooper has depressurized the door, descended the stairs and jumped into history.

293
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,000
No trace of Cooper's death has been found.

294
00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:03,000
The pilot is now on the plane, and the man who was the first to land on the plane is the man who was the first to land on the plane.

295
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:09,000
No trace of Cooper was ever found in that drop zone over aerial Washington.

296
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:15,000
But that doesn't stop the local Cooper aficionados from celebrating the event that put their town on the map.

297
00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:28,000
Around here, Cooper is a counter-culture folk hero, and they've been throwing him a party almost every year since 1972.

298
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:35,000
The party celebrates Cooper as a fearless individualist who found an amazing way to stick it to the man and get away with it.

299
00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:40,000
TV Cooper was our modern day Jesse J.

300
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,000
I think it's great he got away.

301
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,000
Hold on a second here, sir.

302
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:45,000
Wait a minute.

303
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,000
Wait just a minute.

304
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:52,000
Since 1980, the party has been held here at the Aerial General Store.

305
00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:57,000
A self-styled, smoke-filled, veritable museum of Cooper oddities.

306
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,000
And I'm not just talking about the Chachkes.

307
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:00,000
Do you think he made it out?

308
00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:04,000
Yeah, because the whole thing was Nixon distracting us from Vietnam.

309
00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:05,000
It was a government inside job.

310
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,000
Yeah, a government inside job.

311
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:11,000
I'm glad he got away so he could have this big party.

312
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,000
Tidemy Cooper.

313
00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:14,000
Yeah.

314
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:15,000
You're here.

315
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:16,000
Cheers.

316
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:24,000
Locals even attend the festivities dressed up as Cooper, ransom money and all, which, after a few beers, inspires my own daring heist.

317
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:36,000
Just because the FBI never found their man here, that doesn't mean they're going to be a part of the party.

318
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:43,000
Just because the FBI never found their man here, that doesn't mean there's nothing of Cooper's to see in Washington.

319
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:49,000
In a small museum in Tacoma, I come face to face with an important piece of Cooper evidence.

320
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:56,000
There are obviously very few physical pieces of evidence left from the Cooper skyjacking, and this is one of them.

321
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:57,000
This is really extraordinary.

322
00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:04,000
It's one of the four parachutes that was given to Cooper by the FBI, and it's one of the two that he left behind.

323
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:11,000
At the time, this was the newer, sportier model that would have given Cooper more control on the way down, and yet he didn't take this.

324
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:16,000
He opted for the older military chute, and that raises a really puzzling question.

325
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:26,000
Does this mean that Cooper was a military guy, and that he took a parachute he was familiar with, or does it mean that he didn't actually know much about parachuting at all, and just made the wrong choice?

326
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:36,000
I leave the unused parachute behind and press on to a meeting with a researcher who recently published a paper explaining how he thinks Cooper may have eluded capture.

327
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:43,000
At Seattle's Boeing Field, I meet retired FBI agent and former Vietnam paratrooper Greg Hall.

328
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:44,000
Greg!

329
00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:45,000
Josh, how are you doing today?

330
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,000
I'm doing great. What a spot for a meeting.

331
00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:54,000
It is. Thanks for coming out. This is the 727, and it's not by chance that D.B. Cooper selected this style of airplane.

332
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:55,000
Okay.

333
00:24:55,000 --> 00:25:09,000
These are the famous aft stairs, yeah?

334
00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:15,000
Correct. These are the aft stairs on the 727. They were found on two aircraft at that time, two commercial aircrafts.

335
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:17,000
Now, what's your background coming into this?

336
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:21,000
Well, I served in the Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne.

337
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:22,000
Wow.

338
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:26,000
And I jumped from a similar setup, but not a stair, but we called it tailgate.

339
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:33,000
And I believe Cooper was also an experienced military paratrooper, most likely Army, and he also jumped from tailgates.

340
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,000
What makes you believe that Cooper was military?

341
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:40,000
Because of the way the whole crime developed.

342
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:43,000
And he jumped at night, which we're trained to jump at night.

343
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:46,000
He used another aspect of an operation plan, that's called the diversion.

344
00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:49,000
A diversion in airborne operations is similar to a magician.

345
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,000
You just slide a hand. It's misdirection.

346
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:52,000
Okay.

347
00:25:52,000 --> 00:26:01,000
And so in a diversion, try to make the enemy think, in this case, the criminal investigators think you jumped in one place, which in his case would have been Southern Washington State.

348
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:04,000
So you're saying you think that the original drop zone is incorrect?

349
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:06,000
Yes, absolutely.

350
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:22,000
My investigation into the mysterious case of the Skyjacker known as D.B. Cooper has led me to retired FBI agent and former Army paratrooper Greg Hall, who has raised a groundbreaking new theory.

351
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,000
So you're saying you think that the original drop zone is incorrect?

352
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,000
Yes, absolutely.

353
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:33,000
I think the original search zone was based upon the diversion he created back here.

354
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:38,000
And it was very successful, successful enough that it flew law enforcement for 45 years.

355
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:43,000
And he created that diversion by coming down the stairs and he jumped on him.

356
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:48,000
It caused the plane to oscillate, which was felt up under control yoke by the pilots.

357
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:55,000
It has long been believed that Cooper jumped at approximately 8.13 p.m.

358
00:26:55,000 --> 00:27:00,000
Because this is the time when the pilots recorded what they described as a pressure bump.

359
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:06,000
The assumption is that when Cooper opened the aft door, the pilots felt it and assumed he jumped immediately.

360
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,000
But what if he didn't?

361
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:18,000
Greg believes that Cooper bounced up and down on the stairs to trick the crew into thinking he'd vacated the aircraft,

362
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:25,000
making them record the wrong jump time, causing the FBI to establish a totally incorrect drop zone.

363
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:29,000
And so what do you think is his most likely jump point?

364
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:33,000
Just to go along with what I said earlier about him being an experienced parachutist,

365
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:39,000
you look for a drop zone that has open area, it has roads, or something you can hitchhike to and get in.

366
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,000
I'd say it's most likely a jump point that was north of Reno.

367
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,000
The plane's coming in, approaching the airport to land.

368
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:49,000
It's going low and slow, it'll come down and jump and be done with it.

369
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:54,000
It's a very logical theory, but I'm skeptical that Cooper jumped at the same time.

370
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,000
But I'm skeptical since there's no corroborating evidence.

371
00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:58,000
Or is there?

372
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:01,000
Greg tells me that just a few days after the hijacking,

373
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,000
the Reno Gazette got a letter that read,

374
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:08,000
Thanks for the hospitality, signed D.B. Cooper.

375
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:12,000
The note was cobbled together with scraps from an article in the Sacramento Bee,

376
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:14,000
which was published a few days earlier.

377
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:19,000
Sacramento is the closest big city to Reno, just a two hour drive away.

378
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:26,000
Has someone really tested that theory to try to establish a more southerly search zone?

379
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,000
No, it has not been tested.

380
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:32,000
And is there a way to test that? Is there a way to try to create a new drop zone?

381
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:37,000
The best way to test that theory is go ahead and do it. Do a parachute jump.

382
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,000
Out of a plane on approach to Reno?

383
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,000
Out of a plane with a parachute on approach to Reno, yes.

384
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,000
Well, it was crazy enough to try that.

385
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:45,000
You?

386
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:55,000
Against my better judgment, Greg and I fly 700 miles to Reno, Nevada.

387
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,000
They call it the biggest little city in the world,

388
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:04,000
which I guess plays better on paper than Vegas, but much weirder.

389
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,000
And while Reno might not shine quite as bright as Sin City,

390
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,000
you get the feeling that Reno doesn't really give a damn what you think.

391
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:11,000
And I like that.

392
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:16,000
This is also where D.B. Cooper's Skyjack plane landed, minus one Skyjack.

393
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:21,000
Greg's plan here is simple. Follow Flight 305's original flight path into Reno.

394
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:25,000
Then, at the spot where he believes Cooper really parachuted,

395
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:29,000
I'm supposed to do the same thing, which I've never, ever done.

396
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,000
Before I have a chance to tell Greg that I'm on the verge of throwing up,

397
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:38,000
I'm on a tarmac meeting Juan and his partner Dave, both professional skydivers.

398
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,000
They're my new worst enemies slash best friends.

399
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,000
What's the plan? Where am I jumping?

400
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:48,000
You're going to be on the same flight path as the 727 back in 1971 going into Reno.

401
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:52,000
And when you get at the proper location where you'd best think that Cooper jumped from,

402
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,000
you're going to exit the aircraft.

403
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,000
When you get on the ground, you'll have your GPS unit.

404
00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:01,000
You'll lock in the coordinates and I'll vector in right on where you're at.

405
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:03,000
Okay, makes sense.

406
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:04,000
You ready?

407
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,000
I'm really not.

408
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:07,000
Full confession.

409
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,000
I have kind of avoided this my whole life.

410
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,000
I've done every crazy thing you can think of except for this.

411
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,000
We'll take it easy on you.

412
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:17,000
I'm terrified of this.

413
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:20,000
If you weren't concerned, if you didn't have any anxiety, we'd be concerned.

414
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:22,000
Have a little bit of fear.

415
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,000
Oh, I got a little bit of fear.

416
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,000
And whom am I getting strapped to here?

417
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:27,000
Right here.

418
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,000
How many jumps have you had?

419
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:31,000
You know, there's my second day today.

420
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:33,000
This guy.

421
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,000
Okay boys, let's go.

422
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:42,000
There are times in my line of work when I can't believe the incredibly amazing things I get to do.

423
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,000
And I mentioned that I don't want to do this.

424
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,000
At all.

425
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:55,000
And then there are times like this where I can't believe the stupidly dangerous things I agree to do.

426
00:30:57,000 --> 00:30:59,000
Do you know how many Mexican techs to take you out of the airplane?

427
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:00,000
How many?

428
00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:01,000
Only Juan.

429
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,000
Oh my God.

430
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,000
Please don't let that be the last joke I hear on this earth.

431
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:12,000
Check, check, check.

432
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:13,000
One, two, one, two.

433
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:14,000
Greg, you read me?

434
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:15,000
Ten for it.

435
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:16,000
Copy.

436
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:17,000
How about me?

437
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:18,000
Land clear.

438
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:19,000
Let's rock and roll.

439
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,000
The plane lurches into the air.

440
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:29,000
And I'm keenly aware of each foot we climb on the way up.

441
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:33,000
Because I'm going to have to fall through every one of them again on the way down.

442
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,000
And make the jump.

443
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,000
Greg, unfortunately the flight is in the most likely jump area.

444
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:13,000
We're going to get to 100 and rock and roll here.

445
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:18,000
We're in overstate.

446
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,000
How terrified I am right now.

447
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,000
Maybe it's not too late to back out.

448
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:31,000
After all, do we really need to know what happens at D.B. Cooper?

449
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,000
Once we hit 11,000 feet, Juan tells me it's go time.

450
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,000
I pretend not to hear him, but it's too late.

451
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:45,000
And just like that.

452
00:32:45,000 --> 00:33:01,000
I'm on a small plane approaching Reno, Nevada to retrace the path of the 727 that D.B. Cooper skyjacked in 1971.

453
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:06,000
To help establish a new search zone, I too am about to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

454
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:07,000
Greg, we're pushing the flight.

455
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,000
This is the most likely jump area.

456
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:11,000
We're going to get to 100 and rock and roll here.

457
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,000
I'm supposed to love adventure.

458
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:15,000
And I do.

459
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:19,000
But also, I've spent my entire adult life avoiding jumping out of a plane.

460
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,000
My heart is in my throat and I'm shaking all over.

461
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,000
There's no way out, but down.

462
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:43,000
Yeah!

463
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:44,000
Whoa!

464
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:52,000
Oh my God!

465
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:20,000
As I free fall over the Reno landscape, I can't help but think this is exactly what D.B. Cooper must have felt as he hurtled toward the waiting world below.

466
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:25,000
Looking down here, this is the ideal place to parachute.

467
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:31,000
It's impossible for me to imagine Cooper, a knife in those thick forests.

468
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:43,000
Woo!

469
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:44,000
Woo!

470
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:45,000
Good job, man.

471
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:46,000
Haha!

472
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:47,000
Woo!

473
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:48,000
That was a lot, right?

474
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:49,000
Oh, God!

475
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:53,000
You can't describe it.

476
00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:57,000
I don't have any words to really describe it.

477
00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:02,000
That's like, oh God, that was the scariest.

478
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,000
And the coolest thing I have done.

479
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:06,000
Oh!

480
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:14,000
Before I did this, I was very confident I was going to come down here and say that it was fun, but I would never do it again.

481
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:16,000
But I would do it again right now.

482
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:17,000
I really would.

483
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:18,000
Oh, man.

484
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:19,000
Woo!

485
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:20,000
All right.

486
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:21,000
Hey, Juan.

487
00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:22,000
Yeah.

488
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:23,000
Thanks, buddy.

489
00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:24,000
I know.

490
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:25,000
Thank you.

491
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:26,000
You're great.

492
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:27,000
Thank you.

493
00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:28,000
Thank you.

494
00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:29,000
Thank you.

495
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:30,000
Thank you.

496
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:31,000
Thank you.

497
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:32,000
I know.

498
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:33,000
Thank you.

499
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:34,000
You're great.

500
00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:35,000
That was amazing.

501
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:36,000
All right.

502
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:37,000
I got to call my guy by walkie.

503
00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:38,000
I'm going to take this stuff off.

504
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:39,000
Okay.

505
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:40,000
You want me to help you out?

506
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:41,000
Yeah.

507
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:44,000
You grab the shoot and I'll go out and meet Greg.

508
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:51,000
I lock in my GPS coordinates, send them to Greg, and make my way toward the road to meet him.

509
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:57,000
Greg, I see you.

510
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:58,000
Roger.

511
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,000
I have you inside.

512
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:04,000
Josh, how are you?

513
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:05,000
Good.

514
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:06,000
How was the jump?

515
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:07,000
Woo-hoo!

516
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:08,000
Oh, my God.

517
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:11,000
That is officially the craziest thing I've ever done.

518
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:14,000
Josh, I want to ask you one question.

519
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:15,000
The big one for me.

520
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:20,000
Would you rather land in this desert scrub, very soft and spongy, or in a pine trees in

521
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:21,000
the state of Washington?

522
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:25,000
That's exactly what I was thinking when we were coming down was looking down here.

523
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:27,000
You could almost land anywhere.

524
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:28,000
Exactly.

525
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:32,000
You know, and up in the original search area up in Washington state, it seems like the

526
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:35,000
worst possible place to jump out of an airplane.

527
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:36,000
Correct.

528
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,000
And has anybody ever searched this area?

529
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:39,000
Nope.

530
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:40,000
No one has ever searched this area.

531
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:44,000
Nobody has ever gone out to look for anything because, again, the focus was two states away,

532
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:46,000
and that's the way Cooper wanted it.

533
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:47,000
Right.

534
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:53,000
Our experiment has revealed that the original FBI search area may be as much as 400 miles

535
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,000
away from Cooper's real drop zone.

536
00:36:56,000 --> 00:37:01,000
An all-new location just begging to be investigated for the very first time.

537
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:04,000
I think Cooper fooled everybody with that diversion.

538
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:09,000
He was hoping to buy probably 48 hours to get out of this area, and instead he bought

539
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:10,000
45 years.

540
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:12,000
He fooled us all.

541
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:13,000
We're still looking for him.

542
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:14,000
Still looking for him.

543
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:16,000
But now we've got a whole new place to search.

544
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:17,000
Exactly.

545
00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:22,000
We begin the first of what will be many sweeps of this area when I get the call I've been

546
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:23,000
waiting for.

547
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:28,000
My team and I found a lab with the equipment needed to conduct next-gen testing of the

548
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:32,000
particles on D.B. Cooper's tie, and the results are in.

549
00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:39,000
So I hop a plane to Tucson to meet investigator Tom Kaye, who can interpret the findings.

550
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:40,000
Hey, Tom, how are you?

551
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:41,000
Josh, good to see you.

552
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:42,000
Yeah, good to meet you in person.

553
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:43,000
Finally, yeah.

554
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:49,000
So, I understand that a lab has been able to test the tie samples for additional particles.

555
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:50,000
Absolutely.

556
00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:56,000
Through the efforts of your team, we were able to get the Macron Group out of Chicago,

557
00:37:56,000 --> 00:38:01,000
which is one of the foremost labs in the country, to do an automated analysis of all 19 of our

558
00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:02,000
stubs.

559
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:03,000
Okay, so what'd they find?

560
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,000
What they found was 100,000 particles.

561
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:09,000
So we've got from 700 particles to 100,000.

562
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:10,000
100,000.

563
00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:13,000
Please tell me that the results show something interesting.

564
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:14,000
Absolutely.

565
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,000
Fantastic results.

566
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:27,000
We've assisted D.B. Cooper investigator Tom Kaye in securing the technology needed to scan

567
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:31,000
particles left on the discarded necktie of the notorious Skyjacker.

568
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:32,000
The hope?

569
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,000
To answer the million-dollar question.

570
00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:36,000
Who is D.B. Cooper?

571
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,000
Please tell me that the results show something interesting.

572
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:40,000
You bet they do.

573
00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:41,000
Really?

574
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:42,000
Absolutely.

575
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:43,000
Fantastic results.

576
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:44,000
Awesome.

577
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:45,000
So what specifically showed up?

578
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:49,000
So we have representations here in these little vials.

579
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:50,000
Okay.

580
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:51,000
So this is cerium.

581
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,000
It's a rare earth element.

582
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,000
And lanthanum is another one.

583
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,000
This is yttrium.

584
00:38:57,000 --> 00:38:58,000
Okay.

585
00:38:58,000 --> 00:39:00,000
And this one is mercury.

586
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:01,000
Mercury.

587
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:06,000
So these rare earth elements in 1971, what would these things be used for?

588
00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:11,000
Well, we start with the most unusual of those, which is the rare earth element yttrium.

589
00:39:11,000 --> 00:39:12,000
Okay.

590
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:16,000
What's the most common use for yttrium in 1971?

591
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:21,000
It turns out it's the red phosphor in TV screens.

592
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:28,000
23 out of the 26 particles we found are related to production of CRT tubes.

593
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:30,000
It doesn't have to be television, right?

594
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:34,000
I mean, it's the cathode ray tube that's used in televisions, but it's also used in other

595
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:38,000
things like in the military, they would use it for radar screens and instruments, they

596
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:40,000
would use it for like a oscilloscope screen.

597
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:43,000
So these cathode ray tubes are found in lots of different products.

598
00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:44,000
Right.

599
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:47,000
Based on what you find in the time, who is this guy?

600
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:53,000
So it strongly suggests that he's in the manufacturing world of CRT tubes.

601
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:59,000
So I mean that in a lot of ways really wipes the slate clean of a lot of these previous

602
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:00,000
suspects.

603
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:04,000
Well, for a lot of people that are championing those suspects, yes, it's a real problem

604
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:10,000
because this evidence suggests strongly he's from a very advanced manufacturing environment.

605
00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:11,000
Wow.

606
00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:14,000
What's fascinating is that you hear this announcement from the FBI where they say,

607
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:19,000
we're basically, you know, giving up here, we're going to close the case, leave it unsolved.

608
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:23,000
And yet it's still marching forward with big new discoveries.

609
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,000
The last evidence that was new came up in 1980 when they found the money.

610
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:31,000
This is the only new evidence to show up and it's evidence that's localizing what world

611
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:32,000
Cooper lived in.

612
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:38,000
This has got to be the most significant evidence to come out of this case since 1980.

613
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:45,000
The evidence is historic and it underscores something that's been haunting me since I

614
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:47,000
first started down this rabbit hole.

615
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:51,000
Everything we think we know about D.B. Cooper is dead wrong.

616
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:56,000
The FBI files reveal that Cooper was far less refined than we imagined.

617
00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:01,000
His name appears to be inspired by a comic book and he may well be from north of the

618
00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:02,000
border.

619
00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:05,000
There's more searching to be done along the beaches of Tina Bar.

620
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:11,000
We have an entirely new drop zone just outside of Reno with a compelling theory that Cooper hailed

621
00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:13,000
from a military background.

622
00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:19,000
And now this new physical evidence that places Cooper in a highly specific and technical industry.

623
00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:24,000
Author Jeff Gray warned me not to get too close to this case, that looking for Cooper

624
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:26,000
can become an obsession.

625
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,000
And now I see why.

626
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:34,000
Cooper Mania as it's known, endures because on some level we all want to feel what he felt

627
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:38,000
to make that big jump and defy the pressures of the world.

628
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:41,000
If he gets away, we get away.

629
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:48,000
The FBI may have put this case on ice, but as far as I can tell, the hunt for D.B. Cooper is just heating up.