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As the plane began to take off, he passed a note to the flight attendant that read, "Miss, I have a bomb here. I want you to sit by me.
Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Geoffrey Gray recounts the events of the hijacking in his new book, Skyjack: The Hunt for D. He tells Guy Raz, host of weekends on All Things Considered , that at first the flight attendant didn't believe the man. But then the man opened his briefcase, which contained red cylinders and wires. The passengers were let off, but the stewardess, a pilot, a copilot and a flight engineer remained on the plane with him.
He ordered them to fly to Mexico City, which required them to refuel in Reno, Nev. The hijacker, a parachute and all the money had vanished. Somewhere between Seattle and Reno, the man who became known as D. Cooper had boarded the plane as Dan Cooper, but a discrepancy in a news account later referred to him as D. Cooper; the name stuck. The manhunt for Cooper was one of the biggest in the nation's history, Gray says.
He says one of the first goals was determining just where Cooper landed. He was a real-life Bigfoot, an instant folk legend in an era when outlaws seemed more appealing than the establishment goons who brought you Vietnam and Watergate. Cooper became the subject of popular songs, TV shows, movies — heck, there are still restaurants named after him.
So it was surprising when I surveyed friends and colleagues in their 40s and got a fair number of blank looks. But among people who spend a lot of time online — young or old — D. Cooper was instantly familiar. Even in his first encounter with a possible suspect, Gray feels his grip slipping.
In the far corner of one form I see his thumbprint, taken May 25, , when he enlisted. I place my own thumb on it. I close my eyes. Gray, a contributing editor at New York magazine, takes an interest in the story after hearing a former street preacher turned private eye spin a wild tale in a New York bar.
Visions of Pulitzer Prizes dance in his head. The truth is out there, as Agent Mulder used to say. And in this case, it really is.
Somebody knew him, before or after. He is, undoubtedly, findable.
Cooper scoop that was a scam; and Barbara nee Bobby Dayton, a transgendered pilot who insisted she was Cooper herself. The case of D. Cooper is a modern legend that has obsessed and cursed his pursuers for generations. Now with Skyjack , Gray obtians a first-ever look at the FBI's confidential Cooper file, uncovering new leads in the infamous case and providing readers with explosive new information. Leia mais Leia menos. Detalhes do produto Formato: Reprint 9 de agosto de Vendido por: Compartilhe seus pensamentos com outros clientes.
Definitive answers are not what to expect.
Cooper case than it is about the case itself. This can be a common problem for journalists who tackle a big, ambiguous and mysterious case.
The writer goes far down the rabbit hole, comes to no definitive conclusions, and ends up making the story about his experience, since he can't say he solved the case. For a prominent example in pop culture, look at Season 1 of the Serial podcast: Sarah Koenig went into the Hae Min Lin case honestly thinking she could determine Adnan Syed's guilt or innocence by researching harder than previous journalists covering the case did.
But over the course of the series, she found no smoking gun, and what she did uncover about Adnan could make her "verdict" go either way. So, this issue in investigative journalism is nothing new. But there is a difference with Gray's book: In short, Gray doesn't promise to solve the case.
He covers the major players that were considered the likely suspect to be DB Cooper and the problems surrounding the case. Cooper to study for years to come. In the early 70s, a man boarded a plane, said he had a bomb, got a ransom, parachuted out the back of the plane while it was mid flight, and then was never found. Co-workers at a high-end resort gripe about their guests all while putting on a happy face for them. The famed Skyjack of the 's that allowed someone by the name DB Cooper to hijack an airplane, jump out of it and disappear into the annuls of history has caused countless speculations over the years.
The story he wants to tell is his own personal hunt hence the book's subtitle. He doesn't claim to have all the answers. He instead muses on how he found himself in some pretty wacky situations, and uncovers a lot of information along the way. If readers keep this in mind, and don't expect the be-all, end-all D.