◆ SpookStack

DB Cooper-1465 Skyjacker CB8oper’s ‘night recalled What was perhaps the most famous sky- jack in history began in Portland on Thanks- giving eve six years ago. The man identified as Dan Cooper para- chuted out of a Northwest Airlines plane on Nov. 24, 1971. He had boarded the 727 jet a few hours earlier at Portland International Airport. En route to Seattle, threatening the crew with a gun and a bomb, he exhibited a note demanding four parachutes and $200,000. When the plane landed in Seattle, the 36 passengers got off. The money and para- chutes were rounded up by Northwest, and > the craft took off with only a flight crew of four and Cooper. Somewhere over the rugged, brushy ter- rain east of Woodland, Wash., Cooper jumped out. “It was a stormy night, with freezing rain at the high altitude and winds gusting up to 40 mph at Portland International Airport, maybe stronger along the Lewis River where he bailed out,” says Ralph Himmelsbach of the FBI. The plane continued to Reno where it land- ed, the stair door of the rear exit through which Cooper jumped still open. He took ths 10,000 $20 bills with him in a small satchel. He left behind two of the para- chutes, including the best for his purpose, a sky diver’s chute. Cooper had no hat nor goggles. He was dressed in a business suit and. oxford street shoes. v4 “His shoes would have been snapped off his feet when he stepped out into the 196 mph slipsteam,” Himmelsach said he was told by parachute experts. ‘ “His eyes would have been blacked by the force of the wind and he probably tumbled ___.ont_of control. He would have Janded_in_his stocking feet, blinded by the slipstream and the raging storm.” With the 28-foot canopy on his chute, the FBI agent said, Cooper “would have descend- ed 26 mph vertically.” ° “Add a 30 to 50 mph wind and he would have hit at a speed of 50 to 70 mph,” the agent estimated. “The experts say it is incon- ceivable that he could have escaped serious injury or instant death — even assuming his parachute opened.” When Cooper parachuted out, he took with him the note in which he threatened to blow up the plane if his demands were not met. But he left behind the “bomb” he carried in an attache case. It turned out to be nothing but some highway flares and a battery. Party to celebrate ‘Cooper’s Landing’ ARIEL, Wash. — D.B. Cooper, mark your calendar. You're invited to a party Nov. 26. And your $20 bills will also be welcome. That’s the invitation going out to the sky- jacker who reputedly landed near this small community six years ago. The organizers of the annual “Coopers Capers” say the shindig will kick off at noon at the Ariel Tavern and Store. Hope to see you at “Cooper’s Landing.” Toe SQSTES up Oregon Jeurnal