An Ordinary Man, An Extraordinary Flight
On November 24, 1971, a day before Thanksgiving, an ordinary man in his mid-40s and about 6 feet tall bought a $20 ticket (yes, plane tickets used to cost $20…) for Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305. He said his name was Dan Cooper.
Source: The Vintage News
Soon after takeoff from Portland, he handed a note to one of the flight attendants. On that note, he wrote that he had a bomb in his briefcase. He then started to open the briefcase, which contained wires, red sticks, and a battery. Cooper’s note also had a demand: four parachutes and $200,000 in $20 bills (which would amount to about $1.2 million in today’s economy).