Unsolved plane hijack mystery has left FBI stumped for more than 50 years

The story of D. B. Cooper is one of the wildest unsolved mysteries out there.

More than fifty years after it happened, we're still none the wiser as to who the mystery hijacker was as he disappeared into thin air following his audacious aeroplane heist.

The mystery is such a pop culture phenomenon that it was even spoofed in 2021 MCU series Loki, with the show implying Tom Hiddleston's trickster god was in fact the mystery hijacker.

But what do we know about what happened that day in 1971? And how come the FBI are no closer to solving the mystery?

On the afternoon of 24 November that year, an unidentified man boarded a Boeing 727 and hijacked it in United States airspace.

FBI

Upon buying the ticket from the Northwest Orient Airlines counter with cash, the man identified himself as 'Dan Cooper' and the case became known ever since as the D.B. Cooper Hijacking.

The plane he boarded was flying to Seattle, Washington, and he had a one-way ticket.

Once in the air, Cooper made cabin crew aware that he had a bomb before parachuting out of the plane with no one knowing what happened to him - even the FBI.

According to the agency, when the man - who appeared to be in his mid-40s, wearing a business suit with a black tie and white shirt - got on the plane, he ordered a bourbon and soda as the passengers waited to take off.

Shortly after 3pm, he gave a member of the cabin crew a note which explained that he had an explosive device in his briefcase and wanted her to sit with him.

After showing her the bomb, he demanded that she write down what he told her and soon after, she took a note to the cockpit which demanded four parachutes and $200,000 (£158,000) in twenty-dollar bills.

The flight successfully landed in Seattle and D.B Cooper exchanged the 36 passengers on board for the money and parachutes.

He kept several crew members behind and the plane set off once more.

FBI

Heading for Mexico City, he ended up jumping out of the back of the plane at around 8pm with a parachute and the money but disappeared into the night with no one knowing whether he survived.

The FBI was informed of the goings-on during the flight and an investigation was opened right away.

It went on to last many years with hundreds of people interviewed, leads tracked across the country and an aircraft that was checked top to bottom for evidence.

According to the FBI, one person from the list of suspects - Richard Floyd McCoy - was a favourite for the crime for some.

He was arrested for a similar hijacking less than five months later, but he didn't match the physical descriptions of Cooper provided by two flight attendants, and subsequently ruled out.

Another theory is that Cooper fell to his death as the parachute he was using couldn't be steered, what he was wearing was unsuitable for a rough landing and he was heading for a wooded area at night time.

Fast forward to 1980 and a young boy discovered a rotting package of twenty-dollar bills, which matched the serial numbers on the money.

FBI

Then in July 2016, the FBI issued a statement saying it had 'redirected resources allocated to the D.B. Cooper case to focus on other investigative priorities'.

It's been 50 years since Cooper pulled off his mastermind robbery and the FBI still aren't any closer to piecing together what actually happened.