D. B. Cooper Day Date in the current year: November 24, 2024

D. B. Cooper, also known as Dan Cooper, was an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 en route from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington and parachuted out of the plane mid-flight with the ransom money. His true identity and fate have never been determined.

A man with the name Dan Cooper on his ticket boarded Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 at Portland International Airport on November 24, 1971 (the commonly used pseudonym D. B. Cooper is the result of a reporter’s error). Shortly after takeoff, Cooper told a flight attendant that he had a bomb in his briefcase and his demands: $200,000 in ransom and four parachutes upon landing in Seattle.

When the plane landed in Seattle, an airline representative handed Cooper the money in $20 bills and the parachutes. Cooper then released the passengers and instructed the crew to refuel the plane and begin a second flight to Mexico City. About half an hour after takeoff, Cooper parachuted out of the plane over southwestern Washington, taking the money with him.

The FBI investigated the case, processing more than a thousand “serious suspects”, but was unable to determine Cooper’s true identity or his whereabouts. In 1980, some of the ransom money was found near Vancouver, Washington, but it provided no additional insight into the mystery. In 2016, the active investigation into the hijacking was officially suspended, making it the FBI’s only unsolved aircraft hijacking case.

However, amateur and professional investigators, reporters, and enthusiasts have continued to pursue various theories about the hijacking that has become part of popular culture. Situations and characters inspired by Cooper have appeared in various television shows, including 30 Rock, Breaking Bad, Leverage, Loki, Prison Break, and others. The case has also inspired several feature films, including the 1981 crime thriller The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper and the 2004 adventure comedy Without a Paddle.

In November 1974, the Ariel Store and Tavern in Ariel, Washington, began hosting an annual party to commemorate the anniversary of the hijacking. In the late 1980s, the store was purchased by Dona Elliott, who transformed the annual party into a multi-day international festival called D. B. Cooper Days. It included panel discussions, mystery solving, live music, and other fun events and activities. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2015 and the tavern/store went out of business.

Three years later, Cooper researcher Eric Ulis founded CooperCon, an annual convention dedicated to D. B. Cooper, which essentially replaced the annual D. B. Cooper Days. It is held every year in late November in Washington State; originally held in Vancouver, the convention moved to Seattle in 2023. And those Cooper researchers and enthusiasts who cannot attend the convention simply celebrate D. B. Cooper Day on November 24, sharing their theories with each other and the world.