Happy D.B. Cooper Day!
Yes, it’s hard to believe it’s been 39 years, since that epic skydive took place…but..it is.
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Yes, D.B. Cooper is quite the man. The FBI remains on the hunt today…can you believe it?
His jump caused a major shift in airline travel comfort, and actually spawned the word: Skyjacking.
Brave soul to exit via the tail ramp at faster than terminal velocity. Worse yet, without being able to spot the pilot to give him a sporting chance of hitting the intended DZ.
To top it off, he did it with a “round.” I suspect it was a C-9 28′ flat circular canopy, which, unless you were pretty light, it would have made for a tough landing, so you needed to be well practiced for PLFs, and tree landings, too. Heck, toss in the fact you may have had to pull off a successful water landing at night, without a few buddies in a boat nearby, and in November in the North West.
Guts…and we still don’t know if he made it, or became worm food that night.
Never fear, the tradition continues: Many years back, the annual World Freefall Convention began bringing in a 727 with the DB Cooper Lock removed, so skydivers could jump the ramp.
Categories: History