Hijacking of Northwest Airlines Boeing 727, 1971

Hijacking of Northwest Airlines Boeing 727, 1971 [File photo]

On Nov. 24, 1971, a man using the alias Dan Cooper hijacked a Northwest Airlines Boeing 727 aircraft, which was scheduled to fly to Washington. He extorted US$200,000 in ransoms and parachuted to an uncertain fate. The FBI investigated nearly 1,000 suspects, but he has never been positively identified or located. They believed that Cooper probably didn't survive his risky jump. This case remains as a mystery in American aviation history.