The hijackers were members of an extremist Islamist group called the GIA, a group notorious for its brutality. They were armed with guns, grenades and twenty sticks of dynamite. ibid.
The GIA had fed off decades of poverty, anger and political repression under Algeria’s corrupt military-backed regime. Algeria’s unemployed youth exploded in violent demonstrations. ibid.
The plane took off but not for Paris … The hijackers were not on French soil [Marseilles] and in French hands. ibid.
The assault team moved in at speed. ibid.
Now you take my advice, kid. You serve your six months and then you put in for the movement. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three 1974 starring Robert Shaw & Walter Matthau & Martin Balsam & Hector Elizondo & Earl Hindman & James Broderich & Dick O'Neill & Lee Wallace & Tony Roberts & Doris Roberts & Rudy Bond et al, director Joseph Sargent, guard to guard
Sorry, this station is Fifty-First Street. ibid. rookie guard
I’m taking your train. ibid. Ryder to driver
Pelham One Two Three, come in please. ibid. controller
Nobody else leaves ... You are being held by four very dangerous men armed with machine guns. ibid. Ryder
They’re going to fly the train to Cuba. ibid. Rico
She’s moving. Pelham One Two Three. ibid. lady announcer
There’s nobody driving the fucking train! ibid.
Officer, I suppose you couldn’t use a quarter of a million, could you? ibid. Ryder
Before he receives a response the hijackers storm [Jason] Dahl’s cockpit ... An Air traffic Controller in Cleveland hears a mayday and signs of a struggle. Inside 9/11: Zero Hour
While indecision paralyses officials on the ground, the passengers on United Flight 93 are gearing up for a revolt. They’ll have to lead a charge single-file up one narrow aisle and overcome three hijackers with knives before reaching the cockpit. ibid.
On September 11th 2001 one hijacked plane never reached it’s target: United 93 crashed in rural Pennsylvania. 9/11: The Final Minutes of Flight 93, Sky History 2020
But Flight 93 was already in the air. And no-one was aware that sitting among the passengers were four members of Al Qaeda. ibid.
The flight crew were removed by force … [hijackers] both trained by Al Qaeda in unarmed combat. ibid.
FBI’ tapes of Flight 93’s final 30 minutes remain classified, but there is an extremely detailed transcript which details the words and positions of the speakers. The bomb warning was made by the left cockpit seat, the position always occupied by the pilot. ibid.
The terrorists had moved everyone into a group at the end of the aeroplane. ibid.
It was Thanksgiving Eve 1971 when a hijacker named D B Cooper parachuted out of the trail door of a North-West Airlines. Storyville: The Hijacker Who Vanished: The Mystery of D B Cooper, contemporary news report, BBC 2020
In November 1971 a man who became known as D B Cooper hijacked a plane flying out of Portland, Oregon. After demanding a $200,000 ransom, D B Cooper parachuted out of the hijacked 727 at 10,000 feet over Washington State. The case is still the only unsolved act of air piracy in American history. ibid. captions
Handed me this note, and it said, Miss, you’re being hijacked, I’ve got a bomb, come sit next to me. He opened the briefcase and showed me … He wasn’t going to be taken alive … On a 727 there’s nowhere to run. ibid. stewardess’ testimony
Northwest Orient Flight 305 departs Portland 2:50pm on a 37-minute flight to Seattle. ibid. caption
Four parachutes: that was our concern – that he wanted us to bail with him. ibid. pilot
With the money on board D B Cooper demands the plane fly to Mexico City. It departs at 7:36 via a planned stop to refuel at Reno, Nevada. ibid. caption
He was the first man in US history to hijack a plane for ransom. He leapt out of a commercial jet with a parachute, $200,000 and was never seen again dead or alive. It’s the only unsolved skyjacking case in aviation history. But to the public he is a lasting legend. Who was D B Cooper? Did he survive? Mystery of the Disappearing Skyjacker, National Geographic 2018
He wants $200,000 placed in a napsack. He also wants four parachutes, two main backchutes and two safety front chutes. The terrified attendant takes both notes forward to the captain. Later Cooper will demand these notes back. ibid.
Months later a second almost identical skyjacking … McCoy is arrested on suspicion of both hijackings. But the FBI finds no evidence to connect McCoy with the Cooper crime. ibid.
The money [$5,800] is found more than twenty miles outside Dan Cooper’s dropzone and in the opposite direction from where the wind was blowing. ibid.
During the waning hours of Thanksgiving Eve 1971 a Boeing 727 leaves Portland bound for Seattle. This plane and its passengers will become the most infamous skyjacking in American history. A man called D B Cooper by the news media jumped from the plane over dense forests carrying four parachutes and $200,000. Why is the crime still unsolved? Who is Cooper? Where is the money today? In Search of s4e11 … D B Cooper, History 1979
The airline clerk who sold him his ticket did not take any special notice of Cooper. Later, through an error in newspaper reporting, he was incorrectly identified as D B Cooper, not Dan Cooper. ibid.
A note: it demanded $200,000 in $20 bills and 4 parachutes. ibid.
The first American to hold a plane and its passengers for ransom. ibid.
Cooper’s only motivation was the money. ibid.
Cooper could not have landed in a more inhospitable place. ibid.
It’s a mystery that’s confounded law enforcement for 48 years. On November 24th 1971 a man who would become known as D B Cooper hijacks a plane and then jumps out, taking with him a ransom of $200,000. History’s Greatest Mysteries with Laurence Fishburne s1e3: The Final Hunt for D B Cooper, Eric Ulis reporting, History 2021
He gave the name Dan Cooper to the ticket agent. He would end up taking a seat in the very back row of the jet – 18E to be exact. The flight attendants recalled D B Cooper being a guy who was in his mid-forties dressed as a business person wearing a back suit, wearing loafers with a skinny black suit and a raincoat. And he would later put on a pair of dark sunglasses as the jet was about to take off. ibid.
There was no possibility that the money just washed ashore. The bundles of twenties were found just below the surface of the sand neatly stacked upon each other with the rubber bands still intact. ibid.
The FBI investigated more than a thousand suspects. ibid.
Eric believes this man could be D B Cooper – his name is Sheridan Peterson … Sheridan was 45 at the time of the skyjacking, and Eric believes his appearance is similar to the original sketch of D B Cooper. Sheridan lived in Seattle prior to the skyjacking, and was photographed in a suit and tie while posing as a skydiver. As a Boeing employee it’s also likely that Sheridan knew the inner workings of the 727. And finally, Eric does not believe Sheridan’s alibi can be corroborated at the time of the skyjacking. ibid.
The only unsolved skyjacking case in history. The perpetrator leaps from a moving plane with $200,000 cash and is never seen again. History’s Greatest Mysteries s4e14: Who is D B Cooper? History 2023
Who is D B Cooper? And will he ever be caught? ibid.
He’s a crook named D B Cooper … He’s a repeat offender viz Floyd McCoy … viz Dick Briggs … viz Robert Rackstraw … viz Walter Reca. ibid.
Portland, Oregon, 24 November 1971: A daring hijack that ends in terror … A middle-aged man dressed in a black suit and carrying a black attaché case boards the plane … The man demands $200,000 and four parachutes … The UnXplained with William Shatner s2e8: Outrageous Robberies, History 2022
Betty Ong: My name is Betty Ong. I’m Number Three in the back. Um the cockpit’s not answering. Somebody’s stabbed in business class and I think there’s mace that we can’t breathe. I don’t know – I think we’re getting hijacked.
Male Voice: Which flight are you on?
Betty Ong: Flight 12.
Operator: And what seat are you in? ... Ma'am, are you there? …
Betty Ong: OK my name is Betty Ong. I’m Number Three on Flight 11.
Male Voice: OK.
Betty Ong: And the cockpit is not answering their phone, and there’s somebody stabbed in business class, and there’s – we can’t breathe in business class. Somebody’s got mace or something.
Male Voice: Can you describe the person that you said – someone is what in business class?