D. B. Cooper is a media epithet used to describe an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 on November 24, 1971, extorted a US$200,000 ransom (equivalent to $1.51 million today[1]), and parachuted to an unknown fate.[2] He was never seen again, and only $5,880 of the ransom money has been found. The incident continues to influence popular culture, and has inspired references in books, film, and music.[3]
Film and television
Film
Series and television
- In the fourth season (1979–1980) of the series In Search of... dedicated an episode to the D.B. Cooper hijacking.[28]
- A 1979 episode of Quincy, M.E. features an episode about the body of a famous parachuting hijacker being found five years after the hijacking, hanging dead from a tree in a National Park.[29]
- The main character of the television series Twin Peaks (1990) is named Dale Bartholomew Cooper, after D. B. Cooper.[30]
- In Journeyman's "The Legend of Dylan McCleen," Jeffrey Pierce plays Dylan McCleen/John Richie, an Army Ranger who highjacked an airplane, and parachuted out with the ransom money, whose identity was still unknown decades later.[31]
- Muse Watson portrays Charles Westmoreland, who is later revealed to be D.B. Cooper in the television series Prison Break who was caught and convicted in another case serving sentence in the same prison as the protagonists.[32]
- The first episode of the Disney+ series Loki, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and titled "Glorious Purpose", Cooper is revealed to be Loki, who hijacked the plane after having lost a bet to Thor and disappeared into the Bifrost after jumping from the rear stairs.[33] Unlike the real Cooper, however, Loki's jump is seen to take place during daylight and in calm weather.[34]
- On July 13, 2022 Netflix released a four-part documentary mini-series entitled D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?! exploring the hijacking incident and exploring the identity of D.B. Cooper.[35]
- in a season 6 episode of 30 Rock, Kenneth makes a reference to D.B. Cooper as a joke that his dad may have been the hijacker
- The eighth episode of the second season of AMC's crime drama Breaking Bad, "Better Call Saul", includes a scene in which lawyer Saul Goodman jokingly refers to series protagonist Walter White as Cooper due to his sunglasses and unusual attire.[36]
On August 26, 2012 Season 5 of Leverage aired "The D.B. Cooper Job".
Agent McSweeten, who still thinks that Parker and Hardison are undercover FBI, asks the team to look into the case that obsesses his dying father: the 1971 plane hijacking by D. B. Cooper.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Leverage_episodes#Season_5_(2012)