Skyjacking, Which Changed The Airline Industry, Remains Unsolved

No one knows what really happened on Thanksgiving Eve in 1971 after a man calling himself D.B. Cooper jumped from the rear exit of a Boeing 727 with $200,000 and disappeared into the night. Some say he was killed, others say he lived a long life, but neither he or most of the money he was given were ever found.

The incident is now the subject of an exhibit that will run through January 5 at the Washington State History Museum. USA Today reports that the exhibit features a mockup of a 727 cockpit and cabin, along with discussions of the science of skydiving, forensics, and changes made in the airline industry in the wake of the crime. The exhibit will also have interactive shows with an actor impersonating Cooper.

Among the artifacts on display are marked bills from the ransom money paid to Cooper, one of the four parachutes he demanded before letting the passengers off the plane, and first-person accounts from FBI records.

Washington State Historical Society director Jennifer Kilmer told USA Today that the purpose of the exhibit is to give the visitor a "360-degree view" of the event and its impact on the airline industry, as well as the unsolved mystery of what happened to D.B. Cooper.

(Image: FBI sketch of D.B. Cooper)

FMI: http://www.washingtonhistory.org/