PIRATE

D. B. Cooper

1931 - 1971

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D. B. Cooper, also known as Dan Cooper, was an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971. During the flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, Cooper told a flight attendant he had a bomb, and demanded $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to $1,600,000 in 2024) and four parachutes upon landing in Seattle. After releasing the passengers in Seattle, Cooper instructed the flight crew to refuel the aircraft and begin a second flight to Mexico City, with a refueling stop in Reno, Nevada. About thirty minutes after taking off from Seattle, Cooper opened the aircraft's aft door, deployed the staircase, and parachuted into the night over southwestern Washington. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. D. B. Cooper is the 9th most popular pirate, the 706th most popular biography from United States (down from 645th in 2019) and the most popular American Pirate.

D.B. Cooper is most famous for being the only person to ever successfully jump out of a plane with a parachute and never be found.

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Among PIRATES

Among pirates, D. B. Cooper ranks 9 out of 29Before him are Eric of Pomerania, Blackbeard, Ching Shih, Calico Jack, Grace O'Malley, and Anne Bonny. After him are Mary Read, Bartholomew Roberts, William Kidd, Henry Every, François l'Olonnais, and Sextus Pompey.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1931, D. B. Cooper ranks 34Before him are Anatoly Dyatlov, Burton Richter, Annie Girardot, Johannes Rau, Alice Munro, and Leonard Nimoy. After him are Anne Bancroft, Ian Holm, James Earl Jones, João Gilberto, Rupert Murdoch, and James Cronin. Among people deceased in 1971, D. B. Cooper ranks 20Before him are Hermann Hoth, J. D. Bernal, Theodor Svedberg, Arne Tiselius, Mátyás Rákosi, and Harold Lloyd. After him are Gotthard Heinrici, Igor Tamm, Wilhelm List, François Duvalier, Rudolf Abel, and Lin Biao.

Others Born in 1931

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In United States

Among people born in United States, D. B. Cooper ranks 706 out of 20,380Before him are Robert Downey Sr. (1936), Leonard Nimoy (1931), Robert Burns Woodward (1917), Paul Flory (1910), Jody Williams (1950), and Alice Cooper (1948). After him are Ronald Evans (1933), Bryan Cranston (1956), Chester W. Nimitz (1885), Anne Bancroft (1931), Douglas Osheroff (1945), and George Smoot (1945).

Among PIRATES In United States

Among pirates born in United States, D. B. Cooper ranks 1