十大神秘人物第五位——D·B·库帕

D·B·库帕(又叫做“丹·库帕”)是给一个臭名昭著的劫机犯的名号。此人于1971年11月24日,携带着20万美元的勒索金,从一架当时正好飞行在美国西北太平洋地区南卡斯卡底某地上空的波音727飞机后面,一跃而出。

库帕从那时开始就从没被见过,当然也不知道他跳机时是否还生还。1980年,一个八岁大的男孩在哥伦比亚河边发现了总数为5800美元的面值20美元的钞票,这些湿透的钞票是被河水冲刷来到了岸上。钞票的序列号刚好与库帕劫机的勒索金一致,这就使得后来追踪库帕变得更容易了。

库帕是背着一个降落伞从登机梯后面跳机逃跑。后来航空主管部门对飞机的设计加强了改进措施,防止此类事件再度发生。此外,这个事件促使机场首次安装了金属探测仪。

5 D. B. Cooper

D. B. Cooper (aka “Dan Cooper”) is a pseudonym given to a notorious aircraft hijacker who, on November 24, 1971, after receiving a ransom payout of $200,000, leapt from the back of a Boeing 727 as it was flying over the Pacific Northwest somewhere over the southern Cascades.

Cooper has not been seen since and it is not known whether he survived the jump. In 1980, an eight year old boy found $5,800 of soggy $20 bills washed up on the banks of the Columbia river. The serial numbers matched those of the ransom money which had been noted to make it easier to track Cooper later.

Cooper escaped from the plane by jumping off the rear airstair with a parachute leading aviation authorities to add stricter measures about the design of planes to prevent it from happening again. In addition, this event caused airports to install metal detectors for the first time.