D. B. Cooper copycat hijackings

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August 1972 Life Magazine Cover highlighting the post-D.B. Cooper wave of extortion hijackings LifeMagazineAugust1972.jpg
August 1972 Life Magazine Cover highlighting the post-D.B. Cooper wave of extortion hijackings

The apparent success and instant notoriety of the hijacker known as D. B. Cooper in November 1971 resulted in over a dozen copycat hijackings within the next year all using a similar template to that established by Cooper. Like Cooper, the plan would be to hijack an aircraft, demand a ransom, and then parachute from that aircraft as a method of escape. To combat this wave of extortion hijackings, aircraft were fitted with eponymous "Cooper Vanes," specifically designed to prevent the aft staircase from being lowered in-flight. The Cooper Vane, as well as the widespread implementation of other safety measures such as the installation of metal detectors throughout American airports, would spell the end of the Cooper copycats.

Contents

Copycats

Everett Holt

On December 24, 1971, Everett Holt hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 734 after its takeoff from Minneapolis on its way to Chicago and demanded $300,000 and two parachutes. Like Cooper, once his ransom was delivered he allowed the passengers to deplane. [1] While he was distracted counting his ransom money, the flight crew escaped from the cockpit. Realizing his plans had been thwarted, Holt surrendered peacefully. Holt would eventually be committed to a mental hospital before the charges were dismissed in May 1975. [2]

Billy Hurst

On January 12, 1972, 22-year-old Billy Eugene Hurst hijacked Braniff Flight 38 en route from Houston to Dallas. Hurst let the passengers go once the plane landed in Dallas, but held four stewardesses and three flight crew hostage. He demanded one million dollars in ransom as well as parachutes, a rope, a machete, and hunting boots. Hurst then demanded that the pilot fly to South America. [3] While the airline struggled to gather the full ransom, friends of Hurst arrived on the scene and persuaded him to surrender without incident. [4] In 1973, Hurst was convicted of aircraft piracy and sentenced to a 20-year prison term. [5]

Richard Charles LaPoint

On January 20, 1972, Richard Charles LaPoint, an Army veteran from Boston, [6] boarded Hughes Airwest Flight 800 at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. Brandishing what he claimed was a bomb while the DC-9 was on the taxiway, he demanded $50,000, two parachutes, and a helmet. [7] After releasing the 51 passengers and two flight attendants, he ordered the plane on an eastward trajectory toward Denver, [8] then bailed out over the treeless plains of northeastern Colorado. Authorities, tracking the locator-equipped parachute and his footprints in the snow and mud, apprehended him a few hours later. [9] [10] [11] At LaPoint's arraignment two days later, the Judge informed him that he was entitled to medical care for an injury sustained in the jump. LaPoint, a Vietnam War veteran suffering from PTSD, responded "How about some mental assistance instead?" [12] On the third day of his trial for aircraft piracy, LaPoint decided to change his plea from not guilty to guilty. As the Judge sentenced LaPoint to forty years in prison, he stated, "This was not an act caused by the Vietnam War. He is not a boy; he's almost 24 years old now. This act was calculated to some extent. There were accounts of D.B. Cooper in his room." [13]

Merlyn St. George

On January 26, 1972, Merlyn St. George commandeered a Mohawk Airlines flight from Albany, New York, to New York City. Claiming to be armed with a bomb and a pistol, which later turned out to be fakes, St. George demanded $200,000 and two parachutes. St. George would lose his nerve and, instead of parachuting from the aircraft, would demand that a car be prepared for him at an airport in Poughkeepsie, New York. He was shot and killed by an FBI agent as he attempted to flee in the car along with a stewardess he had taken as a hostage. [14] [15]

Richard McCoy Jr.

Richard McCoy Jr. Richard McCoy, Jr..jpg
Richard McCoy Jr.

On April 7, 1972, Richard McCoy (1942–1974), staged the best-known of the so-called "copycat" hijackings. [16] He boarded United Airlines' Flight 855 (a Boeing 727 with aft stairs) in Denver, Colorado, and, brandishing what later proved to be a paperweight resembling a hand grenade and an unloaded handgun, he demanded four parachutes and $500,000. [17] After delivery of the money and parachutes at San Francisco International Airport, McCoy ordered the aircraft back into the sky and bailed out over Provo, Utah, leaving behind his handwritten hijacking instructions and his fingerprints on a magazine he had been reading. [18]

McCoy was an Army veteran who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, first as a demolition expert and later with the Green Berets as a helicopter pilot. [19] After his military service, he became a warrant officer in the Utah National Guard and an avid recreational skydiver, with aspirations of becoming a Utah State Trooper. [20] [21]

He was arrested on April 9 with the ransom cash in his possession and, after trial and conviction, received a 45-year sentence. [20] [22] Two years later, he escaped from Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary with several accomplices by crashing a garbage truck through the main gate. [23] Tracked down three months later in Virginia Beach, McCoy was killed in a shootout with FBI agents. [16] [24]

Stanley Speck

On April 10, 1972, Stanley Speck, a Stanford graduate working as a taxi-cab driver, hijacked a Pacific Southwest Airlines flight en route from Oakland, California, to San Diego, California. Speck demanded $500,000 and two parachutes, claiming to be armed with a hand-grenade and a pistol. Speck was arrested on the ground in San Diego when the pilot tricked Speck into leaving the aircraft to retrieve maps from two FBI agents who were dressed as mechanics. It was later revealed that Speck was entirely unarmed during the hijacking. [25] [26]

Frederick Hahneman

On May 5, 1972, Frederick William Hahneman (July 5, 1922 – December 17, 1991), a Honduras-born US citizen, hijacked Eastern Air Lines Flight 175 en route from Allentown, Pennsylvania, to Miami, Florida. Hahneman had a variety of ransom demands, including $303,000, six parachutes, two bush knives, two jump suits, and cigarettes. He was dissatisfied with the small denominations used in the ransom and demanded that the provided ransom be traded in for cash in $100's, $500's, and $1,000's. [27] Hahneman parachuted from the plane over his native Honduras after extorting $303,000 during a refueling stop in New Orleans, Louisiana. Evading a manhunt by the FBI and Honduran police and with a $25,000 bounty on his head, Hahneman went on the run for 28 days before finally surrendering to the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for aircraft hijacking, kidnapping and extortion, serving 12 years. [28]

Robb Heady

On June 2, 1972, Robb Heady, a 22-year-old former Army paratrooper and Vietnam War veteran, hijacked United Airlines Flight 239 from Reno to San Francisco. Carrying his own parachute and using a .357 revolver, he demanded $200,000 in ransom money. Because the hijacking occurred at night while banks were closed, FBI agents were forced to secure the ransom money from two local casinos in Reno. Once he had received the ransom, Heady directed the pilots on a very specific flight path. However, the pilot intentionally altered the flight path by half a degree, causing Heady to miss his drop zone. [29] Heady was captured the next morning. [30] The money bag containing Heady's ransom was jerked from his grasp when he pulled the ripcord and was recovered by FBI agents two days later. [31] In September 1972 Heady pled guilty to aircraft piracy and was sentenced to serve 30 years in federal prison. [32]

Martin McNally

Composite sketch of skyjacker Martin McNally and mugshot from his arrest a week after the hijacking (he had worn a wig during the hijacking) MacAndSketch.jpg
Composite sketch of skyjacker Martin McNally and mugshot from his arrest a week after the hijacking (he had worn a wig during the hijacking)

On June 23, 1972, Martin McNally, an unemployed service-station attendant, used a submachine gun to commandeer an American Airlines 727 en route from St. Louis, Missouri, to Tulsa, Oklahoma, then diverted it eastward to Indiana and bailed out with $500,000 in ransom. [33] When the 727 was preparing to take off after McNally had received the ransom money, a local man drove his Cadillac onto the runway and rammed the 727 at speeds of up to 80 mph. The driver, David J. Hanley, was seriously injured in the collision with the jet. The collision disabled the 727, forcing McNally to switch to a second 727. [34] McNally lost the ransom money as he exited the aircraft, but landed safely near Peru, Indiana, and was apprehended a few days later in a Detroit suburb. [35] When interviewed in a 2020 podcast retrospective, McNally said he had been inspired by Cooper. [36]

Daniel Carre

On June 30, 1972, Daniel Bernard Carre attempted to hijack a Hughes Air West flight from Seattle, Washington, to Portland, Oregon, by claiming he had a knife. He demanded $50,000 and a parachute. Carre was apprehended by U.S. Marshals immediately upon landing in Portland and was sent to a psychiatric hospital for an undetermined amount of time. [37] [38]

Francis Goodell

On July 6, 1972, twenty-one-year-old Francis Goodell hijacked a Pacific Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to Sacramento. Goodell had two pistols and demanded $455,000, a parachute, and an instruction manual on how to skydive. [39] He was suffering from PTSD due to his experiences during the Vietnam War and claimed that he wanted to give the money to children in Southeast Asia to absolve himself of wartime guilt. An off-duty Highway Patrolman traveling as a passenger eventually convinced Goodell to surrender. [40] Goodell would be sentenced to 30 years for air piracy. [41]

Michael Green and Lulseged Tesfa

On July 13, 1972, a National Airlines flight from Philadelphia to New York was hijacked by thirty-four-year-old Michael Stanley Green and twenty-four year old Lulseged Tesfa. Green, a parking lot attendant, and Tesfa, an Ethiopian student at Howard University, concocted the plan while living as roommates in Washington D.C. The duo began the hijacking as the flight approached New York and demanded the plane return to Philadelphia where they demanded $600,000 and three parachutes. [42] Gathering the ransom demand took over six hours while passengers sweated in the heat of the aircraft, which had lost electrical power. Upon receipt of the ransom, the passengers were released but the duo kept four stewardesses and the flight crew hostage and demanded that they be flown to Houston. Before takeoff to Houston, the Captain leapt from the window of the cockpit, forcing the co-pilot to fly the aircraft. [43] When the plane landed on a tiny airstrip in Lake Jackson, Texas, the co-pilot and flight engineer both jumped from the cockpit, abandoning the stewardesses with the hijackers. [44] Green and Tesfa would emerge from the aft stairs of the 727 shortly after with their hands up, surrendering to FBI agents on the ground. [45] Green would later be sentenced to a 50-year prison term and Tesfa sentenced to serve a 60-year term. [46] Green was released in 1984, and Tesfa in 1982. [47]

Melvin Fisher

On July 13, 1972, forty-nine year old Melvin M. Fisher, an unemployed painter and former bootlegger from Oklahoma, hijacked an American Airlines 727 flight from Oklahoma City to Dallas. Fisher demanded $550,000 and a parachute. Although scheduled to originally land in Dallas, bad weather forced the plane to return to Oklahoma City where Fisher received $200,000 of his ransom. Satisfied with this amount, Fisher released 51 passengers and three stewardesses, keeping one stewardess and the three members of the flight crew as hostages. He then ordered the plane to circle Oklahoma City. With the rear stairs down and wearing his parachute, Fisher was unable to locate a landmark for his jump and lost his nerve for the jump. He then surrendered to the crew, telling them that he didn't want to die. [48] Fisher would be sentenced to life imprisonment following a trial in September 1972. [49]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D. B. Cooper</span> Unidentified airplane hijacker in 1971

D. B. Cooper is a media epithet for 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, the hijacker told a flight attendant he was armed with a bomb, demanded $200,000 in ransom and requested four parachutes upon landing in Seattle. After releasing the passengers in Seattle, the hijacker instructed the flight crew to refuel the aircraft and begin a second flight to Mexico City, with a refueling stop in Reno, Nevada. About 30 minutes after taking off from Seattle, the hijacker opened the aircraft's aft door, deployed the staircase, and parachuted into the night over southwestern Washington. The hijacker has never been found or conclusively identified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hughes Airwest</span> Defunct regional airline of the United States (1968–1980)

Hughes Airwest was a regional airline in the western United States, backed by Howard Hughes' Summa Corporation. Its original name in 1968 was Air West and the air carrier was owned by Nick Bez. Hughes Airwest flew routes in the western U.S. and to several destinations in Mexico and Canada; its headquarters were on the grounds of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in unincorporated San Mateo County, California.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard McCoy Jr.</span> American aircraft hijacker

Richard Floyd McCoy Jr. was an American aircraft hijacker. McCoy hijacked a United Airlines passenger jet for ransom in April 1972. Due to a similar modus operandi, McCoy has been proposed as the person responsible for the November 1971 hijacking of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, attributed to the still-unidentified "D. B. Cooper".

Garrett Brock Trapnell was a con man, bank robber, and aircraft hijacker of the 1960s and early 1970s. Trapnell robbed a string of banks in Canada, frequently posed as an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency, masterminded a $100,000 jewelry store heist in Freeport, Bahamas, and simultaneously maintained marriages with at least six women. When arrested for his crimes, he frequently feigned madness and successfully used the insanity defense to be committed to mental institutions, from which he would later escape or be released on the grounds that he was no longer dangerous. While serving life imprisonment for the hijacking of a passenger airliner in 1972, he was the subject of a book, The Fox Is Crazy Too, written by journalist Eliot Asinof.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Airways Flight 49</span> 1972 aircraft hijacking

The hijacking of Southern Airways Flight 49 started on November 10, 1972 in Birmingham, Alabama, stretching over 30 hours, three countries, and 4,000 miles (6,400 km), not ending until the next evening in Havana, Cuba. Three men, Melvin Cale, Louis Moore, and Henry D. Jackson Jr. successfully hijacked a Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 that was scheduled to fly from Memphis, Tennessee to Miami, Florida via Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama and Orlando, Florida. The three were each facing criminal charges for unrelated incidents. Thirty-five people, including thirty-one passengers and four crew members, were aboard the airplane when it was hijacked. The hijackers' threat to crash the aircraft into a nuclear reactor led directly to the requirement that U.S. airline passengers be physically screened, beginning January 5, 1973.

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Finnair Flight 405 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Oulu and Helsinki, Finland, that was hijacked on 30 September 1978. The Finnair Sud Aviation Caravelle with 44 passengers and 5 crew aboard was hijacked by an unemployed home building contractor. After forcing the pilot to fly to Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Helsinki, the hijacker received his ransom demands and released his hostages. He was arrested at his home the following day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delta Air Lines Flight 841</span> 1972 aircraft hijacking

Delta Air Lines Flight 841 was an aircraft hijacking that took place beginning on July 31, 1972, on a flight originally from Detroit to Miami.

George Edward Wright is a Portuguese citizen of American origin, known for taking part in the hijacking of Delta Air Lines Flight 841. Originally arrested and convicted for murder in 1962 and sentenced to up to 30 years in prison, George Wright escaped from prison in 1970 and hijacked a Delta Air Lines flight in 1972 with a number of accomplices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710</span> 1972 aircraft hijacking

Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710 was a Boeing 737-200 flight between the California cities of Sacramento and Burbank, with a stop in San Francisco, that was hijacked by two Bulgarian nationals on July 5, 1972, shortly after take-off from Sacramento Airport. The hijackers demanded $800,000, two parachutes and to be taken to the Soviet Union. The plane landed at the San Francisco Airport, then took off after 20 minutes and spent the next hour circling while the hijackers waited for the airline to accept their demands.

Frederick William Hahneman was a Honduras-born U.S. citizen convicted of hijacking Eastern Air Lines Flight 175 from Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania to Miami, Florida, on May 5, 1972.

Paul Joseph Cini is a Canadian plane hijacker who is noted as the first person to plan a skyjacking with a planned escape by use of a parachute. In November 1971 Cini boarded Air Canada Flight 812, and—posing as an international terrorist—proceeded to hijack the plane. During the next eight hours, the plane made several mid-air diversions from its original flight plan that included a stop in the United States in order to pickup ransom money. Cini, who often became agitated during the event, was kept calm by a flight attendant, Mary Dohey, who had a psychological background before working for the airline. The hijacker was overpowered by Dohey and two additional members of the flight crew when he attempted to bail from the plane over the Alberta, Canada, wilderness.

References

  1. ↑ "Hoosier Hijack Suspect Arraigned at Chicago". UPI. The Indianapolis Star. December 28, 1971.
  2. ↑ Newton 2002, p. 142.
  3. ↑ "Hijacker Surrenders after 6-Hour Caper". UPI. Panama City News-Herald. January 13, 1972.
  4. ↑ "Skyjacker Surrenders in Dallas After Holding Hostages for 7 Hours". UPI. The Times. January 13, 1972.
  5. ↑ Newton 2002, p. 144.
  6. ↑ Miniclier, Kit (January 21, 2001). "Skyjacker a Colorado oddity?". Denver Post. Archived from the original on April 24, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Hijacker caught after parachuting over Colorado with $50,000 in cash". Lewiston Daily Sun. Associated Press. January 21, 1972. p. 1. Archived from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  8. ↑ Taylor, Daniel L. (January 21, 1972). "Parachutist hijacker captured". Eugene Register Guard. UPI. p. 3A. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Chuting hijacker caught by police". Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. January 21, 1972. p. 1. Archived from the original on September 29, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Hijacker with $50,000 loot captured after bailing out". Milwaukee Journal. January 21, 1972. p. 1.[ permanent dead link ]
  11. ↑ "Hijacker foiled; tracked by jets". Spokane Daily Chronicle. Associated Press. January 21, 1972. p. 19. Archived from the original on March 23, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  12. ↑ Koerner, Brendan I. (2013). The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking (1st ed.). Crown. p. 89. ISBN   978030788610-1.
  13. ↑ "Revere Hijacker Gets 40 Years". Record American. Associated Press. May 13, 1972.
  14. ↑ "Profile of a hijacker - the final bluff". The Billings Gazette. Jan 30, 1972.
  15. ↑ "FBI Agent Fatally Shoots Airline Hijacker in NY". The Indiana Gazette. Jan 27, 1972.
  16. 1 2 Krajicek, David. "The D.B. Cooper Story: The Copycats". Crime Library . Archived from the original on January 2, 2008. Retrieved January 3, 2008.
  17. ↑ Coreno, Catherine (October 19, 2007). "D.B. Cooper: A Timeline" . Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  18. ↑ Famous Cases & Criminals. FBI.gov Archived May 16, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved May 29, 2013
  19. ↑ "The Real McCoy". Time . April 24, 1972. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved July 26, 2007.
  20. 1 2 "Skydiver Held as Hijacker; $500,000 Is Still Missing". The New York Times . Associated Press. April 10, 1972. p. 1. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  21. ↑ Gray 2011b, pp. 60–64.
  22. ↑ Motaher, Maria. "Richard Floyd McCoy, Jr". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Archived from the original on December 7, 2018. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  23. ↑ "Widow of Man Linked in Book to Skyjacker D.B. Cooper Sues Authors, Provo Attorney". Associated Press. January 18, 1992. p. B5.
  24. ↑ Funk, Marianne (February 21, 1992). McCoy's Widow Admits Helping in '72 Hijacking. Deseret News Archive Archived October 22, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved February 21, 2011.
  25. ↑ "Pilot who Tricked Hijacker Into Arms of FBI is Amazed". Corpus Christi Caller-Times. April 11, 1972.
  26. ↑ "San Diego air piracy suspect Stanford Grad Writing Novel". The Peninsula Times Tribune. April 10, 1972.
  27. ↑ "Hijacker Parachutes From Second Jet to End Marathon $303,000 Heist". Pottsville Republican. Associated Press. May 6, 1972.
  28. ↑ The Morning Call. Frank Whelan. Sunday Call-Chronicle, 30 June 1985.
  29. ↑ Marcus, Emerson (Nov 23, 2011). "Cooper Inspired Copycat Hijackings in Reno". Reno-Gazette Journal.
  30. ↑ "$155,000 Recovered in Reno Jet Hijacking". The New York Times. June 6, 1972.
  31. ↑ "Rest of Reno Hijack Loot is Recovered". The News Journal. UPI. June 5, 1972.
  32. ↑ "Hijacker Heaven?". The Delta-Democrat Times. UPI. September 13, 1972.
  33. ↑ O'Neil, Tim (June 25, 2011). "A Look Back • Airline hijacking at Lambert in 1972 turns bizarre". St. Louis Post-Dispatch . Archived from the original on May 29, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2019.
  34. ↑ "Victim Charged for Delaying Plane". The Manhattan Mercury. June 27, 1972.
  35. ↑ Himmelsbach & Worcester 1986, p. 79–80.
  36. ↑ Hemphill, Evie (July 27, 2020). "'American Skyjacker' Podcast Details 1972 High-Flying Drama At Lambert Airport". St. Louis Public Radio . Retrieved March 2, 2022.. The Cooper connection is in the trailer video & podcast (rather than article text).
  37. ↑ "Accused Hijacker Has Court Date". The News Tribune. July 4, 1972.
  38. ↑ "Hijack Suspect Nabbed on Flight". The Pittsburgh Press. July 2, 1972.
  39. ↑ Koerner, Brendan I. (2013). The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking (1st ed.). Crown. p. 187. ISBN   978030788610-1.
  40. ↑ "Lawman Gets Hijacker to Give Up". The Palm Beach Post. Post Wire Services. July 8, 1972.
  41. ↑ "Air Pirate Gets 30 Years". The Miami Herald. February 14, 1973.
  42. ↑ Leary, Mike (July 14, 1972). "The Hijackers". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  43. ↑ "Jury Indicts Two Alleged Hijackers". The Latrobe Bulletin. UPI. July 19, 1972.
  44. ↑ "Two Skyjackers Surrender Quietly to FBI Following 21 Hour Journey". The Sacramento Bee. AP. July 14, 1972.
  45. ↑ "Two Accused of Hijacking are Indicted". The Standard Speaker. AP. July 19, 1972.
  46. ↑ "Hijacker Gets 60 Years". The New York Times. AP. Dec 3, 1974.
  47. ↑ Wigger, John (2023-10-12). The Hijacking of American Flight 119: How D. B. Cooper Inspired a Skyjacking Craze and the FBI's Battle to Stop It. Oxford University Press. pp. 202–204. ISBN   978-0-19-769575-3.
  48. ↑ "Hijackers Give Up; Hostages, Cash safe". The Journal Herald. AP. July 14, 1972.
  49. ↑ Patterson, Bryce (September 28, 1972). "Jury Reaches it's Decision in 50 Minutes". The Daily Oklahoman.

Bibliography

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