On November 24, 1971, a man using the name Dan Cooper hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 by claiming he had a bomb.

He bought an $18.52 ticket in Portland, ordered a bourbon, and showed a flight attendant a briefcase with wires and red sticks. He demanded $200,000 in cash and four parachutes in Seattle. After freeing the passengers, he ordered the plane toward Mexico and jumped from the back stairs into a freezing rainstorm over Washington state. No trace of him was ever found.