Next On Netflix : D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?!

There is nothing quite like a newly released Netflix series to stir the imagination and breathe fresh life into old FBI cold cases. This is no different. A series in 4 parts, ‘D. B. Cooper : Where are you?!’ tells the fascinating tale of the worlds first successful skyjacking.

On the afternoon of November 24^th 1971, an average looking man wearing a suit and carrying a plain briefcase boarded a North West Orient flight from Portland to Seattle. Wearing sunglasses, he appeared calm and in control and was pleasant to those seated around him.

Flying was a much different experience in those days. Airplanes were socialising venues for the wealthy. Airports were completely lacking in any security. No guards patted down passengers and no luggage was searched. This laxity allowed Cooper to board carrying a homemade bomb.

After passing a stewardess a ransom note, Cooper requested $200,000 and 4 parachutes be ready at Seattle airport. What unfolded next is the stuff of legend. The plane landed, the passengers disembarked, the money was handed over and the Boeing 727 took off again, towards Mexico.

Somewhere over Washington, Cooper opened the aft aircraft door and parachuted out of sight and into American legend, never to be seen again. His apparent success spawned no less than 15 attempted copycat skyjackings in 1972 with one skyjacker claiming Cooper as his inspiration.

Now, 50 years later, the cold case is cracked back open to a whole new audience of armchair experts! The series has everything; a crazy crime, shady suspects, mistaken identity, mismanaged physical evidence and even traces of DNA, yet D.B. Cooper has evaded the FBI to this day.  

The series covers the crime, highlighting the myriad surprising suspects as the FBI try to unmask D.B. Cooper and finally catch the criminal, with testimony from fellow plane passengers and airport staff to new witnesses who claim to have had contact with Cooper very recently.

Cooper has held cult status in America since his escape and features often in popular culture with references from Twin Peaks to Breaking Bad. Movies have been made about the hijacking, D.B. Cooper-themed bars exist and there is even a D.B. Cooper Day in Ariel Tavern, WA.

One thing is clear, people love a good skyjacking story. Cooper is a hero. He hurt nobody, got rich quick and got away, all in amazing Action Man style. Unfortunately, if he is still alive and in hiding somewhere, with the release of this gripping new series, the heat is back on.

In the interest of no more spoilers, lets just say the plot thickens a little every episode. If you’re completely new to the story, it’s a captivating crime mystery told with the usual Netflix panache. D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?! will have you on the edge of your aisle seat!