Episode 1: The Taking of United Flight 855

01/04/22 • 38 min

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In episode one, we meet Richard Floyd McCoy Jr., a Mormon Sunday school teacher and Vietnam veteran who friends said had become obsessed with skyjacking and D.B. Cooper in the months after Cooper's famous crime, committed during Thanksgiving weekend, 1971. By April 1972, McCoy's fascination led him to his own skyjacking--a caper that bore striking resemblances to what Cooper had pulled off, but had a very different outcome.

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DB Cooper 50th Anniversary Episode

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Before season two kicks off in earnest on 1/4/22, here's a quick primer into the legendary case that will be part of our focus during the upcoming series. Fifty years ago this week, on 11/24/1971, a man calling himself "Dan Cooper" hijacked a Northwest Orient flight from Seattle, Washington to Portland, Oregon and demanded a $200,000 ransom from the airline. What happened next would make the mystery man--who would be remembered as "DB Cooper"--an iconic figure in the outlaw history of the west and inspire half a century's worth of investigation and speculation: he jumped.

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Episode 2: Death is My Postage

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In episode two, Richard McCoy caps his audacious skyjacking plan by parachuting from the rear stairs of United Flight 855--but the jump does not go as planned. We also trace McCoy's journey back to his two tours of duty in Vietnam and examine the myriad ways flight revolutionized the lives of everyday Americans.