PIRATE

D. B. Cooper

1931 - 1971

Photo of D. B. Cooper

Icon of person D. B. Cooper

D. B. Cooper, also known as Dan Cooper, was 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, Cooper told a flight attendant he had a bomb, demanded $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to approximately $1,500,000 in 2024) and four parachutes upon landing in Seattle. After releasing the passengers in Seattle, Cooper instructed the flight crew to refuel the aircraft and begin a second flight to Mexico City, with a refueling stop in Reno, Nevada. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of D. B. Cooper has received more than 18,745,811 page views. His biography is available in 45 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 44 in 2019). D. B. Cooper is the 9th most popular pirate, the 645th most popular biography from United States (down from 573rd in 2019) and the most popular American Pirate.

D.B. Cooper is most famous for being the only person to ever successfully jump out of a plane with a parachute and never be found.

Memorability Metrics

  • 19M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 65.14

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 45

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 4.13

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.61

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PIRATES

Among pirates, D. B. Cooper ranks 9 out of 29. Before him are Eric of Pomerania, Anne Bonny, Calico Jack, Henry Morgan, Mary Read, and Bartholomew Roberts. After him are François l'Olonnais, William Kidd, Henry Every, Sextus Pompey, Benjamin Hornigold, and Charles Vane.

Most Popular Pirates in Wikipedia

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1931, D. B. Cooper ranks 32. Before him are Guy Debord, Leonard Nimoy, Ian Holm, João Gilberto, Dries van Agt, and Johannes Rau. After him are Martinus J. G. Veltman, Khieu Samphan, Anne Bancroft, Aldo Rossi, Hiroto Muraoka, and Riccardo Giacconi. Among people deceased in 1971, D. B. Cooper ranks 24. Before him are Arne Jacobsen, Donald Winnicott, Wilhelm List, Franz Stangl, Gotthard Heinrici, and François Duvalier. After him are Igor Tamm, Lothar Rendulic, Wendell Meredith Stanley, Rudolf Abel, Jacobo Árbenz, and Roy O. Disney.

Others Born in 1931

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Others Deceased in 1971

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In United States

Among people born in United States, D. B. Cooper ranks 645 out of 20,380. Before him are Richard Kiel (1939), Richard Chamberlain (1934), Gene Wilder (1933), Monica Lewinsky (1973), Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875), and Jeff Goldblum (1952). After him are George Beadle (1903), John Dillinger (1903), Alec Baldwin (1958), Lionel Richie (1949), Stanford Moore (1913), and Paul Berg (1926).

Others born in United States

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Among PIRATES In United States

Among pirates born in United States, D. B. Cooper ranks 1. 

American born Pirates

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