To this day, no one knows his real name but on Nov. 24, 1971, everyone in America was talking about the mysterious man who called himself D.B. Cooper. That day, Cooper hijacked Northwest Airlines Flight 305 and its 36 passengers using a briefcase that he said contained a bomb. "We will ask you to stay there until we get coordinated with our friend in the back," the pilot told the control tower after the plane landed in Seattle. Once $200,000 and several parachutes were delivered per Cooper's request, he demanded the plane fly him to Mexico. He also asked for the rear door to remain unlocked and the plane to be flown low and slow.
Cooper clearly had a plan, although officials didn't realize what it was until it was too late. While the plane flew to Reno, Nev. (ostensibly for a refueling stop), Cooper parachuted into the night. Despite the fact that law-enforcement officials in five different planes were tailing the jetliner, no one witnessed the jump. Though the FBI contends that Cooper couldn't have survived, it released new composite sketches in 2007 in hopes of closing the case.