Despite the evidence on Tina Bar, could the skyjacker calling himself Dan Cooper have survived?

     Lack of a body will always imply “Yes.”

     To attain a more probable answer, we must allow the clues to speak. And 2 clues in particular guide our path.

     1, The air pressure oscillations clearly do not mark the bail point. Therefore no one really knows his actual drop zone. It was only within an area around Portland where the loot could eventually wend into the Columbia River.

     2, The FBI’s lack of uncovering Dan Cooper’s actual identity is not proof either way that he survived or died. It could suggest the swarthy skyjacker had engineered his own disappearance years before for other reasons and had long assumed a new life and identity off the grid. The identity behind the gutsy skydiver of air piracy might better be found in a database of missing persons; records so old the musty file would never have been consulted.

     There is one such missing person case that fits. This may be Dan Cooper. If not, it is very likely the prototype.

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