The mysterious hijacker may have worked at Boeing, according to some "citizen scientists" who have examined impurities found on his necktie:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4121146/Did-D-B-Cooper-work-BOEING-New-analysis-hijacker-s-necktie-reveals-super-rare-particles-used-plane-manufacturer-thrilling-discovery-reopen-one-America-s-mystifying-cases.html

 

Keep in mind that much of what's been speculated previously about D.B. Copper falls under the category now known as "fake news".

 

FlightAware also has a few interesting comments from the aviation community on this topic: 

 

http://flightaware.com/squawks/view/1/7_days/popular_new/58654/DB_Cooper_may_have_worked_at_Boeing

My first question would be, where's that tie been kept for all these years? Unless it was taken off the 727 and placed in a sterile box to await this modern analysis which has occured literally decades later, it's far more likely that any particles found on the thing in recent years will be the result of contamination taking place at some point after the crime.

 

Not only that, there have been plenty of cases where particles found on things have led to completely incorrect conclusions. One which springs to mind is the swabs taken off the 'Birmingham Six' whose wrongful imprisonment was largely based on particle evidence pointing to them supposedly having handled plastic explosives; it subsequently turned out that those particles were most likely off the plastic lamination covering the playing cards they had all been having a game of cards with. And as for those particles found on his tie, and those being specific to Boeing, it's far more likely they were on his tie because he was on a Boeing 727 for the hijack.

 

Having said that, it's apparent that DB Cooper had some knowledge of airliners, and in particular the B727, since he needed to hijack an airlner with airstairs which could be opened in flight, and knew enough to get it to slow down and drop below 10,000 feet for when he bailed out. So it's likely he worked in aviation in some shape or form, or if not, then certainly did his homework. However, it is possible that he did not survive the bail out given that some of the ransom money he took was found on a riverbed in the 1980s, although given that he was undoubtedly very clever, he may of course simply left some of the ransom lying there in the hope that it would be found and the authorities would come to the conclusion that he had died in the bail out.

 

Personally, I kind of hope he made it, yeah I know what he did was wrong, but it was nevertheless very daring and audacious, and he never actually hurt anyone, in fact, anyone involved in the event probably dined out on it for years.

I believe the tie was confirmed to have had metal residue in it consistent with an airline mechanic or perhaps Boeing Employee. He also had knowledge of airline procedures when he made orders to the flight crew he told the Flight Attendants to tell the captain what flap settings and airspeed to use etc, and he knew how to operate the air stairs.

 

I don't think they ever confirmed exactly where he worked just from the metal residue on the tie.

Maybe he did, maybe he did not.  Put TIGHAR on the case!  They've done such a great job solving the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, surely they can put to rest the theories and rumors swirling about the D.B. Cooper case. :rolleyes: