On 24 November 1971, a man boarded Northwest Orient Flight 305 from Portland to Seattle, carrying what he later told flight attendants was a suitcase bomb. Once airborne, he threatened to detonate it if they did not follow his instructions. He allowed the plane to continue to Seattle, where he freed the passengers in exchange for $200,000 (£163,000) – equivalent to about $1.5m in 2024 – and two parachutes. He then had the plane take off for Mexico City, but over southwest Washington State he donned the parachutes and jumped from the rear door of the aircraft into the night, never to be seen again, although the remains of some of the money were found buried on the banks of the Columbia River in 1980. The hijacker had bought a…
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Fortean Times (Digital) - 1 Issue, 444