0:08

On the afternoon of November twenty

0:10

fourth, nineteen seventy one, Portland

0:13

International Airport was a hive

0:15

of frantic activity. It

0:18

was the day before Thanksgiving, one

0:20

of the busiest travel days of the year

0:22

in the US. Departures

0:25

swarmed with people traveling to see

0:27

their families for the holiday. Amid

0:30

that chaos, stood in line at

0:32

the ticket desk was a tall man

0:34

in a dark suit and raincoat,

0:37

wearing sunglasses and carrying

0:39

a briefcase. When

0:42

he finally got to the front of the line, the

0:44

man asked for a one way ticket

0:47

to Seattle. The man

0:49

was in luck there was a seat on board

0:51

a flight going that very afternoon.

0:55

The man handed over the twenty dollars

0:57

for the ticket, then breezily strolled

0:59

from the desk to his departure gate.

1:03

Later, on board Northwest

1:05

orient Airlines flight three O

1:08

five to Seattle, the man squeezed

1:10

through to the back of the Boeing seven two

1:12

seven. He settled into

1:14

an aisle seat in row eighteen, placed

1:17

his briefcase on the seat beside him,

1:20

and lit a cigarette. At

1:22

four thirty five p m. The plane

1:25

took off from the rumway and eased

1:27

up into the steadily darkening

1:30

sky. When

1:32

the plane leveled out, twenty

1:34

three year old flight attendant Florence Shaffner

1:37

began making her way down the aisle

1:39

with the drink's cart. She'd

1:42

clocked the man at the back early on, thinking

1:44

it a little odd that he hadn't removed

1:47

his sunglasses. When

1:49

she finally got down to him, he asked

1:51

politely for a bourbon and soda.

1:55

Despite her young age, Florence

1:57

was an experienced flight attendant. She'd

2:00

been doing the job long enough that

2:02

not much phazed her, especially

2:05

when it came to attention from male

2:07

passengers. Sex appeal

2:10

was, after all, part of the job

2:12

description for stewardesses, as

2:14

they used to be known. In

2:16

addition to staying young, slim,

2:19

and single, attendants were expected

2:21

to appear available and interest

2:23

it to flatter the egos of male

2:26

passengers who made passes at

2:28

them. For Florence,

2:30

it was by and large one of the

2:32

worst parts of the job, so

2:35

when soon after serving him

2:37

the drink, the smartly dressed

2:39

man handed her a note, it

2:42

was all she could do to not roll her

2:44

eyes in front of him.

2:46

What would it be this time? She thought a

2:49

phone number, a marriage proposal,

2:51

perhaps, Florence

2:54

forced a smile and took the note,

2:56

but made sure not to open it, better

2:59

not to put them both in the awkward position

3:01

of her having to respond to it there

3:04

and then. But when she turned

3:06

to walk away, the man spoke,

3:10

miss He said, with

3:12

an unnervingly insistent tone,

3:15

you'd better take a look at that note.

3:18

Florence paused for a moment, then

3:21

grudgingly opened it. The

3:23

words were written in neat, elegant

3:26

capitals, and yet they seemed to

3:28

be swimming in front of her eyes. Her

3:31

mind couldn't quite process them.

3:34

I have a bomb in my briefcase,

3:36

they read. I would use it

3:38

if necessary. I want

3:40

you to sit next to me. You

3:43

are being hijacked. You're

3:46

listening to unexplained, and

3:48

I'm Richard McLean Smith.

3:58

Florence felt unsteady on her feet.

4:01

The world around her seemed hazy

4:03

and far away, and so did

4:05

the figure of the man in front of her. She

4:08

squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, hoping

4:11

that when she opened them she'd find

4:13

herself safe at home in bed.

4:16

She'd had nightmares before about

4:19

being confronted by a hijacker, and

4:21

not unreasonably, America

4:24

was in the midst of a period now

4:26

referred to as the Golden Age

4:28

of hijacking, and cases had

4:30

been rising steadily over the past

4:32

three years, but she never

4:35

really believed it would happen to her.

4:38

When Florence opened her eyes again,

4:41

the man was still there, looking

4:43

expectantly at her, with one hand

4:45

on his briefcase, his eyes

4:48

inscrutable behind the sunglasses.

4:52

I want you to sit next to me, he

4:54

said, echoing the words in

4:56

his note. Though every

4:58

instinct was telling he her to run and

5:01

scream, Florence forced

5:03

her legs to move and eased herself

5:05

into the seat beside him. Once

5:09

she was sat down, she couldn't take

5:11

her eyes off the briefcase. Almost

5:14

without thinking, she found herself

5:16

asking the man if she could

5:19

see the bomb. The

5:21

man opened the briefcase and turned

5:23

it to show her the inside. Florence

5:27

felt a surge of adrenaline when she

5:29

caught sight of the tangled mass

5:31

of wires and cylinders, all

5:33

connected to a large central

5:36

battery. Time seemed

5:39

to slow down. She

5:41

imagined the bomb detonating, flames,

5:44

consuming the entire plane in seconds,

5:47

its charred scraps falling

5:49

to earth. She thought

5:51

of her parents in Arkansas, hearing

5:54

about it all on the evening news,

5:57

and for the first time in her life,

6:00

she thought about dying. Just

6:03

then, another flight attendant, twenty

6:05

two year old Tina Mucklow, came

6:08

heading toward them down the aisle. Florence

6:11

could only imagine what she thought at

6:13

the sight of her sitting down with a passenger

6:16

like this. It was almost

6:18

a relief when Tina finally

6:20

reached them and Florence was able

6:23

to hand her the note.

6:25

As Tina read it, Florence

6:27

could visibly see the blood drain

6:30

from her face. Then the

6:32

man showed her the bomb too,

6:35

taking care to point out just how

6:37

it worked and where the detonator

6:39

switch was. He spoke

6:42

calmly and politely, keeping

6:44

his voice low. The

6:46

flight wasn't full, and they were

6:48

at the back of the plane. No

6:50

one else on board had any idea

6:53

what was going on. The

6:55

man then told Tina to inform

6:57

the pilots that the plane was being

7:00

hijacked and to deliver a

7:02

precise set of instructions after

7:06

detailing them. Tina nodded

7:08

silently in response. She

7:10

was just about to head off when the

7:12

man added one more thing, Oh,

7:16

he said, and no funny business

7:19

or I'll do the job. Tina

7:31

picked up the intercom and called

7:33

the cockpit on an emergency signal.

7:36

She told the pilots that the plane was being

7:38

hijacked, then relayed the man's

7:40

instructions. They were a

7:42

little strange under the circumstances.

7:45

Instead of re routing the plane to Cuba,

7:48

as many politically motivated hijackers

7:51

did at the time, the man wanted

7:53

them to stick to their predetermined

7:55

flight path, but when they reached

7:57

Seattle, he wanted three things

8:00

waiting for him on the ground. A

8:02

fuel truck ready to refuel

8:04

the plane, four parachutes,

8:07

and two hundred thousand US

8:09

dollars in cash, roughly

8:11

one and a half million into day's

8:14

money. So long as

8:16

his demands were met, he said he

8:18

would let all of the passengers go. Pilot

8:22

Captain Scott radioed air traffic

8:24

control on the ground in Washington and

8:27

explained what was going on. He

8:29

requested the plane be put in a holding

8:31

pattern to give the authorities time

8:34

to respond. Scott

8:36

was directed to fly in circles over

8:38

Puget Sound, a vast

8:40

estuary which connects Sattle to

8:43

the Pacific Ocean. Tina

8:45

knew there was only one reason why

8:47

they would do this, ground control

8:50

wanted them over water in case

8:52

the plane exploded. Meanwhile,

8:56

back in row eighteen, the man

8:58

in the suit and sunglasses ordered

9:00

another drink from Florence. He

9:03

seemed in good spirits, paying

9:05

for his two dollar bourbon and soda

9:07

with a twenty dollar bill and insisting

9:10

that Florence keep the change

9:12

almost one hundred and thirty dollars

9:14

by today's standards.

9:16

Not that Florence took any heed of

9:19

that. She was too busy watching

9:21

the man's every move as he leant

9:23

back into his seat, one hand

9:26

holding his drink, the other resting

9:29

on his rigged briefcase. With

9:32

little else to do, she and Tina

9:34

focused on damage control. They

9:37

had no way of knowing how destructive

9:39

the man's bomb would be, so they resolved

9:42

to try and put as much space between

9:44

it and the passengers as possible

9:47

to avoid causing alarm. They

9:49

told passengers that there was a minor

9:51

mechanical fault with the plane and

9:54

asked everybody to move forwards into

9:56

first class. But as

9:58

the passengers began moving moving around

10:00

the cabin, the man in the sunglasses

10:03

became agitated. He

10:05

demanded to know what was happening, What

10:08

was taking so long and why

10:10

the plane was in a holding pattern.

10:13

The twenty two year old Tina did

10:16

her best to keep him calm as

10:18

she explained it was going to take

10:20

time for the ground staff to have

10:22

everything he wanted ready before

10:25

they landed. If anything, they

10:27

were just doing what he'd asked. In

10:30

the meantime, she'd give him any information

10:32

he wanted to know when she had it. Thankfully,

10:36

it seemed to work. Sadly

10:38

for Tina, it worked too

10:40

well. The man demanded

10:43

she stay by his side for the rest

10:45

of the flight. To keep him company.

10:49

Over the next hour or so, Tina

10:51

told him about her childhood in rural

10:53

Pennsylvania and about her current

10:56

hometown of Minneapolis. In Minnesota.

10:59

Seemed genuinely interested, but

11:02

when she asked him the same question in

11:04

return, he clammed up and

11:06

refused to answer. She

11:09

asked him why he'd picked Northwest

11:11

Orient Airlines as his target. Did

11:14

he have a grudge against them, she wondered.

11:17

The man seemed amused by this. I

11:20

don't have a grudge against your airline,

11:22

he said, I just have a

11:24

grudge.

11:31

One upside to the golden age of hijacking

11:35

was that most major airports had

11:37

a solid plan in place for when it

11:39

happened. As soon as Captain

11:41

Scott alerted air traffic control

11:44

to what was going on, a vast

11:46

chain of people on the ground sprung

11:48

into action. Local

11:51

police and the FBI were

11:53

informed within moments, and an

11:55

urgent call was placed to Donald

11:57

Nyroup, the president of Northwest

11:59

Orrient Airlines. Without

12:02

hesitating, Nyrop authorized

12:04

payment of the ransom. Two

12:07

hundred thousand dollars was a lot of

12:09

money, but it was nothing compared to

12:11

the consequences of that bomb being

12:13

detonated. Loss of life

12:15

aside, the value of the company

12:18

was unlikely to ever recover should

12:20

anything like that occur on board.

12:23

Further to the request of the money, the

12:25

hijacker had some very specific

12:28

demands. He wanted ten

12:30

thousand unmarked twenty dollar

12:32

bills with non sequential

12:34

serial numbers. This way,

12:37

it would be harder to trace the money when

12:39

he spent it unknown to him.

12:41

However, when the money was duly

12:43

delivered from a local branch of

12:45

Seattle First National Bank,

12:48

the FBI took microfilm

12:50

photographs of the bills so

12:52

that they'd have a record of each serial

12:54

number. Surprisingly, getting

12:57

hold of the four parachutes on such

12:59

short notice, was more of a

13:01

problem than the cash. An

13:04

Air Force base close to the airport

13:06

offered to provide them, but the man

13:08

was adamant that they be civilian

13:10

parachutes and not military wants.

13:13

By then, it was after five pm

13:16

on Thanksgiving Eve and all local

13:18

businesses selling outdoor gear were

13:21

closed for the holiday, but

13:23

Seattle police eventually got through

13:26

to the owner of a local skydiving

13:28

school, who was able to deliver what they

13:30

needed. While

13:32

scrambling to comply with the man's demands,

13:35

the authorities were also trying

13:37

to work out its game plan. Based

13:40

on the fact that he'd asked for four parachutes,

13:43

they assumed that likely be a

13:45

potential hostage situation. Finally,

13:49

with everything figured out on the ground,

13:52

air traffic control told Captain

13:54

Scott that he was cleared to land.

13:57

He relayed this message to Tina, who

14:01

relaid it to the enigmatic man

14:03

in the suit and sunglasses. Having

14:06

circled the city for around two hours,

14:09

Flight three oh five finally

14:11

landed at Seattle Tacoma Airport

14:14

and taxied to a remote and

14:16

well lit area of the tarmac.

14:19

Per the hijacker's instructions,

14:23

no vehicles or personnel were

14:25

allowed to come anywhere near the aircraft.

14:29

As she felt the wheels touched the ground,

14:32

Tina allowed herself a brief

14:34

moment of relief. For

14:36

the past hour, she had been doing her best

14:38

to stay focused on the task at hand

14:41

and not think about her own survival.

14:44

But her task was far from over.

14:47

She'd done such a good job of keeping

14:49

the hijacker calm that now

14:52

she was the only person on board who

14:54

he trusted, and he had

14:56

plans for her. Tina

15:05

felt the rush of the cool evening

15:07

air on her face as the aircraft

15:10

door opened and filled

15:12

her with a sudden, overwhelming

15:14

urge to run. But Tina

15:17

was not going to be leaving any time

15:19

soon. So far,

15:22

the hijacker had only agreed to release

15:24

the passengers, and he was now sitting

15:27

with his finger on the trigger mechanism

15:29

of the bomb. Should anyone get

15:32

any funny ideas. Slowly,

15:35

Tina descended the stairs toward

15:37

the tarmac, where a lone figure

15:40

in a high vized vest was waiting for

15:42

her. Al Lee,

15:44

the airline's Seattle based operations

15:47

manager, had been tasked with delivering

15:50

the cash and the parachutes. Are

15:53

you okay? He asked, looking

15:55

at Tina with concern. She

15:58

nodded quickly, forcing back

16:00

tears as she took the supplies. Then

16:03

she turned around and walked back

16:05

towards the plane. The

16:08

bag of money alone weighed around

16:10

twenty pounds, and it was a struggle

16:13

to wrestle it and the four parachutes

16:15

up the stairs. But once

16:18

she'd managed it and the hijacker

16:20

had confirmed the supplies were correct,

16:22

he gave the nod to release the passengers.

16:26

True to his word, I allowed Or

16:28

thirty six to get off the plane along

16:30

with Florence, but not Tina,

16:33

and not the three pilots in the cockpit

16:36

for them. The ordeal was

16:39

only just beginning. It

16:41

shouldn't take this long, muttered

16:43

the man in the suit as he waited

16:45

for the plane to be filled up with fuel,

16:48

his eyes darting suspiciously

16:51

around the tarmac. Then

16:53

finally, the refueling was complete and

16:56

Tina began the process of retracting

16:58

the stairs, but the man suddenly

17:01

stopped her. He wanted the

17:03

stairs to stay down. Tina

17:06

didn't understand. The plane

17:08

couldn't take off with the stairs deployed.

17:12

The hijacker's requests seemed

17:14

to be getting stranger. It

17:16

scared her. Eventually,

17:19

the man agreed to a compromise. The

17:21

stairs could be retracted while the plane

17:24

took off, so long as they could

17:26

be lowered again once they were

17:28

airborne. To make this possible,

17:30

however, meant the rear door of

17:32

the plane had to be kept open

17:35

throughout the flight, and

17:37

so with the back door wide

17:40

open, the plane took

17:42

off back into the night. It

17:45

was an eerie sensation to feel

17:48

the wind whipping past as they gathered

17:50

speed, and the sound of the plane's

17:52

engines through the open door was

17:55

deafening. Hunched

17:57

in the very back of the darkened cabin,

18:00

Tina had never felt more

18:02

alone or afraid. She

18:04

had no idea where they were going or

18:07

what the man had planned for her next.

18:10

She couldn't take her eyes off the four

18:12

parachutes now stacked up

18:14

next to him. Right then,

18:17

she had no idea if she'd make

18:19

it back to solid ground alive.

18:33

Once they were back in the air, the

18:35

hijacker told the pilots to

18:37

chart a southward path to Mexico

18:40

City. As Ever, his instructions

18:43

were specific. They were to keep

18:45

the plane at an altitude of below

18:47

ten thousand feet and fly

18:49

at a steady speed of just

18:51

under two hundred knots. They

18:54

did as they were told. Meanwhile,

18:57

two fighter jets were stealthily

18:59

following the plane, tracking its

19:01

every move from a safe distance

19:04

over the roaring of the engine. Tina

19:07

tried to talk to the hijacker again

19:09

and asked him what his plan was. She

19:12

just couldn't take her mind off those damn

19:15

parachutes. Clearly he

19:17

intended to jump from the plane, but

19:20

why did he need four parachutes?

19:23

But the man seemed not to hear her,

19:26

or perhaps he heard perfectly. Either

19:29

way, he said nothing. Instead,

19:32

he spent the next twenty minutes chainsmoking

19:35

cigarettes, with Tina having

19:37

to light each one for him because

19:40

he still had a finger pressed

19:42

against the trigger of the bomb. After

19:45

stubbing out his final cigarette,

19:48

the man got to his feet and told

19:50

Tina to escort him to the back

19:52

door and help him lower the

19:54

stairs. Tina

19:57

turned to look at the rear door and

19:59

froze. The sight of it

20:01

filled her with a primal terror. It

20:04

was like looking into a void. Annoyed

20:08

by her hesitation, the man repeated

20:10

the request. Eventually,

20:13

Tina forced herself to respond

20:16

she would help him do it, but only

20:18

if she could go to the cockpit and get some

20:21

rope to tie herself to a seat

20:23

while she did it. The

20:25

hijacker refused, clearly

20:27

still suspicious that she and the

20:29

flight crew were plotting something. But

20:33

Tina wouldn't budge

20:35

fine, said the man. He

20:37

would do it himself. After

20:40

getting Tina to tell him what he

20:42

needed to do, he directed her

20:44

to go to the cockpit, closed

20:47

the door behind her, and not come

20:49

back no matter what happened. She

20:52

glanced down at the briefcase with

20:55

its ominous tangle of wires and

20:57

batteries. The idea

20:59

of it sitting back here unattended

21:02

was terrifying. She

21:05

begged him, will you please take the

21:07

bomb with you? The man

21:09

reassured her that he'd either take

21:11

it with him or disarm it before he

21:13

jumped, and she had no choice

21:16

but to believe him. As

21:18

Tina walked away up the aisle,

21:21

she turned back for a moment and

21:23

caught one final glimpse of the hijacker

21:26

tying the twenty pound bag of money

21:29

around his waist, and

21:31

then she turned back and made a

21:33

dash for the cockpit. Around

21:42

eight p m. A warning light blinked

21:45

on in the cockpit, indicating

21:47

that the rear stairs had been deployed.

21:50

About ten minutes later, the

21:53

tail of the plane suddenly pitched

21:55

upwards, forcing the pilots

21:57

to take corrective action. To

22:00

Tina and the pilots, it seemed

22:02

like the hijacker must have jumped, but

22:05

there was no way to be sure, and none

22:07

of them wanted to take the risk of

22:09

leaving the cockpit in case he

22:11

was still on board. Shortly

22:14

before eleven PM, the

22:16

plane reached the airspace above

22:18

Reno, Nevada, where it was due

22:20

to refuel. Tina

22:23

tried to reach the suited man through

22:25

the cabin intercom, telling him

22:27

they were about to land and he needed

22:29

to raise the stairs, but

22:31

there was no reply. She

22:34

tried again and again as

22:36

they descended, but the stairs

22:39

remained Against

22:42

the odds. Flight three oh five

22:45

touched down safely in Reno with

22:47

the stairs still deployed. When

22:50

Tina and the pilots finally emerged

22:52

from the cockpit, they found the cabin

22:55

completely empty. The

22:57

hijacker was gone, and so

22:59

too was the bomb, the

23:01

two hundred thousand dollars and

23:04

two out of the four parachutes.

23:07

After the shell shot flight crew were finally

23:10

able to leave, an FBI team

23:12

descended on the plane sweeping

23:14

it from end to end. The

23:17

man in the sunglasses had been

23:19

careful to cover his tracks. He'd

23:22

taken great effort not to leave

23:24

any evidence behind, including

23:26

even the note he'd initially written

23:28

to Florence. The only

23:31

traces remaining of him were a

23:33

pile of cigarette butts and

23:35

a black clip on tie he probably

23:38

forgot to take with him. Even

23:40

though two jets had been following

23:42

the flight closely, nobody

23:45

saw the man jump. Over

23:48

the days to come, the authorities

23:51

attempted to piece together what his

23:53

final moments on board must have

23:55

looked like. After sending

23:58

Tina to the cockpit and tying

24:00

the bag of cash around his waist, the

24:03

man is thought to have strapped one parachute

24:05

to his front and another to his

24:07

back, perhaps fearing the

24:09

possibility that one might not open.

24:13

Then, after picking up his deadly

24:15

briefcase, he lowered the stairs

24:18

beneath him. All he would have seen

24:21

was a thick layer of cloud blanketed

24:24

by a total darkness. Taking

24:27

the windchill into account, it would

24:29

have been at least forty degrees below

24:32

zero. Then, probably

24:35

somewhere over the Cascade Mountains.

24:37

He jumped, and

24:40

the authorities had nothing except

24:43

one thing, the name the

24:46

man had given at the airport when

24:48

he brought his ticket to Seattle. Dan

24:52

Cooper, you'd

24:55

been listening to Unexplained Season

24:57

seven, episode twenty two,

25:00

Jumping into Legend Part one.

25:03

The second and final part will

25:05

be released next Friday, May

25:08

twenty fourth. This

25:10

episode was written by Emma Dibton and

25:13

produced by Richard mc lean smith.

25:16

Unexplained is an Avy Club Productions

25:18

podcast created by Richard

25:20

mc clan smith. All other elements

25:23

of the podcast, including the music, are

25:25

also produced by me Richard mc lean

25:27

smith. Unexplained.

25:29

The book and audiobook, with stories

25:32

never before featured on the show, is

25:34

now available to buy world wide.

25:36

You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes

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and Noble, Waterstones and other

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bookstores. Please subscribe

25:43

to and rate the show wherever you get

25:45

your podcasts, and feel free to get

25:47

in touch with any thoughts or ideas

25:49

regarding the stories you've heard on the show.

25:52

Perhaps you have an explanation of your own

25:54

you'd like to share. You can find

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dot com and reaches on line through

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Forward Slash Unexplained.

26:07

Podcast

27:06

Dinner

27:15

A.

27:28

B B

27:41

B bases

27:55

the Delain,

28:16

then Dinna

29:04

Dislong

29:15

b.

29:17

B, the.

29:34

Di Din.

30:05

Din Dict

30:14

Di