'D.B. Cooper' pilot dies; William Scott never talked much about 1971 skyjacking

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For 30 years, William "Scotty" Scott said little about the world's most famous skyjacking, shunning assorted authors and movie producers who came knocking at his door.

Mr. Scott piloted the Northwest Orient Airlines jet hijacked by the infamous "D.B. Cooper" on Thanksgiving Eve 1971. He died of prostate cancer Sunday at his home in Green Valley, Ariz., taking to the grave much of what he knew about that fateful night, said his wife, Frances.

"When he came home that night," she said, "he told his family about it, and that was the end of it. He was a very quiet man. Very reserved."

Only in recent years had he begun to talk about the skyjacking that perplexed the FBI and continues to rivet those who think Cooper may have survived the jump of 10,000 feet into the blackness of a storm over Southwest Washington.

Her husband was convinced Cooper died in the leap, said Frances Scott. "He felt he jumped into Lake Merwin (Cowlitz County) and got tangled up in dead trees and died," she said.

On the 25th anniversary of the heist, Mr. Scott spoke to a local pilots club; 200 people showed up, said his wife.

Mr. Scott was the captain of the Boeing 727 when a passenger under the name of Dan Cooper boarded in Portland for the short flight to Seattle. Midway, he passed a note to a flight attendant, saying he had a bomb and demanding $200,000.

When the plane landed in Seattle, the other passengers were evacuated, and the FBI gave the skyjacker the ransom money and the four parachutes he had requested.

Cooper then ordered the pilot to fly toward Mexico, but he jumped from the plane somewhere near the Columbia River. Despite years of searching, all that has been found is $5,800 unearthed along the north bank of the Columbia.

Mr. Scott never saw Cooper. "He was intent on flying the plane and being able to get people out of there alive and save the aircraft for Northwest," said his widow.

Little by little, she said, her husband had begun to talk about it the past few years. "It was good for him," she said. "In later years, he'd get mad at authors. Scotty would say, 'No, that's not the way it happened.' They weren't there; he was."