What was the earliest point at which the public were informed of the news of the hijacking? Even more specifically, what's the earliest the public would have known that the hijacker had bailed from the plane and was on the loose?

Cooper didn't jump until after 8pm and the plane didn't land in Reno until well after that (11pm??), which is when authorities found out for sure that he had jumped.

So there's no way the 9:00 or 10:00 news could have reported that the hijacker was on the run. Was there anything on the news about the hijacking at all that night?

What was the Thursday morning newspaper coverage like? Huge story with a ton of coverage or a short blip (or nothing at all)? Being the day before Thanksgiving, many may have gone to press earlier that night (we always did on the eve of holidays when I worked in the newspaper business). So coverage may have been brief.

Anyone know what time the initial AP story hit the wire that day?

What about radio stations the next morning (or perhaps in the middle of the night even).

Just pondering how much time Cooper would have had to move about under the radar without the public knowing what was going on. And more specifically, at what point would the public have found out that the hijacker bailed out of the plane? How long was Cooper's window of opportunity before anyone in the general public would have known there was a hijacker on the loose?

EDIT:

After posting this I did some digging and found a story about the "DB" name mixup. The reporter taking responsibility for it says it was around 3:30 or 4pm that he wrote the story on deadline (which contributed to the name mixup), but it's a bit unclear as to which day he is referring to. Hard to believe that would have been on Wednesday seeing as how the passengers didn't get off the plane until at least that time (which is when it was discovered that "Dan Cooper" was the missing passenger).

What was the earliest point at which the public were informed of the news of the hijacking? Even more specifically, what's the earliest the public would have known that the hijacker had bailed from the plane and was on the loose?

Cooper didn't jump until after 8pm and the plane didn't land in Reno until well after that (11pm??), which is when authorities found out for sure that he had jumped.

So there's no way the 9:00 or 10:00 news could have reported that the hijacker was on the run. Was there anything on the news about the hijacking at all that night?

What was the Thursday morning newspaper coverage like? Huge story with a ton of coverage or a short blip (or nothing at all)? Being the day before Thanksgiving, many may have gone to press earlier that night (we always did on the eve of holidays when I worked in the newspaper business). So coverage may have been brief.

Anyone know what time the initial AP story hit the wire that day?

What about radio stations the next morning (or perhaps in the middle of the night even).

Just pondering how much time Cooper would have had to move about under the radar without the public knowing what was going on. And more specifically, at what point would the public have found out that the hijacker bailed out of the plane? How long was Cooper's window of opportunity before anyone in the general public would have known there was a hijacker on the loose?

EDIT:

After posting this I did some digging and found a story about the "DB" name mixup. The reporter taking responsibility for it says it was around 3:30 or 4pm that he wrote the story on deadline (which contributed to the name mixup), but it's a bit unclear as to which day he is referring to. Hard to believe that would have been on Wednesday seeing as how the passengers didn't get off the plane until at least that time (which is when it was discovered that "Dan Cooper" was the missing passenger).

Cooper passed the hijack note to Flo as the airliner was actually taxing out to the runway in Portland.  The flight crew was informed of the hijacking immediately after take off, just a couple of minutes after 3:00 PM.  The airliner flight crew notified NWA immediately, presumably with a message through the ARINC teletype system.  By about 3:15 or 3:30 PM, the airliner was in the Seattle area and had been handed off to SEATAC approach control which handled the holding until the money and parachutes were at the NWA station at SEATAC.

After the money and parachutes were at SEATAC, SEATAC approach control handed the flight off to the SEATAC tower which cleared it to land. The airliner landed after 5:00 PM.  I can't find the exact time at the moment, but it could have been as late as 5:30 or 5:40.

At the time the plane landed, the FAA, FBI, and NWA personnel were the only ones who had been involved directly.  But as Georger points out, everyone in the Pacific Northwest appears to have known about the hijacking by somewhere around 3:30 PM.  So someone apparently owed some favors to people in the media.

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What was the earliest point at which the public were informed of the news of the hijacking? Even more specifically, what's the earliest the public would have known that the hijacker had bailed from the plane and was on the loose?

News people began arriving at the Seattle airport less than 30 mins after 305 alerted ATC that a hijacking was in progress.

Preparation/scrambling for searches at Portland etc. would have alerted people they thought Cooper had bailed near Woodland in the 8:00 o'clock hour before 305 had even landed at Reno.   

Now that you mention it, I do recall seeing footage of some passengers being interviewed by the media at Sea-Tac; I'm guessing shortly after giving their witness testimonies. So it's fair to assume there was plenty of coverage on the news that evening. If people were aware of the hijacking by 3:30 or 4:00, it must have been breaking news that interrupted regularly scheduled TV programming in addition to being all over the radio. If that's true, that news traveled really fast for being 1971. Note is handed to Tina around 3:00 and it was already dominating the news just 30 minutes later? For an era without social media and smartphones, that's awfully impressive. 

The earliest reports would not have included information about a bailout though, because the bailout hadn't happened yet. With a jump not being made until after 8pm (and not a positive confirmation of such until well after that), the news that the hijacker was now on the ground and possibly on the run may not have really surfaced until the morning papers hit the doorsteps. Although I suppose it's possible the Wednesday night late news may have had some info about the bailout, depending on when word of the bailout made its rounds.

I was just trying to peg down a general time frame for which Cooper could have moved about the area before any locals knew the hijacker was on the ground and may have become suspicious of someone (if of course he survived the jump and was healthy enough to get on the move).

Did the whole population of the Northwest know Cooper had bailed (8:12-15) and where precisely: No. But, for example, citizens at Wilhelm Trucking in Portland were following news reports flowing in and passing that info along to citizens through truckers ... the Manager of the Troutdale Airport was following news reports eg. "we were told (when) 305 had crossed the Columbia on the west side of Portland and several pilots offered assistance in the search but we declined to get involved  ..." (all before 305 had landed at Reno).     

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like word of the hijacking hit the streets well before Cooper may have. I suppose local news rooms would have had a police scanner on and would have heard some communication of it that way.

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Thanks for the replies. Sounds like word of the hijacking hit the streets well before Cooper may have. I suppose local news rooms would have had a police scanner on and would have heard some communication of it that way.

At least the initial communications were on the aviation VHF frequencies and, even at worse, there shouldn't have been much chatter on the local police frequencies since they were only indirectly involved.  This whole thing suggests that the media was deliberately alerted by some law enforcement agencies.

.....  honey Ill be home late - we have a hijacking going on. Oh!? When did that happen. About 3 pm. OK, do you want me to hold dinner for you? No, I have no idea when Illl get outta here. Ok. I;ll let everyone at church know! Ok. 

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What was the earliest point at which the public were informed of the news of the hijacking? Even more specifically, what's the earliest the public would have known that the hijacker had bailed from the plane and was on the loose?

News people began arriving at the Seattle airport less than 30 mins after 305 alerted ATC that a hijacking was in progress.

Preparation/scrambling for searches at Portland etc. would have alerted people they thought Cooper had bailed near Woodland in the 8:00 o'clock hour before 305 had even landed at Reno.   

Now that you mention it, I do recall seeing footage of some passengers being interviewed by the media at Sea-Tac; I'm guessing shortly after giving their witness testimonies. So it's fair to assume there was plenty of coverage on the news that evening. If people were aware of the hijacking by 3:30 or 4:00, it must have been breaking news that interrupted regularly scheduled TV programming in addition to being all over the radio. If that's true, that news traveled really fast for being 1971. Note is handed to Tina around 3:00 and it was already dominating the news just 30 minutes later? For an era without social media and smartphones, that's awfully impressive. 

The earliest reports would not have included information about a bailout though, because the bailout hadn't happened yet. With a jump not being made until after 8pm (and not a positive confirmation of such until well after that), the news that the hijacker was now on the ground and possibly on the run may not have really surfaced until the morning papers hit the doorsteps. Although I suppose it's possible the Wednesday night late news may have had some info about the bailout, depending on when word of the bailout made its rounds.

I was just trying to peg down a general time frame for which Cooper could have moved about the area before any locals knew the hijacker was on the ground and may have become suspicious of someone (if of course he survived the jump and was healthy enough to get on the move).

Did the whole population of the Northwest know Cooper had bailed (8:12-15) and where precisely: No. But, for example, citizens at Wilhelm Trucking in Portland were following news reports flowing in and passing that info along to citizens through truckers ... the Manager of the Troutdale Airport was following news reports eg. "we were told (when) 305 had crossed the Columbia on the west side of Portland and several pilots offered assistance in the search but we declined to get involved  ..." (all before 305 had landed at Reno).     

Very interesting question as it gives an insight into how much time Coop might have had to make his escape undetected if he indeed did survive. Since the forum poll shows us that a majority of forum posters believe he survived, this is a huge question that needs an answer ! Since the caper originated in Portland and flight landed in Seattle, it was huge news especially in those 2 cities. I lived in Portland at the time and it was all over the evening newscasts at the time. However I’m not aware of much precise news telling me of his possible whereabouts ? Nobody was told to head over to the Ariel area ! However it’s interesting that Rudie Wilhelm trucking company comes up in the conversation. I like the lead but think they have the wrong Trucking company. It might be a good idea to,check the KGW news archives and see it they have any more details on newscasts on evening of nov 24,1971. One has to remember that we didn’t have 24 hour news in 1971. Lol

If you’re talking about Wilhelm Trucking , trust me ... it was Rudie Wilhemn trucking ! Rudie started the company back in the 1920’s and was huge for almost a 100 years in Portland, Milwaukee area. I pay little attention to all these wild claims of planes crashing or Men with flares falling out of the sky etc. etc. The FBI CHASED DOWN 1000’s of these preposterous stories.