Many of the passengers on board didn’t realize that the flight had even been hijacked, and chalked the abrupt landing to be nothing more than a mechanical issue with the plane. Once demands had been met, Mucklow told the flight crew that he intended to fly all the way to Mexico City. He also stated that the flight was to fly with the landing gear down, the flaps at approximately 15 degrees, below 10,000 feet, the lights in the cabin were to be switched off, and the aft stairway, located at the underbelly of the aircraft, was to remain extended. Unfortunately, two of Cooper’s demands couldn’t be met. The flight configuration that he had initially demanded was practically impossible without a stop in between for refuelling. 

As a potential solution to this, Cooper proposed locations such as Phoenix, Arizona; Yuma, Arizona; or Sacramento, California before finally agreeing on Reno, Nevada. The second demand of which couldn’t be met was with the aft stairway, which was impossible to have extended during the takeoff process. Cooper met the crew in the middle by stating that he would let the aircraft takeoff with the stairway retracted, on the condition that Mucklow remained by his side and taught him how to extend the stairway once the plane was airborne. Flight 305 was back in the air by 7:36 P.M. Approximately less than five minutes after takeoff, Dan told Mucklow that she should head for the cockpit, and from then on out, he was not to be disturbed.

 Tina’s last account of Cooper was when she saw him standing in the middle of the aisle, as if he was preparing to jump from the aircraft. After joining the rest of the flight crew in the cockpit, Flight 305 safely landed in Reno, Nevada approximately 3 hours later. After the aircraft successfully landed, the crew searched the rear of the plane, finding no sign of Cooper, nor the bomb. Through the abrupt inspection of the aircraft by the flight crew, there seemed to be only one reason why Cooper was absent, reinforced by the fact that the aft stairway was still extended and slightly damaged due to the landing, and one of the parachutes were missing.