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+1 
This one example helps clarify several issues: that Cooper was the one-and-only person who 'got away' in a hijacking in 1971, and that there was some fully functioning 'system' which law enforcement could just access to glean basic information about suspects to go and apprehend somebody and arrest them forthwith. No system of that kind existed in 1971-72, and wouldn't exist for years to come, not even for the FBI in spite of the fact there were paper trails and repositories of records in all kinds of places - just accessing those systems was a major pain in the ass and took tons of time and manpower and no small amount of luck! It wouldn't matter how good (or bad) a detective was or how many detectives; the results could be negative even in the best of cases.
One essential problem was paper, storage, and indexing to be able to do manual searches in the decades leading up to the computer age.
And I have only touched the tip of the iceberg on this subject. 
[edit] It is worth noting that even though LE knew who the hijacker was, at no time during the search for Critton was LE able to get Critton's finger prints out of various systems to compare to prints on a ginger ale bottle Critton had left on the plane. Only during the late stage of the investigation did this become possible due to new computerized print systems set up by the FBI coordinated with others. See: You are not allowed to view links.
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Granted - capabilities are exponentially far superior than in the early 70’s, however the fly in the ointment is the human operators of the system are not infallible. Garbage in – garbage out, jurisdictional boundaries, allocation of resources, ineptitude, corruption, etc..... The main weakness may be the cloak of impunity granted to some in the system or “friends” of those in the system. A polite considerate calm smooth talker with special mannerisms like Cooper as he is described by witnesses may have all the prerequisites to wiggle out of a situation that may get himself fingerprinted or DNA sample taken.
If and when Coopers true identity is released publically my top theory is he will be in the system (or was in) and a “friend” of the system looking for him, hiding in plain sight right under the noses of those charged with the responsibility of finding him. That’s where to look for him, in the dark cracks of a broken system, preying on weaknesses in human character.
The system that beats the system.
There is clear evidence that efforts have been made by government types to cover up some of the evidence in the Cooper case. This includes deletions from both the FBI and FAA records.
Further, people who have made a detailed study of the ARINC teletypewriter records have told me that some of those records are also missing.
Consequently, the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from this is that some government people were not as interested in solving the Cooper matter as you might think.
Robert99
Everything you and Prospector says may be true, but, the one thing that got Critton out of the system, as it were, was his leaving the system, ie. his successful hijack to Cuba where the Cuban's put him in jail! Then released him to go to Africa and other places prior to finally coming back to North America where in time the past caught up with him precisely because, someone(s) picked up the chase again ... and there he was in plain sight, more-or-less. Through all of that nobody had been able to get a set of prints on the guy to match to the pop bottle Critton left on the plane. So there were systems conflicting and unknowingly cooperating to Critton's advantage for a while. Then 'the system' picked him back up. It's never just one system, but many systems and people and facts in systems. The Cubans gave Critton sanctuary in their jail then Critton himself was smart enough to leave to Africa, then he erred thinking our system had forgotten him.
This is why I go back to Flo's evaluation that Cooper was of "Latin descent". Because if that is true, this could take Cooper 'out of the system'. Or, it could move him into another system the net effect of which is to raise this guy into the murky territory of 'competition between agencies' and an international personality where rules are different. Unlike Critton, Cooper could have stayed out of the system forever and vanished without a trace, under that scenario alone.
Or he could have been killed in the Shillapoo with the only trace left, several bundles of his money eventually flowing to Tina Bar a short distance away!
If you recall, Ckret jumped on the idea of a Cooper Comic and he went to the trouble of finding and interviewing Irwin Weinberg in Belgium, on the premise of a possible international connection. A person with racial traits or possibly Latin or Greek origin who spent time in Canada ... just as Critton did. But who perhaps made it out of the country or lost his soul somewhere near enough the Columbia to have some of his money wind up found on Tina Bar.
Lots of options and possibilities.
I think there is a strong possibility that Cooper left 'the system' one way or another. And he was not a person who spent time philosophizing about 'the system that beats the system', but he was a person who actually did it without any talk or mouthy pronouncements about some 'abstract cause'.
If he survived the jump and was trying to walk his way back to Portland aloof without raising notice, that may have been a fatal mistake. Every law enforcement person or agent Ive ever talked to who knew the situation below Vancouver near the Columbia, thinks there is a very high possibility that Cooper could have been encountered and stopped and wound up in the Columbia with his money scattered, some to wind up on Tina Bar by one means or another.
