List of helicopter prison escapes
Actual attempts

List of helicopter prison escapes

Section Title: Actual attempts
Table Section Text: None

Date	Prison name	Country	Succeeded	Escapee(s)	Details

August 19, 1971	Santa Martha Acatitla	Mexico	Yes	Joel David Kaplan Carlos Antonio Contreras Castro	Joel David Kaplan was a New York businessman and nephew of molasses tycoon Jacob Merrill Kaplan. The elder Kaplan earned his fortune primarily through operations in Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

October 31, 1973	Mountjoy Jail	Ireland	Yes	JB O'Hagan Seamus Twomey Kevin Mallon	On October 31, 1973 an IRA member hijacked a helicopter and forced the pilot to land in the exercise yard of Dublin's Mountjoy Jail's D Wing at 3:40 p.m., October 31, 1973.

May 24, 1978	United States Penitentiary, Marion	United States	No	Garrett Brock Trapnell Martin Joseph McNally James Kenneth Johnson	43-year-old Barbara Ann Oswald hijacked a Saint Louis-based charter helicopter and forced the pilot to land in the yard at USP Marion.

February 27, 1981	Fleury-Mérogis, Essonne, Ile de France	France	Yes	Gérard Dupré Daniel Beaumont	With the help of Serge Coutel, Gérard Dupré and Daniel Beaumont, succeed in the first and double helicopter escape of a French prison, in Fleury-Mérogis (Essonne), the best kept prison of France.

May 7, 1981	Orsainville Prison, Quebec City	Canada	No	Marina Paquet (hijacker) Giles Arseneault (prisoner)	Marina Paquet held a sawed off shotgun against the back of the head of a helicopter pilot. She demanded that he land in the Orsainville prison courtyard, where her boyfriend (awaiting extradition to California on a murder charge) was set to escape.

January, 1983	Pentridge (HM Prison)	Australia	No	David McMillan	Arrests were made for the 1983 attempted helicopter escape from Melbourne’s Pentridge Prison in Australia. The three, all held on drug-importation charges, had hired a former SAS soldier, then living in the Philippines, to lift the prisoners from the jail’s tennis court to a nearby van fitted with panels to hide them for the 600 kilometre road trip to Sydney, where a yacht was to take them to Manila.

December 19, 1985	Perry Correctional Institution, Pelzer, South Carolina	United States	Yes	James Rodney Leonard William Douglas Ballew Jesse Glenn Smith	One murderer, James Rodney Leonard, and two armed robbers, William Douglas Ballew and Jesse Glenn Smith, fled in a helicopter with a pilot and a woman hijacker with a pistol to a getaway car 4 to 5 miles away.

December 31, 1985	Cândido Mendes penitentiary, Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	Yes	José Carlos dos Reis Encina, a.k.a. "Escadinha"	Drug lord Encina was rescued by José Carlos Gregório, aka "Gordo", who rented the Bell 47 aircraft under the guise of surveying some lands he intended to buy.

May 26, 1986	Prison de la Santé	France	Yes	Michel Vaujour	Vaujour had 28 years to serve for attempted murder and armed robbery; this was his fourth escape attempt. He made his way to the roof by threatening guards with a fake pistol and nectarines painted as grenades.

November 5, 1986	Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin	United States	Yes	Samantha Lopez	Ronald J. McIntosh walked away from a minimum security prison on October 28 and then rented a helicopter on November 5.

November 23, 1986	Prigione di Rebibbia, Roma	Italy	Yes	André Bellaïche Gianluigi Esposito Luciano Cipollari	A red cross helicopter was hijacked by two gunmen and forced to fly to the maximum-security Rebibbia Prison courtyard. The pilot hovered the helicopter three feet off the courtyard ground while around 50 inmates were exercising.

December 10, 1987	Gartree (HM Prison)	United Kingdom	Yes	Sydney Draper John Kendall	At 3:16 p.m. on December 10, 1987, John Kendall and Sydney Draper were sprung from Gartree's exercise yard with the aid of a hijacked Bell 206L helicopter.

July 11, 1988	Santa Fe prison	United States	Yes	Mahoney Danny Francis Mitchell Randy Lackey	Pilot Charles Bella was hired to fly a real estate agent around the Santa Fe area. As he was flying his Aerospatiale Gazelle helicopter she pulled a gun and forced him to land in the courtyard of the Santa Fe prison.

April 17, 1989	Federal Holding Facility, Miami, FL	United States	No	Ben Kramer	Famous Apache Boat owner and racer Ben Kramer tried to escape by helicopter from the Metropolitan Correctional Center, a Federal Prison (holding) in Southwest Miami on April 17, 1989.

August 19, 1989	Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility	United States	Yes	Ralph Brown Freddie Gonzales	Colorado prison inmates Ralph Brown and Freddie Gonzales were able to escape via helicopter. Two women, Rebecca Brown and Patricia Gonzales chartered a helicopter out of Denver Colorado.

June 19, 1990	Kent Penitentiary, British Columbia	Canada	Yes	Robert Ford David Thomas	Two prisoners, Robert Ford and David Thomas, escaped when a hijacked helicopter landed in the courtyard. They were captured by the RCMP at Harrison Lake two days later.

1991	Rio Piedras State Penitentiary, Puerto Rico	United States	Yes	William Lane	Inmates were able to escape when a helicopter plucked them from the prison. The escape prompted the Puerto Rico House Government Committee to pass a regulation that allowed penal officials to fire on any helicopter aiding an escape attempt.

1992	Lyon Prison	France	Yes	—	After a successful helicopter escape from this prison, cables were strung across the central yard at five-metre intervals.

December 1992	Touraine Central Prison, Tours	France	No	—	The would-be escapee was shot dead by prison guards; three others were wounded.

June 17, 1993	Touraine Central Prison, Tours	France	No	Michel Vaujour	Vaujour and his wife were imprisoned in 1991. A man and woman hijacked a helicopter and held the pilot's family hostage.

December 30, 1996	Chile	Yes	Four members of the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front	Two women suspected of involvement were Irish citizens, raising suspicions of a Provisional IRA link to the left-wing rebel escapees.

September 18, 1997	De Geerhorst jail	Netherlands	No	—	A September 18, 1997 escape attempt ended in failure when the helicopter crashed into the prison ground of the Dutch prison, De Geerhorst.

March 25, 1999	Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre	Australia	Yes	John Killick	On March 25, 1999, librarian Lucy Dudko hired a helicopter under the pretence of checking out the upcoming Olympic site in Sydney.

June 5, 2000	Martin Treatment Center for Sexually Violent Predators, Martin County Florida	United States	Yes	Steven Whitsett	Steven Whitsett was serving a civil commitment as a Sexually Violent Predator at the Martin Treatment Center. On June 5, 2000, at approximately 1 p.m., correctional officers patrolling the perimeter of the treatment center reported a helicopter approaching from south of the facility.

2000	Lyon prison	France	Yes	—	Three men were able to escape a prison near Lyon by having an accomplice fly a hijacked helicopter over the prison.

2001	Luynnes prison	France	Yes	Pascal Payet	Pascal Payet escaped from Luynnes prison using a hijacked helicopter.

March 24, 2001	Draguignan prison	France	Yes	Abdelhamid Carnous Emile Forma-Sari Jean-Philippe Lecase	On March 24, 2001, an armed man hijacked a helicopter from a nearby airfield. The pilot was forced to land in the courtyard of the prison.

May 28, 2001	Fresnes prison	France	No	—	(Although not a helicopter escape in the truest sense, it is listed here because of the large role a helicopter played in the incident).

January 17, 2002	Parada Neto Penitentiary	Brazil	Yes	—	A helicopter was flown into Parada Neto Penitentiary, freeing two inmates serving time for murder and bank robbery. Earlier in the day two men rented a helicopter pretending to be tourists wanting a panoramic ride over the city.

December 30, 2002	Las Cucharas prison, Puerto Rico	United States	Yes	Orlando Cartagena Jose Rodriguez Victor Diaz Hector Diaz Jose Tapia	In Puerto Rico five prisoners escaped from Las Cucharas prison in Ponce. Two men had earlier rented the helicopter saying they wanted to inspect construction sites.

2003	Luynnes prison	France	Yes	Eric Alboreo Franck Perletto Michel Valero	Pascal Payet organized the helicopter escape of three men, Franck Perletto, Eric Alboreo, and Michel Valero from Luynnes prison using a hijacked helicopter.

July 2005	France	France	No	—	A helicopter escape attempt was foiled when alarms were set off as the helicopter tried to land on the roof.

December 10, 2005	Aiton Prison	France	Yes	Hubert Selles Jean-Claude Moretti Mohamed Bessame	On December 10, 2005, two men rented a helicopter under the pretense of using it to do some back-country cross-country skiing.

June 6, 2006	Korydallos Prison	Greece	Yes	Vassilis Paleokostas	On June 6, 2006, Nikos Paleokostas and another man hijacked a helicopter, forcing it to land on the roof of the Korydallos Prison.

April 15, 2007	Lantin Prison, Liege	Belgium	Yes	Eric Ferdinand	Two men hijacked a small helicopter and forced Pilot Eric Mathieu to land in the courtyard to pick up inmate Eric Ferdinand.

July 15, 2007	Grasse prison	France	Yes	Pascal Payet	Pascal Payet, 43, escaped for the third time from Grasse prison using a helicopter that was hijacked by four masked men from Cannes-Mandelieu airport (CEQ).

October 28, 2007	Ittre prison	Belgium	No	Nordin Benallal	On Oct 28, 2007, Nordin Benallal, self-styled "escape king", arranged accomplices to hijack a helicopter near a prison in Ittre, 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Brussels, Belgium.

February 22, 2009	Korydallos Prison	Greece	Yes	Vasilis Paleokostas Alket Rizai	On February 22, 2009 Vasilis Paleokostas and another man (Alket Rizai) escaped from Korydallos Prison by helicopter. They had escaped in a similar manner during 2006 but they were eventually arrested.

April 27, 2009	Domenjod Prison, Réunion	France	Yes	Alexin Jismy Fabrice Michel	Juliano Verbard was a guru of the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary launched in 2002 on the island of Réunion, a French territory in the Indian Ocean.

July 23, 2009	Bruges	Belgium	Yes	Ashraf Sekkaki plus three other criminals	A man hijacked a helicopter and forced its pilot to land in a prison outside the city of Bruges. The helicopter picked up four men including Ashraf Sekkaki, a 26-year-old convicted bank robber who has been described as one of the most dangerous criminals in Belgium.

June 25, 2010	Isle of Wight	United Kingdom	No	Brian Lawrence	While never actually reaching the execution phase of the plan, Lawrence communicated with his collaborators via a code written in "invisible ink" hidden in sudoku puzzles.

March 22, 2012	Sheksna, Penal colony N17	Russia	Yes	Alexey Shestakov	Shestakov was whisked away from a penal colony on a Mi-2 helicopter hijacked by his accomplices, and re-captured shortly after his escape.

February 24, 2013	Trikala Prison, Trikala	Greece	No	Panagiotis Vlastos	The chartered helicopter — carrying two armed passengers, a pilot and a technician — first tried to rip off the chicken-wire fence surrounding Trikala prison with a hook dangling from a rope.

March 17, 2013	Saint-Jérôme Detention Facility, Quebec	Canada	Yes	Benjamin Hudon-Barbeau Danny Provençal	Two inmates successfully escaped from the Saint-Jérôme Detention Facility by clambering up a rope from an awaiting helicopter. The helicopter had been hijacked at gunpoint by two accomplices and took them to a waiting vehicle, in which they drove to a chalet in the Chertsey area and forced their way in.

June 7, 2014	Orsainville Detention Facility, Quebec	Canada	Yes	Yves Denis Denis Lefebvre Serge Pomerleau	Three detainees awaiting trial for murder successfully escaped from a Quebec City prison at around 7:45 p.m. ET.

February 22, 2016	Thiva	Greece	No	Pola Roupa Nikos Maziotis	A helicopter pilot foiled an attempted hijack of his apparatus by an armed woman who authorities believe wanted to use it to help convicted terrorist Nikos Maziotis escape from Korydallos prison.

July 1, 2018	Réau, near Paris	France	Yes	Rédoine Faïd	Faïd was helped by several heavily armed men who created a diversion at the prison entrance while the helicopter landed in the courtyard.

Sentence(s)

One of the earliest instances of using a helicopter to escape prison was the escape of Joel David Kaplan, on August 19, 1971 from the Santa Martha Acatitla in Mexico.

final_sentence: One of the earliest instances of using a helicopter to escape prison was the escape of Joel David Kaplan, on August 19, 1971 from the Santa Martha Acatitla in Mexico.