List of helicopter prison escapes

One of the earliest instances was the escape of Joel David Kaplan, nicknamed "Man Fan", on August 19, 1971, from the Santa Martha Acatitla in Mexico.

[3][4] Kaplan was a New York businessman who not only escaped the prison but eventually got out of Mexico and went on to write a book about his experience, The 10-Second Jailbreak.

[6] One of the most notable French jail breaks occurred in 1986, when the wife of bank robber Michel Vaujour studied for months to learn how to fly a helicopter.

Using her newly acquired skills, she rented a white helicopter and flew low over Paris to take her husband from the roof of his fortress prison.

Carlos Antonio Contreras Castro The escape became Republican lore and was immortalized by "The Helicopter Song", which contains the lines "It's up like a bird and over the city.

The moment they touched down at the airport, the woman left the helicopter but the police, who had been advised of the situation by the control tower, were hiding nearby, and captured Paquet within seconds.

[31] Dudko, dubbed Red Lucy by the media, was sentenced to the maximum of 10 years and was sent to Mulawa Correctional Centre women's prison.

[53] Benallal was facing over 50 years of prison time and had several convictions for armed robbery, carjacking, and previous escape attempts.

[55] Verbard escaped after three armed accomplices, posing as tourists, hijacked a helicopter and landed in the exercise yard of the prison.

Vlastos fell from a height of about 3 meters (10 feet) into the courtyard, and the helicopter was eventually grounded in the parking lot.