Pascal Payet (born 7 July 1963) is a French criminal who has gained notoriety for his daring prison escapes using hijacked helicopters.

On April 14, 2003, Payet organized another helicopter escape from the Luynes prison, this time of Franck Perletto, Michel Valero, and Éric Alboreo, who had been arrested with him in 1999.

In December 2005, he published an open letter on his blog entitled "The Saga of My Transfers" (French: L'épopée de mes transferts) in which he criticized the conditions of his imprisonment.

Despite these measures, on July 14, 2007, taking advantage of Bastille Day celebrations, four masked men hijacked a helicopter from Cannes – Mandelieu Airport.

On June 25, 2008, the cour d'assises of the Alpes-Maritimes department sentenced him to 15 years in prison with no chance of early release for a series of armed robberies and assaults against police officers while he evaded custody.

After making headlines around the world[2][10] for his Hollywood-style[11] helicopter jailbreak, Pascal Payet became the subject of a number of TV shows and articles.

[5] His latest escape was showcased on the Netflix original White Rabbit Project "Jailbreak" episode, hosted by Grant Imahara, where Payet is portrayed by French actor Thierry Brouard.