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Prison Escape using a Helicopter


Matthew Kane

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Things always seem to go so smoothly in the movies but not so in real life. What is amazing is that after 6 minutes of this helicopter landing on a roof of a prison and trying to get these guys on board not one prison guard made any attempt to stop this. Seeing that this was the Hell's Angels they must have payed off the entire prison to get away with this one. Guards must have been just standing around and watching.

 

 

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Yeah from reading about the investigation the Guards are Union and according to the rules they cannot intervene in an escape like this or shoot at a helicopter....so goes to show if you want to escape from a prison the biggest weakness in the system are the union rules

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Back in the early 1980's a similar escape was tried in New York City but it failed. Some people charted a AS350 A-Star from us on the pretext of doing a real estate survey over the city in the middle of the week. The following Saturday (I think), they chartered again but this time forced the pilot at gun point to land on the chain link exercise roof of the Federal prison in lower Manhattan. They then threw a chain link ladder over the side, hooked to the helicopter, hopped out and tried to cut through the chain link "roof" but only brought small wire cutters instead of heavy duty bolt cutters. When that didn't work, they climbed back in and told the pilot to fly off. At that point, the ladder had hooked onto the "roof" and the pilot had serious trouble trying to lift off, especially with people with two guns pointed at him and yelling. Luckily - very luckily! - he broke free and flew to the West 30th St. heliport where the passengers escaped over the fence. There had been a very real risk that the helicopter would stay caught and eventually roll over if the pilot kept trying to lift off...or, the pilot might have been shot. The prisoner did not escape; the two passengers did escape, and the pilot was unhurt. I was the company duty officer at another heliport during all this and, believe me, we had a most exciting - scary! - day.

Footnote: the pilot went on to become the chief pilot of a major New York area corporation and had a very successful, and less eventful, career.

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9 hours ago, ytzpilot said:

Yeah from reading about the investigation the Guards are Union and according to the rules they cannot intervene in an escape like this or shoot at a helicopter....so goes to show if you want to escape from a prison the biggest weakness in the system are the union rules

 

I just literally shook my head. Isn't it the primary function of a prison guard to keep prisoners in prison? If they don't intervene then that is just the same as being complicit in it. 

 

Mad world.

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On 2016-03-20 at 0:19 PM, Hobnobs said:

 

I just literally shook my head. Isn't it the primary function of a prison guard to keep prisoners in prison? If they don't intervene then that is just the same as being complicit in it. 

 

Mad world.

 

First, this is Canada, guns are uses in a last resources, second this prison is in a town, shooting the heli down can cause way more damage to the surrounding houses / people then let's those guys escape, the main guard that could have shot (???) the heli or the pilot was told not to do so. This happen is 2013. Now one of the heli passenger was supposedly an hostage (to be confirm) They where cough 2 hours later anyway.

 

Ben

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29 minutes ago, Benny said:

 

First, this is Canada, guns are uses in a last resources, second this prison is in a town, shooting the heli down can cause way more damage to the surrounding houses / people then let's those guys escape, the main guard that could have shot (???) the heli or the pilot was told not to do so. This happen is 2013. Now one of the heli passenger was supposedly an hostage (to be confirm) They where cough 2 hours later anyway.

 

Ben

I guess that's why things shouldn't be taken on face value. if it was a hostage situation that's different. I wouldn't expect anyone to shoot a helicopter down. Nowhere did I suggest that. But I would expect the guards to try and stop a prisoner escaping.

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Similar situation is a police cruiser should chase a car or call it off as car chases put the public at greater risk. Yes they were well known and caught anyway so sometimes better to take a step back as that is more the Canadian way, If this was another country then perhaps they would shoot first and ask questions later. I like the Canadian way

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