On May 26, 1986, Nadine Vaujour arrived at the aerodrome of Saint-Cyr l’Ecole, borrowed a helicopter and headed above the capital, towards the prison of La Santé. Once hovering above the courtyard, she throws a telescopic fishing rod and a weapon in the direction of Michel Vaujour, her husband. The prisoner held for armed robbery takes the cane and uses it to climb onto the roof and cling to the skid of the helicopter. The aircraft took off again and landed in the Cité Universitaire park.
The couple disappears into the wild. Their escape lasts four months, they remain hidden in the Drôme. Michel Vaujour was recaptured four months later, during a heist, and released early in September 2003. It was his third escape after escapes in 1975 and 1979, but were found. Nadine Vaujour will take 18 months, their baby will be born behind bars. the couple will eventually separate. In 1992, a film traces this story, La Fille de l’air, with Béatrice Dalle in the role of Nadine Vaujour.
On June 9, 2000, three detainees from the Moulins-Yzeure power plant in the Allier department escaped on board a stolen device, after sawing through a bar of the establishment’s socio-educational center and climbing on the rooftops.
On July 14, 2007, Pascal Payet escaped for the second time by helicopter from a prison, that of Grasse in the Alpes-Maritimes, after a similar escape in 2001.
On April 27, 2009, the leader of a sect, Juliano Verbard, convicted of rape and sexual assault on children, escaped by helicopter with two followers from the prison of Saint-Denis de la Réunion. They are arrested at the beginning of May.
On July 1, 2018, in a few minutes, Redoine Faïd escaped from the Réau prison center, near Melun, helped by an armed commando who had previously taken a helicopter pilot hostage. He was arrested three months later early Wednesday in Creil in the Oise. He used a burqa to get around, a detail of clothing that prompted his arrest.
