Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > Aircrew Forums > Rotorheads
Reload this Page >

Foiled Prison Break!

Rotorheads A haven for helicopter professionals to discuss the things that affect them

Foiled Prison Break!

Old 26th Aug 2007, 22:35
  #1 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: 18 Degrees North
Posts: 699
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Gartree prison escape by helicopter 1987

it says here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicop...tershire.2C_UK

about the only ever escape by helicopter from a UK prison and I remember seeing the CCTV video on the news of them rotors running on the ground while the the convicts jumped in

but I do not know who the hijacked pilot was, what exactly happened and where the aircraft originated from ?

anyone got more details of the aviation side of this incident ?

regards

CF
Camp Freddie is offline  
Old 27th Aug 2007, 00:22
  #2 (permalink)  
Hughesy
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
I hope they were given a full safety briefing prior to getting in.
 
Old 27th Aug 2007, 04:53
  #3 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: OS SX2063
Age: 54
Posts: 1,027
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Remembered this being discussed before so knew where to look.

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...05#post2936705

V
VeeAny is offline  
Old 27th Aug 2007, 06:57
  #4 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 5,197
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Also in this thread Here
Heliport is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2009, 18:52
  #5 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Mrs Miggin's
Age: 47
Posts: 102
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Foiled Prison Break!

Prison escape plot foiled by staff - Yahoo! News UK

Could have been nasty!
WylieCoyote is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2009, 19:14
  #6 (permalink)  
Just another erk
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Germany
Age: 77
Posts: 280
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Just goes to show, Don't imprison terrorists, shoot them
ArthurR is offline  
Old 31st Mar 2009, 21:07
  #7 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Downeast
Age: 75
Posts: 18,267
Received 467 Likes on 191 Posts
Now...Now...Art....cool off there buddy!

I thought a bit of rope stretching would be a better method!

Done the way it is done in the old country.....dead weight method and not the old English style of a long drop with a sudden stop.
SASless is offline  
Old 1st Apr 2009, 02:28
  #8 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: england
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
the only successful prison break using a helicopter in the UK was more than 20 years ago when two inmates were sprung from Gartree Prison, in Leicestershire.
and since then all the open areas at high security prisons have had wires over them. Thus i feel their master plan was fatally floored.!

in fact if you check out live search maps for the prison, you can see the supporting posts for the wires across the sports field..!!

Last edited by tightrope; 1st Apr 2009 at 02:37. Reason: .
tightrope is offline  
Old 1st Apr 2009, 02:46
  #9 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Downeast
Age: 75
Posts: 18,267
Received 467 Likes on 191 Posts
So if ya wuz to fly through the wires with your trusty helicopter fitted with them amazing wire cutters....the ones that look like a Bell 212 Dihedral Sail sort of things....cut them wires down.....then Bob's yer Uncle...right!
SASless is offline  
Old 1st Apr 2009, 16:44
  #10 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: England
Posts: 197
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
If it was stopped just hours before, and they were going to hijack a chartered Helicopter, Which company would it of been??

Was anyone on here suppose to fly that trip???

This thread could be very different if they hadnt of caught them.........

Good job I say, and quite agree with the above ideas....
R44-pilot is offline  
Old 1st Apr 2009, 18:17
  #11 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: London
Posts: 2,916
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
the only successful prison break using a helicopter in the UK was more than 20 years ago when two inmates were sprung from Gartree Prison, in Leicestershire.
That was in December 1987.

A B206 was hijacked by an armed man and used to spring the two prisoners. Gartree was a high security prison in those days - but the authorities hadn't anticipated escape by helicopter.





Following this incident, wires were installed across the open areas of high security prisons.

The pilot of the B206 was Uncle Ian of 'Age Discrimination' fame.

The helicopter was on the ground for only 20-25 seconds and the prisoners disembarked about 5 minutes flying time away and made good their escape by road.

Two prisoners escaped - John Kendall, serving 10 years for organising a series of high value commercial burglaries and another serving life for murder. Both were eventually recaptured.

I can't now remember if that was Kendall's first or second escape. He was also sprung from a prison van while being transferred by road from Parkhurst prison on the Isle of Wight to another prison on the mainland.

I represented one of Kendall's gang in their trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court and remember it well for 2 reasons.
Firstly, the gang had used an extremely simple and almost comical - but very effective - method to steal large quantities of high value goods (mainly alcohol and tobacco products) from cash & carry warehouses in night time burglaries all over the South East. They had a long run, until an underworld informant tipped off the police who laid in wait for them at their next job.

Secondly, the evidence against the man I represented wasn't very strong to begin with and, after cross-examination, was even weaker. He was said to have run off when the police sprang their trap. Things looked very promising for my client, who vehemently protested his innocence - until an elderly lady who'd seen a man escaping from the police gave evidence.
She had given a description of the man to the police (said by the prosecution to be of my defendant) and repeated it in court but it could have fitted half the under-25 males in the country. All continued to go well, until she added that she remembered he was wearing an unusual sweater with a very distinctive geometric pattern, and described it, including the colours.

I noticed a couple of jurors looking towards the dock and smirking, then whispering to other jurors who in turn all looked at the dock and smirked. Then another barrister passed me a note telling me to look behind to the dock.
I didn't need to - I'd already worked out what I'd see if I did!


FL

Last edited by Flying Lawyer; 1st Apr 2009 at 18:32.
Flying Lawyer is offline  
Old 1st Apr 2009, 18:33
  #12 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Downeast
Age: 75
Posts: 18,267
Received 467 Likes on 191 Posts
FL,

Coincidence your client was wearing the same piece of apparel....or a very astute old woman?

Perhaps you should have sprung for a new suit and haircut for your man!

As it turns out....perhaps you should specialize in criminal defense work....and do your part of reducing crime in the country.

Just get your fee up front and remember the defendant does the time!
SASless is offline  
Old 2nd Apr 2009, 05:38
  #13 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Oman
Posts: 365
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
FL
A great post, fascinating.

These terrorist b******s would have had to charter something pretty large to lift 9. Has anyone been making inquiries about such a charter?
whoateallthepies is offline  
Old 2nd Apr 2009, 18:03
  #14 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: FL075
Posts: 56
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Flying Lawyer... It wasnt an 206 L1 by any chance?
FACT Pilot is offline  
Old 21st Jun 2009, 17:07
  #15 (permalink)  

Hovering AND talking
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Propping up bars in the Lands of D H Lawrence and Bishop Bonner
Age: 59
Posts: 5,705
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Thumbs up Heads up

This prison escape is featuring in a documentary this evening on ITV4 (ITV+1, presumably) at 2100.

The hijacked pilot was none other than our very own Uncle Ian

Cheers

Whirls
Whirlygig is offline  
Old 21st Jun 2009, 17:52
  #16 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: 18 Degrees North
Posts: 699
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
cheers whirlygig already got it set to record.

ITV4 is channel 120 sky, 028 Freeview, it isnt ITV+1

regards

CF
Camp Freddie is offline  
Old 21st Jun 2009, 18:31
  #17 (permalink)  

Hovering AND talking
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Propping up bars in the Lands of D H Lawrence and Bishop Bonner
Age: 59
Posts: 5,705
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
ITV+1 is Sky 180 You need to get past Men & Motors there Freddie

Cheers

Whirls
Whirlygig is offline  
Old 25th Feb 2013, 07:35
  #18 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Indianapolis, IN, USA
Posts: 151
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Another foiled prison break in Greece yesterday, using one of Air Lift's 355Ns.

Prison guards avert convict's copter escape

turboshaft is offline  
Old 25th Feb 2013, 21:37
  #19 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
My first ever helicopter ride

It must have been in 1988/89 when I purchased a charity helicopter ride in what I recall was a Jetranger of some type painted in the black and gold JPS colours - maybe someone remembers this? Anyway, it turned out that the pilot had been the one hijacked for this prison breakout - I think the story was that he was left handcuffed at the scene of the eventual landing. I'll never forget that 'magic carpet ride' feeling that left me determined to get a PPL(H) one day! My thanks to Uncle Ian whom I now understand, thanks to earlier posts, it was! (Note to self: find out who 'Uncle Ian' is)
2S

Last edited by 2Sticks; 25th Feb 2013 at 21:42.
2Sticks is offline  
Old 26th Feb 2013, 06:01
  #20 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 1998
Location: Mesopotamos
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
These kind of jail breaks are becoming so common they should assign a specific squawk code to it.
e.g. 5275 (JBRK)
cattletruck is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.