On June 6, 1975 Dale Remling escaped from a Jackson prison aboard a hijacked helicopter.
The chopper landed in the exercise yard at the Prison of Southern Michigan at Jackson in a spot marked with a red bandanna. Remling, who was two years into a 7- to 10-year prison sentence for writing bad checks, had watched the guard in the nearest tower for a year and knew that he always left to use the bathroom between 11 a.m. and 11:05 a.m.
The helicopter, which had been hijacked from the Mettetal Airport in Wayne County, then flew Remling to short-lived freedom. The 46-year-old con man was caught about 30 hours later in nearby Leslie.
For his troubles, Remling received an extra ten years on his sentence for his escape attempt.
Sources :
Zlati Meyer, “Jackson Prisoner Uses Helicopter in Getaway”, Detroit Free Press, May 31, 2009, A.14
Ken Wyatt, “Peek Through Time: 35 years after his prison escape, Dale Remling makes most-notorious scoundrels list“, MLive, February 25, 2011; updated February 26, 2011.