A Quebec man known as the “pilot to the stars” is on the run after failing to show up to jail when his bail was revoked. Normand Dubé is suspected to be hiding out at a wilderness hunting and fishing camp in the province’s North. He earned the nickname for flying senior politicians and celebrities on charter flights. He’s also an aircraft designer and has manufactured three models of the Aerocruiser ultralight. He was on bail while appealing several criminal charges, including an “aerial attack” on Hydro Quebec’s power grid that almost took down the whole system in 2014. The incident, the details of which have never been formally made public, involved the use of an Aerocruiser. It took out power to 180,000 customers and cost Hydro Quebec $28.6 million in repairs and related costs.
Dubé was convicted and in 2018 sentenced to seven years in prison for the Hydro Quebec incident. He appealed the conviction and was granted bail even though he still faces more than 20 criminal charges, most of them for arson and criminal harassment. On Dec. 14 a Quebec judge revoked the bail after Dubé repeatedly violated the terms of his release. Earlier this week police said they believe Dubé fled to the bush. They put him on their “most wanted” list and said: “Information leads us to believe that Normand Dube could be found in … northern Quebec.”