Fake plane crash to bring jail sentence

Howard Jamison

A Canterbury pilot who claimed he was forced to ditch his aircraft into the sea faces a jail term after pleading guilty today to two fraud charges.

Howard Laurence Jamison, 46, of Twizel, pleaded guilty in Ashburton District Court today to fraud charges arising from a false insurance claim.

Police withdrew one charge of dishonestly using an air accident claim form but Jamison admitted two similar charges.

In July 2004, Jamison, formerly of Ashburton but now running a tandem sky-diver operation from Pukaki Airport near Twizel, stopped a motorist and contacted emergency services to report crashing in the sea.

He claimed to have made his way ashore after being forced to ditch his 1969 Cessna 185 in the sea off the south Canterbury coast near Clandeboye, about 13km north east of Temuka.

Jamison spent a night in Ashburton Hospital before being released in a neck brace and limping.

He told a newspaper at the time that he used a false floor in the plane as a surfboard to get ashore in rough seas.

Attempts to locate the wreckage were unsuccessful.

In January this year the Cessna turned up undamaged in a shipping container stored at an Ashburton site.

Judge Tony Couch remanded Jamison on bail for sentence in Timaru District Court on April 6.

- NZPA