Was To Use Money To Buy Another Aircraft, Settle Debts

After collecting more than $250,000 Australian in insurance money, a New Zealand man now admits he faked a 2004 plane crash so he could buy another plane, and pay off an old debt.

Howard Laurence Jamison, 46 years-old and the owner of a local skydiving operation, pleaded guilty to fraud charges in connection with the alleged July 2004 crash. Jamison claimed he had been forced to ditch his plane in the sea off the Canterbury coast, and had managed to swim ashore.

It was a pretty elaborate scheme. Jamison, the director and only shareholder in Alpine Aviation Limited, dismantled his Cessna 185 in July 2004 and put the pieces in a shipping container he had recently ordered.

Completely by accident -- though in step with his plan -- Jamison injured his neck and head when one of the plane's wings briefly pinned him against the fuselage.

Jamison packed the container, and moved it to a local storage yard. He then proceeded to buy fuel -- pumping it into portable containers -- and he even filed a bogus flight plan for the "accident" flight. He later drove to a beach near the alleged accident site, and called to report he had been forced to ditch the plane.

The police who responded to that call insisted Jamison be examined at a local hospital... where he claimed his head and neck had been injured in the crash. Jamison even went so far as to fly along the coastline with an associate the next day -- with Jamison in a head and neck brace -- to search for the imaginary wreckage from the fake accident.

He promptly filed a claim against his insurance for the loss of the plane, and its contents.

To paraphrase any one of a number of Scooby-Doo cartoons, Jamison would have gotten away with it, too... if it hadn't been for a meddling worker at the storage yard, who found the airplane pieces in February.

When police confronted Jamison on the discovery, he told them he used the money to purchase another aircraft and settle an old debt with his bank.

Now, it is time for Jamison to pay another debt: his debt to society. The Ashburton Guardian reports Jamison is expected to be sentenced to bail and probation, so he can continue to work to pay off his debt -- and now, the insurance company.

FMI: www.police.govt.nz