Former Director of Civil Aviation James Pitman was sentenced to four months imprisonment yesterday for forging an air worthiness certificate for a private jet.

It is understood he was later released on bail after his lawyer filed an appeal against the sentence.

Pitman, who now runs the Badger International Group, an aircraft agent for overseas companies, pleaded guilty to falsifying the document and passing it to a Swiss company which had engaged him, Blue Heron Aviation Limited.

But Pitman was found out when Blue Heron, which is based in Geneva, was informed by the Department of Civil Aviation in Bermuda that the airworthiness certificate had not been issued.

The Swiss company called in detectives from the Commercial Crime Department in Bermuda and Pitman confessed to falsifying the certificate and uttering a false document.

Magistrate Will Francis agreed the crime had interna-tional implications for Bermuda as a jurisdiction and it was so serious that it would be "ridiculous" to impose the maximum fine of $600 on each offence.

He could have jailed Pitman for up to three years but Mr. Francis said he wanted to send him to Supreme Court for a much harsher fine.

When Pitman's lawyer Paul Harshaw questioned whether there were grounds for sending the first-time offender to Supreme Court, Mr. Francis said he would jail the defendant on the spot rather than impose a $1,200 fine.

Mr. Harshaw said Pitman, who was Director of Civil Aviation between 1983 and 1995, had lost his reputation and been humiliated in front of his family for making "the biggest mistake of his life" in forging a copy of the air worthiness certificate.

He said Pitman had forged the document to buy more time following a dispute with Blue Heron, which had not provided funds to pay arrears to the Bermuda Aviation Department for its airworthiness certificate. But the jet, an eight-seater Dassault Falcon 50, was airworthy, said Mr. Harshaw.

Pitman, 54, of Sunning Lane, Warwick, was suffering from depression and facing financial difficulties when he committed the offence, he added.

Two of Pitman's daughters hugged him and cried in Magistrates' Court as he was led off to jail.

Mr. Francis said there would be horrendous international headlines if a Bermuda-registered aircraft with a bogus air worthiness certificate was to crash.

"This is, as Crown counsel (Juan Wolffe) has said, a serious issue. I agree it has international implications, despite what Mr. Harshaw said," said Mr. Francis.

"So far as I can gather, it is a first, and whatever is done here will set a precedent that will have a very important impact.

"The maximum fine would be $1,200, which I agree with Mr. Wolffe, would be ridiculous in a case such like this.

"I considered all that Mr. Harshaw said, including the medical report, and I am reluctant to impose a prison sentence in this case, although I have given that very serious consideration as well."

After Mr. Harshaw questioned whether his client could be sent to Supreme Court and remanded in custody, Mr. Francis hit back: "If I have to sentence him right now I will go ahead and imprison him, because I will not fine him $1,200."

Mr. Wolffe said the Civil Aviation Department issued Pitman a one month air worthiness certificate for Blue Heron which expired on November 23.

Normally a one year certificate is given, but there was still money to be paid, so the certificate was only valid for a month.

On November 23, Pitman had still not paid the outstanding amount and the jet was without a valid air worthiness certificate.

The same day, Pitman faxed a copy of the fraudulent one year air worthiness certificate to Blue Heron. Between November 23 and December 4, the jet was without an air worthiness certificate.

Mr. Wolffe told the court: "The certificate of air worthiness goes to the extreme heart of the operation and registration of an airplane, which is quite distinct from that of a car or a bike, and it has cross-jurisdictional flight implications.

"Mr. Pitman is a former Director of Civil Aviation in Bermuda and at the risk of sounding crude, he should have known better.

"It is through his knowledge of the system that allowed him to affect this forgery. It puts him at a level of sophistication involving a working knowledge of the procedures of aviation registration. But for this knowledge, he would not have been able to carry out this offence. "He knew the procedures and he used them for his benefit. These are the types of offences he was in charge of overseeing when he was Director of Aviation.

"A term of imprisonment is merited in this case and if a fine is deemed $600 on each count is ridiculous given the nature of the offence."

Mr. Harshaw said Pitman was involved in a dispute with Blue Heron over unpaid fees to the Bermuda Government and "to buy additional time, Mr. Pitman made the biggest mistake of his life.

"He printed off a new date and faxed the owner's representative and said `Can I have my money?' Of course he made a mistake and there is no question he made a mistake.

"It is not about an unsafe airplane. It is about arrears owed and the Government's refusal to issue a certificate until the arrears have been paid.

"This is not about international deception, it is about a mistake owing to the pressures of work.

"The owners found out what Mr. Pitman had done almost immediately and the owners went to the Police.

"Badger International has already suffered because of this and he has suffered beyond anything this court can impose.

"His children are in court watching this spectacle and that is more punishment than this court can mete out."