(Trinidad Express) Dirk Barnes, a former major in the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force, and now the managing director of the Trinidad and Tobago Air Support Company Ltd, said yesterday that his arrangement to supply a light surveillance aircraft for three months to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service was completely above board.
He also dismissed suggestions yesterday that he, or any of his former associates, had a personal friendship with Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs or Deputy Police Commissioner Jack Ewatski.
Speaking to the Sunday Express from his office at Piarco, Barnes dismissed suggestions made on Friday by Opposition MP Donna Cox that his contract may be as a result of a personal relationship with Ewatski.
During Friday’s Lower House sitting held at the International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain MP Cox spoke on a motion calling on Government to cease its “systematic dismantling” of the national security systems and structures and to implement an effective national security system to secure the country’s borders to reduce crime.
During her presentation, Cox also read from a letter of intent between Gibbs and Barnes (whose company’s address locates the firm at Orange Grove, Tacarigua), about the company supplying its “Sky View Surveillance Support” as a “law enforcement aviation pilot project”.
Gibbs stated that the project appeared to have a “high rate of success” and he approved a 12-week pilot project proposal.
The contract was for 720 hours use of Zenith CH 750 Air Scout Aircraft for a three-month evaluation period at a cost of TT$902,772 or US$140,400 and the letter requested the company reply in writing regarding acceptance of the terms in the letter.
Cox said that while Government had complained that the Skyship 600, or “Blimp”, was too expensive, a sum of US$140,400 was being spent on a mere 12-week contract.
Cox pointed out that the type of aircraft could be purchased on the Internet and assembled, and bought over seven times for what was paid for the contract.
In an interview yesterday, Barnes denied having a personal relationship with CoP Gibbs and DCP Ewatski.
He said before he resigned from the Defence Force last year, he attended military functions where police officers, including Gibbs and Ewatski, were present.
Barnes said he met them a number of times and they only exchanged professional courtesies.
“I never limed with (Ewatski). I don’t call him like that. I know the man and we met when the project was proposed. We have no personal relationship,” Barnes said later during a follow up interview by phone yesterday.
He said that he left the military last year to pursue his dream of one day having a revamped aviation industry in Trinidad and Tobago.
He said of the proposal to supply the aircraft: “I would welcome anyone to audit the process as my actions were above board.”
He laughed at MP Cox’s claims that the aircraft could be purchased seven times over for what was being spent over a 12-week test period.
“It is US$21,000 for the kit or the box of parts containing the plane’s fuselage, its tail, its wings and landing gear. There is no engine, no seats no avionics, no nothing, just a box of parts. I would love to see someone fly a box of parts,” he said.
Barnes continued: “Then there is the engine—$20,000 and then there is the avionics which is $17,000 and this is in US dollars. Now we have to paint the aircraft and that’s between US$2,500 and US$4,000.”
Barnes also said that to actually put together the plane would take 1,000 hours for which a builder would charge between US$55 and US$90 an hour.
“So that’s $55,000 total to get the thing built,” he said.
Barnes’ plane builder also flew the aircraft yesterday afternoon as part of routine checks.
The Sunday Express observed that the plane left the ground using approximately 80 feet of runway.
Barnes said that while a normal small plane such as a Cessna would have a stall speed of 50 knots meaning that if it goes below that speed it begins to descend, the Air Scout Aircraft stall speed is 30 knots which means that, “there is an extended loiter time over a small geographical area”.
DCP Ewatski also responded to the allegations in a Guardian report yesterday, stating that, “The light aircraft will be equipped with similar technology as in the helicopters and due to its ability to fly at a very slow speed even compared to traditional fixed wing aircraft may be an alternative to helicopters which are much more costly to maintain.”
Barnes maintained that he followed proper procedure with respect to the arrangement for the aircraft, adding: “My conscience is clear.”
