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Chopper Chat Thread

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De Dragon
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Re: Chopper Chat Thread

Postby De Dragon » January 17th, 2021, 8:53 am

Redman wrote:What do we have to do with your potato level of comprehension?

You and Kamla does blame everyone else for your [b]individual doltishness.[/b]

You can't blame anyone. Your level of dotishness is enough for an army, far less an individual. imagine being too dotish to sell the LFDRFD PNM red plastic bags :lol: :lol:

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Re: Chopper Chat Thread

Postby mrtrini45 » July 25th, 2021, 11:54 am

https://trinidadexpress.com/news/local/ ... af87c.html

Taxpayers lose millions in ‘Vertical’ helicopter matter
Denyse Renne




Taxpayers have forked out close to $4 million in legal fees in the matter of Vertical Aviation LLC and the lease of the Sikorsky S76D helicopter by the former government.

Vertical Aviation had claimed the Government failed to satisfy its obligations under the lease by not paying rent and interest due for late rent payments, failed to replenish the security deposit after the aviation company applied the deposit funds to late rent payments, failed to enrol the aircraft in a tip-to-tail maintenance programme and did not maintain insurance for the aircraft.

The T&T Government had retained the services of New York-based law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Between 2018 and 2019, the firm was paid TT$2,708,908.58; while during the period 2019 to 2020, TT$1,146,038.27 was paid.

In total, the firm was paid TT$3,854,946.85.

The legal payment formed part of the multimillion-dollar fees paid out to attorneys and firms under the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government released by the Attorney General in Parliament on July 2.

Despite the legal fees being made public, the Government is yet to disclose what agreement was arrived at between Vertical Aviation and this country.

Contacted for comment last Friday, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said he will not be speaking on the agreement reached earlier this year between the Government and Vertical Aviation.

Al-Rawi said the Prime Minister was asked about this issue some time ago, and he indicated the Minister of National Security would make a statement and he therefore did not want to pre-empt this.

Asked by the Sunday Express if the matter was settled to the benefit of T&T financially, the AG said yes, “we did save when the matter was sent for a resolution”.

PM bouffs Opposition

Speaking at the post-Cabinet news conference last Thursday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley advised the Opposition to stay quiet on the issue of the leased Sikorsky S76D helicopter, following Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal’s call on the Government and the National Security Minister to disclose the current status of the helicopter.

“The Opposition would do well to keep quiet on that matter. Because that is one of the albatrosses that we found around our neck. Somebody in the last government made an arrangement that cost millions of dollars for a helicopter which largely could not be utilised.

“And the contract was such that the Government was so tied up, the proverbial market crab would be a laughing stock as compared to that. When we came into office and saw the arrangement in place, the (PNM) Government could not continue those arrangements for an item which was largely unusable,” the Prime Minister said.

He said since the Opposition was raising the matter, he was giving the public the assurance that when the Parliament resumes in September the relevant minister would make a statement on it.

In a release last week, Moonilal had said National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds must inform taxpayers whether the aircraft, which cost taxpayers $100 million, was taken on a trailer from its Cumuto base to Point Lisas, and whether it is being returned to its supplier or being reduced to scrap.

The “phantom” chopper was reported to have been moved under the cover of darkness to the Port of Point Lisas, he said, adding that Hinds must say for what purpose, as well as indicate whether or not the PNM Government had fulfilled the terms and conditions of the lease of the helicopter.

“I had previously disclosed that the Rowley administration refused to honour the provisions of this lease, only because the legal arrangement had been entered into by the Kamla Persad-Bissessar government,” he said, adding the lease had been funded for almost six years by the people of T&T.

Pointing out that the Government from 2016 had failed to make lease payments to obtain insurance and undertake a maintenance contract for the chopper, Moonilal asked the Government to disclose the terms of any agreement reached between Vertical Aviation LLC and the Government of T&T.

He noted that the supplier had sued the Government for $88 million for breach of the terms of the lease.

He said the chopper has been “hidden in a shed away from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which could not access the asset to provide a certificate of airworthiness”.

Legal matter closed

The settlement brings an end to all judicial matters lodged before the United States courts involving T&T.

The multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by Vertical Aviation against the Government of T&T was settled earlier this year, following an agreement between both parties.

It was also agreed that both parties would foot the costs of their legal representation.

The matter had come up for hearing on March 15, at the US Southern District New York Court before District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil.

A court document stated the court was in receipt of a letter from the parties informing it that the parties had reached a settlement in principle, and ordered that the action be discontinued without costs to any party and “without prejudice to restoring the action to this court’s calendar if the application to restore the action is made by April 14, 2021. If no such application is made by that date, today’s dismissal of the action is with prejudice...”

The latest ruling came on the heels of a victory secured by the T&T Government in March following the dismissal of a default ruling.

Although the ruling was set aside, the judge had hinted that parties involved in the litigation may have to settle to the satisfaction of all parties involved.

Vertical sought millions

Vertical Aviation was seeking close to US$13 million (TT$88 million) in compensation from the T&T Government for breach of contract for a helicopter under the Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration in 2014. With pre-judgment and post-judgment interest added, the figure was likely to skyrocket to TT$100 million should the court have ruled in favour of Vertical Aviation LLC.

On February 12, 2021, the court held a telephonic hearing in connection with the motion for default judgment and T&T’s opposition and request for vacating the default judgment.

This country initiated a defence through Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP, while attorney Shawn J Rabin, from law firm Susman Godfrey LLP, sought the interest of Vertical Aviation.

A letter dated January 11, 2021, penned by attorney Linda Martin to Judge Vyskocil, states that T&T would have been opposing a decision made by the court to enter a default judgment.

In giving her ruling, Judge Vyskocil ordered that “Vertical Aviation’s motion for default judgment is denied and the default is vacated on condition that Defendant answer or otherwise respond to the Complaint on or before March 15, 2021”.

Covid-19 delay

The court noted while the “T&T defence has been cavalier in not dealing with the litigation in a timely manner, it could not find that Defendant’s failure to respond was wilful given the lead role of the Minister of National Security in managing this litigation while he was charged with a central role in a relatively small government battling the Covid-19 pandemic”.

In explaining to the court this country’s delay in filing a defence, Martin, on February 11, had said due to the Covid-19 crisis, the T&T Government had been delayed in attending to the lawsuit because, among other things, the Ministry of National Security, which is the ministry in charge of responding to the complaint, has also been one of the primary ministries responsible for responding to the Covid-19 crisis and, “in particular, such responsibilities fell heavily on the shoulders of then-national security minister Stuart Young”.

The judge had further ordered the T&T Government to answer or otherwise respond to the Complaint on or before March 15, 2021, and “ that on or before March 15, 2021, the parties shall file a joint letter advising the court of the status (not substance) of settlement negotiations. Failure to comply with deadlines or other terms of this order may result in sanctions, including preclusion or dismissal of claims or defence”.

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Re: Chopper Chat Thread

Postby bluefete » July 25th, 2021, 12:51 pm

Of course, no one will ever make a jail.

And we do not know how much the taxpayers will have to pay out to Vertical Aviation, going forward.

Damn these NDA's.

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mrtrini45
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Re: Chopper Chat Thread

Postby mrtrini45 » April 12th, 2023, 10:16 am

https://www.cnc3.co.tt/3-senior-special ... air-guard/




3 senior specialist pilots resign from Air Guard

Joshua Seemungal
February 5, 2023


The three most qualified helicopter pilots of the Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard have tendered their resignations effective the end of January, raising concerns about the country’s ability to patrol its borders, offer air support to police as well as do emergency and medical evacuations.

In recent years, the Air Guard has been faced with several issues including a decreasing number of functional helicopters and a multitude of resignations, with close to 20 experienced helicopter pilots resigning in the last four years.

There have also been long-standing reports of unrest and disenchantment among staff which have reportedly affected operations.

The three pilots who recently resigned are part of an exclusive group of pilots who are trained in special operations such as patrols, rescues and emergency hospital transport.

They were once part of a group of eight pilots formerly contracted to the National Operating Centre (NOC) of Trinidad and Tobago. In late 2019, former National Security minister Stuart Young transferred two helicopters—an AS355FX and a BO105—and the pilots to the Air Guard. The AS355FX helicopter, which according to online estimates costs more than US$1.195 million pre-owned, has been down with transmission issues, leaving the unit with one functional helicopter.

To compound the situation, two pilots who withheld their names said while there are junior helicopter pilots in the Air Guard, they do not have the necessary skills.

National Security sources said it would be a serious safety risk for the junior pilots to fly by themselves.

The young pilots, sources said, need to be trained and that would take some time.

Making reference to a National Helicopter Services Limited helicopter that crashed in Arouca in May 2019 while searching for eight prison escapees, a source reiterated that pilots need to have their licences in addition to specialised skills.

The three pilots said that they would like to continue on the job but several long-existing concerns continue to go unresolved. They said they gave the service time to address their concerns, but were told in response that they can resign if they want.

“We’ve downed tools, and we are saying we are not flying until this situation is remedied.

“You’ve heard this in the past when the country had no helicopter coverage for a month. There’s a fisherman who goes missing and they say, where are the helicopters? Well, the guys are not there, so they can’t fly.

‘There’s no aerial coverage for the island for this period. So for the Carnival where you’d want to have police looking over and watching what is going on, giving guidance. That’s not going to be there. If we have a natural disaster right now, there’s no support for that,” one of the pilots said.

Concerns

The pilots have contractual concerns.

They claim that several members of the Defence Force, including aircraft pilots, had their contracts extended long-term, but they continue to be employed on short-term contracts.

When they were first assigned to the Air Guard, they said they were given a six-month contract and told that they would get a longer-term contract upon its expiration.

Instead, they said, they were given three successive three-month contracts.

“Every year we do a recurrency test to prove that we are competent. One guy was sick during this period, so he couldn’t do it. They just tossed him out. Leaving us with three pilots. It’s a significant amount of workload.

“They’ve been telling us the contract has been at a Cabinet note for two years. We have no sick leave. I don’t have a salary. I don’t know what’s going to happen. We went through COVID without sick leave, and we all got COVID. We had to work it out among ourselves to figure out how to cover it,” one of the pilots complained.

“You can’t go to the bank or anything. We didn’t work for the whole of October. There are a lot of breaks now. A week, three weeks or a month. It’s hurtful. I chose this unit. I worked under SORTT, SSA, the Office of the Prime Minister and NOC. And after 13 years, it’s disappointing to see this is the level we are at. It has a lot to do with the management of the Air Guard,” another pilot said.

The pilots also have health and safety concerns.

“In aviation, every operator is guided by an operations manual and standard operating procedure. We have been asking for these things from the Air Guard for the last three years and there’s nothing in place. Nothing. When we fly, we have to fly based on our experience and our knowledge of what we used to do.

“If anything were to happen, we would be held accountable because we have no guidelines,” they lamented.

A former helicopter pilot who resigned said while the helicopters are insured, the pilots are not.

Crime fight ‘compromised’

The pilots claim the ability to detect crimes was compromised by the Government’s decision to ‘dismantle’ their NOC team and transfer them to the Air Guard.

“Look at the murder rate now. When I was working with the National Operating Centre, every day we were out on a murder call and there was a resolution to it. Almost immediately.

“There are no more night patrols. I remember there was a time two guys robbed a place in Penal, and they called the helicopters. We came and found the guys behind the building. Another time, I ran down a man from Trou Macaque, Laventille to Beetham. We were making a difference. When we had riots in Port-of-Spain, we had video footage of people walking out of the Beetham. I run down a boat with a set of marijuana off the new coast,” the former helicopter pilot recalled.

“Air Guard is a waste of space. The organisation had some problems, but they didn’t have to take it and dismantle the thing. When we fly at 500ft, no criminal is doing any crime when we are there because by the time they do it, we get a call, and we are gone after them.

“The radios we had we could talk to police, fire, coastguard. They take away all the communication. You can’t even talk to police on the ground anymore,” said the helicopter pilot with more than 25 years of service.

The former pilot said the helicopters were outfitted with expensive infrared cameras that were able to detect people hiding from police officers.

However, he said, the cameras were removed and placed in a box and left to waste.

“Additionally, they’ve been using NHSL to bring patients back and forth from the Scarborough Hospital. That is something we used to do at no cost. The Tobago House of Assembly was left with a bill of something like $23 million for those services,” a pilot said, pointing to misuse and mismanagement.

Defence Force: No response

Ask to comment on the resignations, Defence Force Public Relations Officer Lieutenant Sherron Manswell said “no response.” Calls to National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds were unsuccessful.

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Re: Chopper Chat Thread

Postby Type Rated » April 12th, 2023, 11:30 am

Old article although correct at the time the subsequent is 2 returned to work.

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