OK, “Ladies and Gentlemen", time for “installment #119″ in our “cockpit series", which will be a continuing “brain-strainer".

This is the “cockpit” of “the” ………………….

***MYSTERY SOLVED!***

This is the cockpit of the Bell P-39 “Airacobra” ! Illo wins the “sailboat fuel", though he had his doubts!

CLUE - A cobra is a snake, and there are snakes on every continent, except Antarctica, which is “devoid of snakes".

A number of years back I flew Beaver C-FGYK from Silver Falls, MB, to Lac Kaiagamac, PQ, during the month of November, on floats. The aircraft had been on lease to Blue Water Aviation for the open-water season, and I was returning the aircraft to Cargair Ltee.’s Base at Lac Kaiagamac. Seeing the large hangar and infrastructure at my destination, I wondered how many Otters had passed through and worked the area. Here is one that did, albeit for a short period of time, but she still “flogs the coast” to this day.

All information is from Karl Hayes’ “masterful” CD entitled:

De Havilland Canada
DHC-3 OTTER
A HISTORY

CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
—————————————————————————-

Otter 105

Otter 105 was delivered to the United States Army on 12th April 1956 with serial 55-3261 (tail number 53261). It was allocated to the 14th Army Aviation Company at Fort Riley, Kansas. In August ‘56 the 14th was re-designated the 1st Aviation Company and moved to Fort Benning, Georgia where it continued to fly the Otter until 1961, when it converted to the Caribou, relinquishing its U-1As to other units.

53261 was then assigned to Yuma, Arizona where it would spend the rest of its military career, as a test support aircraft. It was involved in a minor incident there on 26th February 1974. On take-off with a gusty crosswind the Otter became airborne prematurely and settled, with one tyre touching the runway and the propeller being damaged on contacting the runway. The damage was repaired and 53261 continued in service until April 1976 when it was transferred to the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). It was registered to the CAP in June ‘76 as N5341G and flew for the CAP’s Southwest Region - Texas. It was then sold to Air Saguenay Inc of Chicoutimi, Quebec to whom marks C-GVNL were allocated on 16th March 1978. It went on lease to Cargair Ltee of St.Michel-des-Saints (Lac Kaiagamac) Quebec to whom it was registered C-GVNL on 19th May ‘78. It flew for Cargair only that summer, after which it joined the Air Saguenay fleet, subsequently re-registered to Air Saguenay (1980) Inc.

The Otter was involved in an incident on 13th May 1980 at its Lac Sebastien base during a proficiency flight check. While on final for a simulated engine failure condition with throttle retarded, the pilot rounded out the aircraft too high. The check pilot did not recognise the error in sufficient time to take corrective action. Damage to the aircraft’s structure was sustained in the hard landing that followed. The damage was repaired. In April 1985 the aircraft was transferred to Centre d’Expedition et de Plein Air Laurentien (CEPAL) of Jonquiere (Lac Kenogami) Quebec. On 10th July 1990 whilst in cruise flight, a cylinder failed and the engine was shut down. VNL made an emergency landing on Lac Manouane. In July 1998 the Otter was transferred to Air Bellevue Inc of St.Felicien, Quebec.

Having served the bush country of Quebec for just short of 23 years, VNL headed west for a new career on the Pacific coast. Air Bellevue’s activities were winding down and its two Otters, VNL and C-FIUZ (135) were up for sale. Both were purchased by Harbour Air Ltd of Vancouver. The two Otters set off together for the long cross-country ferry. They were flown as far as Calgary by Air Bellevue pilots, arriving on 14th March 2001. They overnighted at Calgary and continued on the next day to Vancouver, flown by Harbour Air pilots. Both Otters were registered to Harbour Air on 28th March 2001 and were converted to turbine power with PT-6 engines by Harbour Air in their hangar at Vancouver. They were painted into Harbour Air’s colours and entered service on the company’s scheduled passenger services between Vancouver and points on Vancouver Island.

*** LATEST UPDATE!***

Otter 105

January 1st, 2008. C-GVNL. In service with Harbour Air, Vancouver. Vazar. Fleet number 304.

- by Karl E. Hayes
———————————————————————

C-GVNL of CEPAL at Calgary 14th March 2001 when it fuel stopped on its delivery flight from Quebec to Harbour Air at Vancouver. (Anthony J. Hickey)

© Bjoern Thomsen

I think if you looked in “Mr. Webster’s book” under “longevity", you would see a picture of an Otter…..

CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes

OK, “Ladies and Gentlemen", time for “installment #118″ in our “cockpit series", which will be a continuing “brain-strainer".

This is the “cockpit” of “the” ………………….

***MYSTERY SOLVED!***

This is the cockpit of the Goodyear “Blimp” ! Wayne wins the “sailboat fuel"!

CLUE -Blimps are non-rigid, meaning their shape is not maintained by a rigid aircraft internal structure, therefore an “invertebrate"!

I recently was doing a little research regarding the Soloy Dual Pac, and remembered that they had tested the twin-coupled PT-6 in an Otter. What ever happened to that Otter? Let’s grab some beers, and go on a “voyage of discovery"…..

All information is from Karl Hayes’ “masterful” CD entitled:

De Havilland Canada
DHC-3 OTTER
A HISTORY

CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
—————————————————————————-

Otter 465

Otter 465 was sold to A.Fecteau Transport Aerien Ltee of Senneterre, Quebec on 9th June 1967, registered CF-VQI. The company was subsequently re-named Air Fecteau Ltee and the Otter reregistered C-FVQI. Air Fecteau served the bush country of Quebec, and merged into Propair Inc, to whom the Otter was registered in May 1982. After more than twenty years service in Quebec, the Otter was sold in April 1989 to Temsco Helicopters Inc, registered N19TH. It flew as part of Temsco’s large fleet of Otters out of its base at Ketchikan, Alaska until October 1991, when Temsco announced abruptly that its final services would take place on 1st November 1991, and that the airline’s fixed wing division would close down on that date.

Having remained idle at Ketchikan for some time, in July 1994 the Otter was purchased by Soloy Dual Pac Inc, a part of the Soloy Corporation of Olympia, Washington and the following month it was registered N5010Y to Soloy Dual Pac Inc. The Otter was acquired by the Soloy Corporation for use as a flying testbed for the certification of their Dual Pac powerplant, which they were developing in co-operation with Pratt & Whitney Canada. The Otter was flown from Ketchikan to the Olympia Airport, Washington. It was not in the best of shape. The paperwork revealed that it had been partially submerged in an incident while flying for Propair and had been repaired by Propair at their facility at Rouyn, Quebec in July 1988, total time on the airframe at that stage being 14,230 hours.

Between July and September 1994, the Otter was completely stripped down and refurbished by Soloy at Olympia and the twin pack installed, comprising two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT-6A-114 turbines. It emerged from the hangar in pristine condition, in a gleaming all-white scheme featuring a large ‘Soloy Dual Pac’ logo. It made its first flight in this configuration from Olympia on 29th September 1994. It continued its test work into 1995, flying for several hundred hours to build up ‘in service’ time for the powerplant and related systems. In July 1995 it was re-registered N32910 and in November of that year, its test work with Soloy complete, it was sold to Ketchum Air Service Inc of Anchorage who converted it to a Vazar turbo Otter, registered N342KA. It entered service with Ketchum Air Service, based at Lake Hood, flying tourists, fishermen and hunters into the Alaskan wilderness during the summer months.

*** LATEST UPDATE!***

Otter 465

January 1st, 2008. N342KA. Vazar. PM Holdings LLC, the holding company of Pro Mech Air of Ketchikan, Alaska. During winter 2006/07 the Otter flew south to International Aero Products, Courtenay, BC on Vancouver Island where it was overhauled and painted in Pro Mech Air’s new colour scheme. It returned to Ketchikan on 31st May 2007 to rejoin Pro Mech Air’s six strong Otter fleet for the summer 2007 season.

- by Karl E. Hayes
———————————————————————

N5010Y modified with the Soloy Dual Pac (Soloy Corporation)

© BRIAN JOHNSTONE

Realistically, the “single” Otter doesn’t need to be a “twin turbine", it just needs at least 1000 HP of any single engine configuration. Glad to see Otter 465 still “flogging the bush"….. By the way, she was the “second to last” Otter made!

CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes

OK, “Ladies and Gentlemen", time for “installment #117″ in our “cockpit series", which will be a continuing “brain-strainer".

This is the “cockpit” of “the” ………………….

***MYSTERY SOLVED!***

This is the cockpit of the de Havilland DH 106 “Comet” ! Wayne wins the “sailboat fuel"!

CLUE - A “cobbler” is a “shoemaker", and “Shoemaker-Levy 9″ is a famous “comet".

The Otter served the Ontario Provincial Air Service (OPAS) extremely well, accessing the remote regions of Canada’s second largest Province. My “cranial sludge” started “burbling"; “Which was the first OPAS Otter"? Lo and behold, it was one of my “neighbours” from this year’s “Float Season"…….

All information is from Karl Hayes’ “masterful” CD entitled:

De Havilland Canada
DHC-3 OTTER
A HISTORY

CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
—————————————————————————-

Otter 14

Otter number 14 was the first Otter delivered to the Ontario Provincial Air Service, as CF-ODJ on 8th May 1953, registered to the Department of Lands & Forests. It gave the Service its first experience of changing an engine in the field. In July of that year, an unserviceable engine had to be changed when ODJ was working from a remote stretch of the Albany River. Poles had to be flown to the site to create an ‘A’ frame pulley hoist to change the engine. Despite this early difficulty, for an incredible 32 years it went on to faithfully service the Province of Ontario without incident, the registration being changed to C-FODJ when it was re-registered to the Province of Ontario, Ministry of Natural Resources in September ‘72.

ODJ was used for the same purposes as the other Ontario Government Otters (as described for Otter 13) but in addition ODJ was used extensively for aerial photography, and is believed to have been the only Otter in the world with an extra porthole behind the rear door to facilitate photography. When the Ontario Otters were disposed of during the mid 1980s, ODJ was sold, its new owners being Green Airways Ltd of Red Lake, Ontario, to whom the Otter was registered in November 1985. With its new owners it continued to provide a full range of bush services, flying out of Red Lake on floats during the summer and on wheel-skis in winter. C-FODJ has been re-engined with the Polish PZL 1,000 hp engine, as has Green Airways other Otter C-FLEA (286). The work on ODJ was carried out by Airtech Canada at their Peterborough, Ontario facility during January/February 1995.

*** LATEST UPDATE!***

Otter 14

January 1st, 2008. C-FODJ. In service with Green Airways, Red Lake, Ontario. PZL.

C-FODJ of OPAS at McFarlane Lake, Ontario May 1977 (Robert S.Grant)

C-FODJ of Green Airways with PZL 1000 engine at Red Lake, Ontario May 2004 (Karl Hayes)

C-FODJ of Green Airways at Selkirk, Manitoba, May 7, 2007 (-photo by Steve Taylor)

“Hey there, neighbour"! Great airplane, wearing Edo 7850 “Beech” floats. She can work like an old “Ukrainian farmer"……

CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes

OK, “Ladies and Gentlemen", time for “installment #116″ in our “cockpit series", which will be a continuing “brain-strainer".

This is the “cockpit” of “the” ………………….

***MYSTERY SOLVED!***

This is the cockpit of the Fairchild A-10 “Thunderbolt II", nicknamed the “Warthog"! Patrick wins the “sailboat fuel"! Good job, guys!

CLUE - “Mjolnir” was the “mystic hammer” of Thor, God of “Thunder"!

Of course we are all aware of the many “organisations” worldwide the Otter served with. Then I began recalling the “short-sightedness” of the Canadian government when the “Beaver” was produced, in the fact that they didn’t purchase any for the RCAF. They did purchase the “Otter", though. Which was “the first", and what happened to it?

All information is from Karl Hayes’ “masterful” CD entitled:

De Havilland Canada
DHC-3 OTTER
A HISTORY

CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
—————————————————————————-

Otter 7

Otter number 7 was the first Otter delivered to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), on 28th March 1953 with serial 3661. Before formal handover, while the Otter was still at Downsview, code letters AB were painted on the fuselage side, so that the side markings were presented as AB (roundel) 661 and in this guise a number of photographs were taken for publicity purposes. The letters AB were to give the Otter a “military look” and were not the code letters of any RCAF unit then intended to operate the Otter. The official user of the code AB at that time was 401 Squadron, which then flew Harvards and Vampires. One of the publicity photographs of 3661 is captioned “The first commissioned Otter flies over Downsview Airport on 13th March 1953. On this day a simulated SAR operation was conducted by members of the Trenton Para Rescue Section to show the new aircraft to the media”. RCAF Otters 3662, 3663, 3664, 3665 and 3666 were similarly painted with a spurious AB code for publicity purposes before delivery.

After Otter 3661 had been formally delivered by DHC to the RCAF on 28th March ‘53, it was allocated that month to the Central Experimental & Proving Establishment (CEPE) at Rockcliffe, Ottawa for the purposes of evaluation of this new type of aircraft to enter RCAF service. It then went to the Fort Churchill, Manitoba Station Flight, where its arrival is recorded on 4th July 1953. It entered service with the Flight alongside Norseman 789. The diary of the Churchill Station Flight records the many missions undertaken by 3661. It operated on floats during the summer months from Landing Lake at Churchill. On 14th August ‘53 it operated a medevac to Baker Lake and on 20th August was in the Duck Lake and Neultin Lake areas searching for a lost trapper. Later that month it was involved in the search for 405 Squadron Lancaster 999 which had crashed, and performed a coast crawl from York Factory to Eskimo Point. When the Lancaster was found, its crew of 8 were picked up by the Otter from the lake where it had ditched and were flown to Churchill. On 31st August ‘53 both Norseman 789 and Otter 3661 flew to Ennadai Lake with rations.

On 6th October ‘53 the Otter made its last float trip to Knife Lake and on 8th October was removed from Landing Lake and re-configured with wheel-skis. For the winter months, it would operate from the airport at Churchill, continuing with its light transport and SAR taskings. On 2nd January 1954 it was involved in the search for the Flight’s own Norseman 789 which went missing on a medevac flight from Fort Churchill to Baker Lake, a flight of three hours fifteen minutes. Six RCAF Dakotas were also involved in the search for the missing Norseman, two each from Winnipeg, Rivers and Edmonton, as well as Arctic Wings Avro Anson CF-GLA. When the Norseman was found on a small lake at 62.46 North 96.06 West, one of the Dakotas orbited the scene until the evacuation of the Norseman crew and passengers was carried out by Otter 3661 on 5th January.

On 15th February 1954 the Otter flew from Churchill to the scene of the Norseman forced landing with a repair party, but its tail assembly broke on landing on the rough terrain. When it became overdue, Dakota 971 from Winnipeg took off to fly to the area, but due to ice fog had to return to Churchill without finding the Otter. It departed again early the next morning and sighted the downed Otter beside the Norseman. The two aircraft had to remain where they were until 20th February ‘54, when the Arctic Wings Anson flew in with replacement crews, and both the Otter and the Norseman flew back to Churchill.

The following month, the Otter was re-assigned and took off from Churchill on 19th March ‘54 enroute to Ottawa, being replaced at Churchill by Otter 3672. On arrival at RCAF Station Rockcliffe, Ottawa 3661 entered service with 408 Squadron, adopting its MN code. Although based at Rockcliffe, the squadron spent much of its time deployed away from base, having been assigned the major task of mapping and surveying large tracts of the Canadian North. During the summer of 1954, four of the Squadron’s Lancasters flew out of Goose Bay, Labrador on the mapping project, supported by six of the Squadron’s Cansos and six Otters, including 3661. At the end of the summer season, 3661 and the other Otters returned to base at Rockcliffe for the winter, where they were engaged on local area flying and training.

Another major task entrusted to 408 Squadron was support of the construction of the Mid Canada Line (MCL) of radar sites along the 55th parallel of latitude, all 102 of them. In 1954 the RCAF launched a helicopter operation for the MCL with the formation of 108 Communications Flight which, with its H-19, H-21 and H-34 helicopters would carry men, supplies and equipment to the numerous isolated sites. On 18th June 1955 Otter 3661 in company with 3664, both on floats, departed Rockcliffe and arrived at Fort McMurray, Alberta on 21st June. The function of the two Otters was to carry men and equipment into places that were inaccessible to the Squadron’s Canso, which was also supporting the operation. The Otters remained with the operation until it reached The Pas, Manitoba. 3661 was released on 22nd July ‘55 and departed Flin Flon, Manitoba that day to return to Rockcliffe.

In December 1955 3661 was again transferred to the CEPE at Rockcliffe. It underwent a DHC All Up Weight modification in January ‘56, after which it returned to 408 Squadron. On 27th June’56 it was flown to Goose Bay where 408 Squadron crewmen instructed Goose Bay Station Flight on the Otter, following the fatal crash of Goose Bay’s own Otter 3666 on 10th April ‘56. On 22nd August ‘56 3661 proceeded from Goose Bay to St.John’s/Torbay to transport the Canadian and Russian Ministers of Fisheries on a tour of Newfoundland fishing ports. 3661 then returned to base at Rockcliffe.

408 Squadron’s use of the Otter came to an end in June 1957 and the following month 3661 was assigned to the Station Flight at Cold Lake, Alberta where it was to serve for the next two years. In June 1959 it went into storage as a reserve aircraft at the Lincoln Park, Calgary depot, located at what was then Calgary’s downtown airport, which became an RCAF base when the new civilian airport was built northeast of the city. In December ‘59 it was taken out of storage and ferried to DHC at Downsview to be prepared for its next posting. In July 1960 it joined 102 Communications Unit at Trenton, Ontario where it served in an all silver scheme, with black front engine cowling, code VR (roundel) 661 on the rear fuselage and the serial 3661 and Canadian Ensign on the fin.

In November 1962, 3661 was taken out of service and put into storage by No.6 Repair Depot, Trenton. Here it remained until March ‘63, when it was one of 5 RCAF Otters selected by the Canadian Government to be donated to India. All five were trucked to DHC at Downsview and crated for shipment to India, the official transfer date to the Indian Air Force being 25th April 1963. On arrival in India the Otter was allocated serial BM-1004 with the Indian Air Force, with whom it served for the next 27 years, until withdrawn from use in 1990. In April 1993 the Indian Ministry of Defence
advertised for sale by global tender “8 Otters on the ground since 1990 and 5 Otter airframes (without engines)”, which included BM-1004. The successful bidders were La Ronge Aviation Services of La Ronge, Saskatchewan jointly with Mike Hackman Aircraft Sales of Edmonton.

The purchasers managed to find another damaged Otter during their visits to India, which made 14 Otters to be returned home. These were located at different Indian Air Force bases. BM-1004 was one of three Otters located at Kanpur and another five were located at Barrackpore. This batch of eight were paint stripped, dismantled and trucked to Calcutta, from where they were shipped to Canada. They eventually arrived at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan by 30th April 1994. BM-1004 had at that stage of its career 5,051 hours on the airframe. It was put up for sale, along with all the other
former Indian Air Force Otters. They were advertised for sale “as is”, or else the sellers would arrange for the aircraft to be rebuilt to flying condition for a customer.

Otter number 7 was purchased by Watson’s Algoma Vacations Ltd, trading as Watson’s Skyways, based at Wawa, Ontario. The Otter was one of those purchased “as is” and was trucked from Saskatoon to Echo Bay, Ontario where it was rebuilt for its new owners by Skyservice. On completion of the rebuild, it was registered to Watson’s Algoma Vacations Ltd on 26th April 1995 as C-GPPL. There was a change of name of the registered owner on 28th February 2000 to Watsons Skyways Ltd.

C-GPPL joined Otter C-GOFB in service with Watson’s Skyways. The Otters were based at Wawa and during the summer months were used to fly fishermen to two lodges, Pine Portage and Kaby Lodge, which the company operates on Kabinakagami Lake in the Ontario interior, one of which is located sixty miles from Wawa, the other seventy. The Otters were also available for general charters, and often flew for the Ontario Government’s Ministry of Natural Resources, flying fire crews and Ministry personnel into the bush. Summer 2000 for example saw personnel flown by the Otters to Michipicoten Island in Lake Superior. By the end of that summer season, PPL’s total time had reached 6,900 hours. The Watson’s Skyways operation is summer only, the Otters being stored during the winter.

PPL remained in service with Watson’s Skyways until the end of the summer 2000 season and was then placed in storage for the winter at the Springer Aerospace facility at Bar River, to the east of Sault St.Marie. In September 2000 it was advertised for sale, having been replaced in service with Watson’s Skyways by a Cessna Caravan. The advertisement quoted an asking price of $590,000 Canadian, with the aircraft on EDO floats, ten passenger seats, wingtip strobes, vista vents in the two crew and four passenger windows, and well equipped with avionics, including HF radio and a Garmin GPS. It was sold the following month to Hawk Air of Wawa but remained in storage for the winter at Bar River, being registered to its new owners on 11th April 2001. PPL joined Otter C-FQMN with Hawk Air and continued to serve the Ontario bush country, flying fishermen to outpost camps and supplying lodges during the summer season. The company required an additional Otter to cater for an upsurge in its business, which kept both PPL and QMN busy during the summer of 2001 and subsequent years.

C-GPPL was involved in an incident on 15th June 2004. Eight minutes after it had taken off from Hawk Junction en route to Esnagi Lake the engine quit and the Otter was forced to make an immediate landing on Dipneedle Lake, some ten miles north of Hawk Junction. The lake was extremely narrow shortly after the point of touch down. The left wing struck two dead trees, resulting in damage to the outer four feet of the leading edge of the wing. Approaching the shore, one float struck a submerged rock, resulting in a one foot hole in one compartment. There were no injuries to the five passengers or the crew of two. The Otter was repaired and resumed service with Hawk Air.

*** LATEST UPDATE!***

Otter 7

January 1st, 2008. C-GPPL. Having been operated by Hawk Air out of its base at Wawa, Ontario since April 2001, Otter number 7 was sold to Alaska Coastal Airlines of Juneau, Alaska and was registered to its new owners on 30th May 2007 as N342AK. Alaska Coastal Airlines trades as Wings of Alaska and already operates four Texas Turbine Otters on sight seeing flights from its Juneau base. N342AK arrived at Vernon, BC in late July 2007 to be converted as a Texas Turbine Otter by Kal-Air. On 20th November 2007 the registration was changed to N753AK. Work on the conversion continued at the Kal-Air facility over the winter of 2007/08.

- by Karl E. Hayes
———————————————————————

C-GPPL of Watson’s Skyways in winter storage at Geraldton, Ontario (Rich Hulina)

—

“Wow", what a career, and still flying, with more “chapters” to come………

CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes