Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Steve's "Otter Of The Week"! .....by Karl E. Hayes
US Army "vet", Atlantic "crossser", back to Canada for numerous encounters in the "bush". She is an experienced Otter, and now has a "pointy nose" and needs a home!
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
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Otter 385
Otter 385 was delivered to the United States Army on 22nd August 1960 with serial 59-2230 (tail number 92230). Its initial unit allocation is unknown but by January 1962 it was serving with the Army's 572nd Engineer Platoon, flown as a survey aircraft on mapping duties in Libya and later in Iran. It was painted in the white/red colour scheme used by topographical aircraft. It continued to fly for this unit until April 1969 when it arrived at Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, Germany for overhaul. It was re-painted into the olive drab colour scheme and in August '69 was assigned to the 56th Aviation Detachment at Coleman Barracks, and flew for this unit until August 1971, when it was placed into storage at Coleman Barracks and put up for disposal.
92230 was one of eight Army Otters, all in storage at Coleman Barracks, which were put up for sale by Sealed Bid Tender with a closing date of 29th December 1971. The successful bidder for all eight Otters was Ferrer Aviation Inc of Miami. The total price for all eight aircraft was $303,640 of which $39,680 was the price for 92230, which had 3,177 hours on the airframe at the time of sale. 92230 was allocated marks N80945 for Ferrer Aviation, who contracted ferry company Air Convoy to fly the eight Otters to Canada. All followed the same route, two at a time. In company with N80939(141), N80945 was ferried from Coleman Barracks via Saarbrucken, Germany to Ashford in Kent and on to Shannon, Ireland, arriving Shannon on 7th March 1972. At Shannon, ferry tanks were installed by SRS Aviation, after which the two Otters set off for the long Atlantic crossing, first stop Reykjavik, Iceland.
The Otters were flown to St.Jean Airport, Montreal where they were converted to civilian aircraft by St.Louis Aviation Inc. 385 was then sold to White River Air Services Ltd of White River, Ontario registered CF-DNK, later re-registered C-FDNK. In June 1975 it was sold to Kipawa Air Service Inc of Kipawa, Quebec which was later re-named Air Kipawa Inc. The Otter was used on charter work throughout the Province of Quebec. Apart from fishing and hunting charters, it was also much used in the north by Quebec Hydro and Societe d'Energie de la Baie James. By June 1980 it had flown 8,122 hours. One incident was recorded, on 25th September 1988 when the Otter was flying on behalf of Cargair, twenty four miles north-west of Schefferville. DNK made a forced landing due to engine trouble. The pilot found that he could not maintain a sufficient rate of climb in a turn and had to put the aircraft down. Between August 1989 and August 1990 the Otter was operated by and registered to Air North Bay Inc of North Bay, Ontario before reverting to Air Kipawa Inc.
The Otter continued in operation with Air Kipawa until the end of the summer 2004 season, and was then sold. As the Air Kipawa website sadly explained: “Otter DNK leaves the Kipawa base dock for the last time. The aircraft has been sold to Viking Air where it will be completely torn-down and retrofitted with a turbine engine and many other amenities. DNK has been with the company for nearly thirty years and has flown thousands of hours and carried countless numbers of people to their favourite fishing and hunting spots”. The Otter departed Kipawa on 13th October 2004, making
its first stop at Sioux Lookout, Ontario on the long trek to the West Coast. It was re-registered to Viking Air Ltd of Victoria, BC on 26th November 2004. During December 2004 it commenced conversion to Viking Turbo Otter configuration with a PT6A-35 engine.
*** LATEST UPDATE!***
Otter 385
January 1st, 2008. C-FDNK. In March 2007 the Otter was advertised for sale by Viking Air, located at Victoria, BC. It was advertised as a Viking Turbo Otter with new PT6A-35 engine, Hartzell three-blade prop, Panaview windows, 15 seats, Seaflight 8100 floats, new paint and interior, with an asking price of $1,350,000. Total time was 18,151 hours. By August 2007 it had been withdrawn from sale and was then on offer for lease, at an hourly rate of $275 per flight hour plus engine reserve of $55 per flight hour, with a minimum lease of 700 hours.
- by Karl E. Hayes
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N80945 of Ferrer Aviation at a damp Shannon Airport 18 March 1972 on its way home (John Cunniffe)
C-FDNK of Air Kipawa May 1987
Yes, folks, she has gone under the "surgeon's knife" and has 18,000 more hours left in her. Check her out......
FOR SALE - C-FDNK!
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
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 385
Otter 385 was delivered to the United States Army on 22nd August 1960 with serial 59-2230 (tail number 92230). Its initial unit allocation is unknown but by January 1962 it was serving with the Army's 572nd Engineer Platoon, flown as a survey aircraft on mapping duties in Libya and later in Iran. It was painted in the white/red colour scheme used by topographical aircraft. It continued to fly for this unit until April 1969 when it arrived at Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, Germany for overhaul. It was re-painted into the olive drab colour scheme and in August '69 was assigned to the 56th Aviation Detachment at Coleman Barracks, and flew for this unit until August 1971, when it was placed into storage at Coleman Barracks and put up for disposal.
92230 was one of eight Army Otters, all in storage at Coleman Barracks, which were put up for sale by Sealed Bid Tender with a closing date of 29th December 1971. The successful bidder for all eight Otters was Ferrer Aviation Inc of Miami. The total price for all eight aircraft was $303,640 of which $39,680 was the price for 92230, which had 3,177 hours on the airframe at the time of sale. 92230 was allocated marks N80945 for Ferrer Aviation, who contracted ferry company Air Convoy to fly the eight Otters to Canada. All followed the same route, two at a time. In company with N80939(141), N80945 was ferried from Coleman Barracks via Saarbrucken, Germany to Ashford in Kent and on to Shannon, Ireland, arriving Shannon on 7th March 1972. At Shannon, ferry tanks were installed by SRS Aviation, after which the two Otters set off for the long Atlantic crossing, first stop Reykjavik, Iceland.
The Otters were flown to St.Jean Airport, Montreal where they were converted to civilian aircraft by St.Louis Aviation Inc. 385 was then sold to White River Air Services Ltd of White River, Ontario registered CF-DNK, later re-registered C-FDNK. In June 1975 it was sold to Kipawa Air Service Inc of Kipawa, Quebec which was later re-named Air Kipawa Inc. The Otter was used on charter work throughout the Province of Quebec. Apart from fishing and hunting charters, it was also much used in the north by Quebec Hydro and Societe d'Energie de la Baie James. By June 1980 it had flown 8,122 hours. One incident was recorded, on 25th September 1988 when the Otter was flying on behalf of Cargair, twenty four miles north-west of Schefferville. DNK made a forced landing due to engine trouble. The pilot found that he could not maintain a sufficient rate of climb in a turn and had to put the aircraft down. Between August 1989 and August 1990 the Otter was operated by and registered to Air North Bay Inc of North Bay, Ontario before reverting to Air Kipawa Inc.
The Otter continued in operation with Air Kipawa until the end of the summer 2004 season, and was then sold. As the Air Kipawa website sadly explained: “Otter DNK leaves the Kipawa base dock for the last time. The aircraft has been sold to Viking Air where it will be completely torn-down and retrofitted with a turbine engine and many other amenities. DNK has been with the company for nearly thirty years and has flown thousands of hours and carried countless numbers of people to their favourite fishing and hunting spots”. The Otter departed Kipawa on 13th October 2004, making
its first stop at Sioux Lookout, Ontario on the long trek to the West Coast. It was re-registered to Viking Air Ltd of Victoria, BC on 26th November 2004. During December 2004 it commenced conversion to Viking Turbo Otter configuration with a PT6A-35 engine.
*** LATEST UPDATE!***
Otter 385
January 1st, 2008. C-FDNK. In March 2007 the Otter was advertised for sale by Viking Air, located at Victoria, BC. It was advertised as a Viking Turbo Otter with new PT6A-35 engine, Hartzell three-blade prop, Panaview windows, 15 seats, Seaflight 8100 floats, new paint and interior, with an asking price of $1,350,000. Total time was 18,151 hours. By August 2007 it had been withdrawn from sale and was then on offer for lease, at an hourly rate of $275 per flight hour plus engine reserve of $55 per flight hour, with a minimum lease of 700 hours.
- by Karl E. Hayes
---------------------------------------------------------------------
N80945 of Ferrer Aviation at a damp Shannon Airport 18 March 1972 on its way home (John Cunniffe)
C-FDNK of Air Kipawa May 1987
Yes, folks, she has gone under the "surgeon's knife" and has 18,000 more hours left in her. Check her out......
FOR SALE - C-FDNK!
CONTACT KARL, CD PRICING and ORDERING INFO - De Havilland DHC-3 OTTER - A HISTORY by Karl E. Hayes
