Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Steve's "Otter Of The Week"! .....by Karl E. Hayes
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
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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.
- by Karl E. Hayes
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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
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.
- by Karl E. Hayes
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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
