Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Steve's "Otter Of The Week"! .....by Karl E. Hayes
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
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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
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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
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
