Jan
- December 2008
Jan – December 2007
Dec 05 – June 2006 | June – December 2006
2003 | 2004
| 2005
December
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2009
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A Very Merry Christmas to all
Otterhounds wherever you are around the World.
If life could have been more
complicated this year then I wouldn’t want to know about it. As a last straw,
just as I was uploading files for the Christmas posting the laptop gave out
and I have had to rebuild on a new one. I also lost a bundle of recent emails
from October to early December (the ‘leave a copy on the server’ box is so buried
in the depths of Outlook I forgot to check it before re-opening the programme
– word to the wise). Anyway, less of my (ba! Humbug)
grumblings; here are some of the recent photos, some of which are un-attributed.
Please accept my profound apologies and if you have sent me anything in the
last three months do re-send details to ianbutter@btinternet.com and I
will correct the position straightaway. Fred Sprenger from
Volcanicair in New Zealand has sent in a set of photos of ZK-VAS undergoing a
refurb with a new engine on its way. A very smart aircraft emerges from the
hangar. Love that big carb-heat dial. Should be a must on all engines (there speaks
a pilot who had to change his trousers after a badly rigged carb heat cable
nearly resulted in an emergency landing). By the way Fred, the missing mobile
phone is on the throttle quadrant! www.volcanicair.co.nz And for those of you who do
not subscribe to ‘Propliner’, you have missed a veritable smorgasbord of
Otter info and photos in the latest issue (No.120) with reports from the
venerable Fred Barnes, regarding Wideroe’s Otter operations, Martin Cooper’s
tour of numerous floatbases in western Ontario and Manitoba and the
Ottermeister himself Karl Hayes on the Woods Air Fuels operation with Otters
and much else. Excellent excuses for a morning read in bed with a coffee over
the last few days. Back issues are available at
£8.50 each (incl surface delivery UK and worldwide). Send orders enclosing
payment to: Propliner Aviation Magazine,
Penn Farm, Luppitt, Honiton, Devon UK EX14 4RX |
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November |
2009 |
Firstly, my apologies for the
apparent silence over the last couple of months. I’ve been rather busy
developing my new business (now working for myself – the boss is a tyrant!)
and fees have had to go before fun. John Olafson sent in a link to an interesting twin otter video [ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=67a_1256599207
] but we will let him off. Wonder if they knew how deep the snow was? John
also sent in a great photo of Otter C-FJHA
c/n 318 which is the latest to join the Harbour Air fleet as of last January.
John notes that, “they are now wearing
the last two digits of the fleet number on the port wing leading edge. No
wonder, when you see all the Otters coming and going at Coal Harbour these
days. The little green logo is their way of telling us they are carbon
neutral”. Many thanks John. Fred Barnes has been on his
travels again and has begun to forward a number of recent Otter photos. Here
are the first few to wet your appetite.
You’re going to love these shots. Keep them coming Fred. And finally, I have
been enjoying a photo from Kent for
a little while and here is Kent’s introduction which says it all. My grateful
thanks Kent. Keep them level. Hi Ian! The days are getting shorter and shorter .. This is a good thing! Here is a shot I took shortly after a spectacular sunset. The stars that night were absolutely
amazing. The magnificence of the night sky left me awestruck and dumb and
feeling so insignificant as a person, and as a member of the human race. Our
worldly troubles are meaningless and unimportant when you are staring deep
into the endless vastness of space. Best regards, Kent [Enjoy] My thanks to all contributors and best wishes for
Thanksgiving. |
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August |
2009 |
Davy
Doyon - owner & pilot of Misty Fjords Air & Outfitting, LLC.
Starts this update with a great shot of him landing N6868B in God's Pocket, Andrew
Chorney is a Senior Aeromechanical Engineer
of Air Vehicle Modification and Instrumentation (AVMI) Aircraft Prototype
Systems Division (APSD) at Patuxent River NAS and is trying to track down
some information that, as he puts it, is surprisingly elusive. The Navy has been flying an instrumentation boom on
its U-1 Otter based at the Test Pilot School for some time now, and all
technical source data has long since disappeared. Impulse "rap" tests of the boom are
conducted regularly to determine its natural frequency and whether it is far
enough away (+/- 10%) from the engine propeller frequency to avoid resonance
issues. No data is readily available for what the critical engine rpm might
be, giving us no baseline from which to judge the dynamic characteristics of
the boom. Andrew asks whether any of you happen to have data
on the pertinent engine? He’s not even
sure which one it is, but anything you might have would be helpful. They’ve been utilizing "official"
data resources, but he had to resort to Google to see what he could find. Well guys that’s a really good challenge for you.
Please email me or contact Andrew direct on Chorney, Andrew S. USNUNK NAVAIR 5.2.8.4 [ andrew.chorney@navy.mil ] Voice:
(301) 757-2969 Fax: (301) 342-1665 Andrew has also provided the following: I was
able to establish that the Pratt & Whitney R-1340-S1H1G (550 hp, 410 kW)
is used on the U-1. Specifications for the R-1340-S3H1 indicate a power
output of 542 hp at 2,200 rpm at 5,000 feet, translating to a 36.67 Hz
forcing frequency. I don't know whether that specification is representative
of the U-1's engine, but I used that as a baseline. Conversations with some
colleagues indicated that there may be some wing modes to consider in
addition to engine prop forcing frequencies, but I have no information on
that. Martin "Closterman" Rousseau of www.mraerodesign.com has sent in a
number of excellent Otter shots for your enjoyment, some of which are taken
by a friend Philippe Gosselin. Good to hear from you again Martin and many
thanks. [HERE] [HERE] [HERE] Ray Ritchie has rightly pointed out that his very interesting
photo in last months item was not provided. My apologies I failed to create a
hyperlink, so here it is again [HERE] Have a good summer all – as we in |
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July |
2009 |
John Olafson kicks off this update following a trip to Whilst at Vancouver South I noticed Otter C-FHAS parked outside
Harbour Air's maintenance hangar and was able to photograph this one for the
first time on a rather dreary day. It has North Pacific Seaplanes titles on
it but it is part of Harbour Air's fleet as indicated by its fleet number
(312). I would imagine this Otter will be soon returning to I stopped at John also provides a picture of an engine that came out of an
Otter which crashed and was rebuilt some years ago at Kal Air Repair.
Apparently it has been sitting in outside storage for quite some time and now
it has been moved out and placed on a pallet. John wonders if it will be
rebuilt or is it going to the scrapper and considers that given its
condition, its unlikely we will ever again hear its song, but at least its
nice to look at it. Many thanks John. Always good to receive BC info. I presume the
new Regular visitors will know that pilot/photographer Kent applies a
somewhat ‘left-field’ approach to life and his latest contributions are right
on the money. Keep them level Here is a recent email from John (the wallaby) O’Rourke which
will interest all I’m sure: Hi Ian Just
found your site when researching the DHC 3, having just got hold of an
excellent flight sim model for X-Plane As a
young man, I spent some time in the A number
of flights in VH-EAW, an amphibious Otter out of At Ihu,
about 40 miles further west from Kerema, the Otter landed on the VH-EAZ
was named "Kikori" - a village in western Papua. I have a scanned
slide of "Kikori" parked on the ground at I have
fond memories of VH-EAZ "Kerowagi", as this is the aircraft which
took my new bride and myself from Wau to Lae. We had spent our honeymoon in a
small cottage in Wau (what a wonderful name for a honeymoon destination!!) -I
have a better photo of "Kerowagi"
on the strip at Wau , with my wife waiting to board (I also still have
my wife!! - 49 years later next month. If they
are of interest, you are more than welcome to copies of the photos "Kikori"
photo August 1959 and
"Kerowagi" taken July 1960 Regards John
O'Rorke wallaby@iinet.net.au And, of course, the photos are of real interest. [HERE] Congratulations on 49 years marriage John and many thanks for the
photo’s and story. Dave Hayward from Hi Ian I just discovered you site and I'm enjoying it
immensely. I grew up in Flin Flon to the sound of Otters flying almost all
year round. H.B.M & S had three all painted the same colour Yellow
Silver Blue and a bight orange tail. I'm having a model made of CF-MIQ (336) to hang in my
cottage at the Lee River 10 miles from Lac du Bonnet. The plane is now located in Nakina I now have the pleasure of watching Adventure Air's Otter
flying over my cottage. Take care Great Site. Thanks for your kind words Dave and do please send through the
photos when the model is completed. Ray Richey has written in and says: I am sending you a picture of the otter that was used at Ft
Greely, You will note on the side that it says ATB which was the
Arctic Test Board. The name was changed later the I was sorry to see on your web site that it was destroyed. thanks for the site and here is
the picture. The lengths some people will go for a picture of an Otter! – a
true Otterhound. Good to hear from you Ray and many thanks for the story. Basic Country Bumpkin writes: Dear Ian, Some Otter stuff you may be interested in, on my flickr site. http://www.flickr.com/photos/34876275@N08/sets/72157619556999091/ Regards. BCB And so it is. Good stuff there also for all you Propliner types.
Many thanks for the link. Now, here’s an unusual request from Dear Aviation Friend, I am preparing for our German Aviation Magazine (special
Issue "Flieger Revue-EXTRA") a article about Tanzania
People's Defence Forces which used the aircraft DHC-3 Otter, the delivery program
was the Canadian Military
Assistance Program Now my question, is it possible to help me with some
pictures about this topic. It would be very nice if you can send me the pictures per
e-mail and in print condition. It would be great when you could write
some sentences about the pictures ( the task of aircraft or other interesting
details). If you agree, I would like they publish in the
magazine and after print I will send you a voucher copy. I hope you can help me and hear from you soon. Thank you very much in advance. Regards Burkhardt Rawolle freelance editor Well guys, I will trawl the site, but I bet there are some of you
with all kinds of more detailed information so feel free to contact Burkardt
on BurkhardtRawolle@t-online.de They say you can’t keep a good man down and to round out this
update I am pleased to say that by popular request I bring John O back into
the frame with an update from John reports: I was
surprised to see Max Ward's Otter come in to Many thanks John, and to all the contributors, without whom this
site would not work. All best wishes to you all for the summer. Ian |
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June |
2009 |
Mid-Summer Otter Madness begins with two sets of photos from Jens
Wager in Germany of Otters 4R-ARA and 4R-ARB taken in Jens flew from These pictures of ARA and its sister ship 4R-ARB (c/n 393) were
taken at Jens has also provided a link to an accident report for ARB in
2007. The incident occurred at 1517 Hrs (local) on 05th June 2007 at http://www.caa.lk/pdf/accident_reports/4R-%20ARB.pdf Very many thanks Jens, these add a great dimension to the site
and what an interesting flight in an Otter. Dave Ferguson has sent in some very interesting photos of Otters
in various enforcement roles in Can anyone help Reto Schalfi? Good day First I would like to apologize for my bad English. I live in For their help, I would like to thank you very much. Best regards Reto Schläfli Adress: Reto Schläfli, Roseneggweg 8 6005 Otter pilot and operator Rich Hulina has an enviable reputation
with the camera as well and has sent in some excellent shots of Otters
passing through Sioux Lookout in mid-May. Very evocative – enjoy. [PHOTOS] As there has been a bumper crop of emails I will upload more
shortly. |
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OK. I goofed. I know I said I was going to show some more of Chip
Porter’s photo’s and guess who lost the email! Well, they’re HERE now so enjoy. Thanks Chip. |
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May |
2009 |
Welcome to spring and hopefully a bit more sunshine. A rather belated inclusion of further shots by John O’ has been back in action and reports: HI Guys, This is
the latest Texas Turbines Super Otter
to leave Cheers,
John O Here’s a controversial thought. Is it just me or does the Otter
really not suit wheeled landing gear? Marcel FLUET-LECERF has kindly sent in the following pictures: DHC-3T C-FODT n°218 of Air Saguenay taken at Baie Comeau Québec on 06-20-2008 DHC-3T C-FQMN n°184 of Hawk Air taken at Hawk Junction DHC-3T C-GOFB n°39 of Watsons Skyways taken at Wawa I wonder if anyone out there can help Lars? Dear Ian, Greetings!
I've been rather busy with a set of small Cessna 180/185 moulds lately, but
my decal supplier has put to me a question you may be better able to help
with than I: He is putting together a set of decals for the Otter & can't
find a decent 3-view anywhere. Neither can I. The ones on the internet are
horrendous & tiny. Could you be of any help with this? Neither of us
makes enough at the model business to afford the whole manual, but a
medium-rez scan of a general arrangement drawing would be a big help. All My Best, -Lars Opland My grateful thanks as ever for all the contributions and I wish
you all a happy Otter hunting season. |
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April |
2009 |
Hi all. John Olafson has produced a PowerPoint
presentation of the traffic in Zane Adams from Wojtek Benzinski is a member of a small group collecting and
producing 1/200th scale models, who have started to branch out into bush and
utility aircraft; Norseman and DHC 2 Beaver are available, and soon, I hope,
the Otter will be. Wojtek is trying to locate pictures of British, Aussie and
Kiwi Beavers and Otters in Fred Barnes has sent in C/n 106
N707KA on maintenance in the Thanks to everyone who contributed this time and more to come in
a further update shortly. Best wishes Ian |
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February |
2009 |
Fred Sprenger the Chief Pilot from Volcanic Air Services in Fred Barnes has also scanned a lovely shot of N707KA (106) in earlier days. Zane Adams from And finally Thanks Chaps. Great Shots. |
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January |
2009 |
Welcome back one and all. Didn’t Christmas disappear quickly! Charles "Chip" Wisner of Juneau, Alaska kicks off the
New Year with some pictures of N9895B, (194) during
and after a total rebuild by Taquan Air Service, Inc. in Fred Barnes has and friend Fred Froude have been scanning some of
his old slides into digital. Here are some interesting
samples to get the ball rolling: C-GLCS (428) at N234KA (42) at C-FMPP (42) of Burrard Air at Thanks Guys and here’s to another interesting Otter year. |
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December |
2008 |
Christmas Special Bumper upload [HERE] |