Twin Otter returns to Production
Having spent nearly a year flying the twotter back in BC... great days... it looks rather amazing with glass.
Summer in BC flying the twotter... I used to dream about... flying around Europe in a 737.... which led to.... dreams about twotter in BC in summer
Sometimes you really have to beware of what you wish for!
Summer in BC flying the twotter... I used to dream about... flying around Europe in a 737.... which led to.... dreams about twotter in BC in summer
Sometimes you really have to beware of what you wish for!
In August, 1966, (forty four years ago, for those not mathematically inclined) we departed Downsview, enroute to Farnborough for the first public showing of the Twin Otter, S/N 009, painted in the classic colours of the late, lamented Trans Australia Airlines (RIP), routing Goose Bay (CYYR), Reykjavik (BIRK) and EGKK.
With nine forty five gallon barrels of JP-4 in the cabin (gravity fed into the belly tanks) an unslaved, vacuum driven directional gyro for steering (with a 'trusty' B-1 floating magnetic compass for reference), a single ADF and a VOR for navigation.
I was in seventh heaven. What luxury! Never before in all my 24 years had I had such reliable engines, such modern equipment and thermostatically controlled cockpit heat to boot! The first of a multitude of Twin Otter crossings of the pond to follow, had we but known. But, after Farnborough we absolutely knew we had a winner.
Good luck to Viking - a great business venture and a great adventure.
With nine forty five gallon barrels of JP-4 in the cabin (gravity fed into the belly tanks) an unslaved, vacuum driven directional gyro for steering (with a 'trusty' B-1 floating magnetic compass for reference), a single ADF and a VOR for navigation.
I was in seventh heaven. What luxury! Never before in all my 24 years had I had such reliable engines, such modern equipment and thermostatically controlled cockpit heat to boot! The first of a multitude of Twin Otter crossings of the pond to follow, had we but known. But, after Farnborough we absolutely knew we had a winner.
Good luck to Viking - a great business venture and a great adventure.
Originally Posted by twochai
In August, 1966, (forty four years ago, for those not mathematically inclined) we departed Downsview, enroute to Farnborough for the first public showing of the Twin Otter, S/N 009, painted in the classic colours of the late, lamented Trans Australia Airlines (RIP), routing Goose Bay (CYYR), Reykjavik (BIRK) and EGKK.
With nine forty five gallon barrels of JP-4 in the cabin (gravity fed into the belly tanks) an unslaved, vacuum driven directional gyro for steering (with a 'trusty' B-1 floating magnetic compass for reference), a single ADF and a VOR for navigation.
I was in seventh heaven. What luxury! Never before in all my 24 years had I had such reliable engines, such modern equipment and thermostatically controlled cockpit heat to boot! The first of a multitude of Twin Otter crossings of the pond to follow, had we but known. But, after Farnborough we absolutely knew we had a winner.
With nine forty five gallon barrels of JP-4 in the cabin (gravity fed into the belly tanks) an unslaved, vacuum driven directional gyro for steering (with a 'trusty' B-1 floating magnetic compass for reference), a single ADF and a VOR for navigation.
I was in seventh heaven. What luxury! Never before in all my 24 years had I had such reliable engines, such modern equipment and thermostatically controlled cockpit heat to boot! The first of a multitude of Twin Otter crossings of the pond to follow, had we but known. But, after Farnborough we absolutely knew we had a winner.
The ferry flight was delightful, clear blue sunny sky all the way until just after making landfall at Stornoway, Scotland. 28 hours total.
We did have a bit more navigational equipment that you did 40 years ago - the new Twin Otter is equipped with the Honeywell Primus Apex suite, which is a derivative of the Honeywell Epic suite used on the larger Gulfstreams and Falcons.
Below is a picture showing our approach to Akureyri. The little red arrow at the top points at the far end of the runway. We enjoyed flying this most unusual approach (in VMC!) - it is a 5° ILS with a very slight dogleg at the end. I never thought I would be able to look out the side window at solid rock whilst firmly established on the glidepath. Remarkable.
Do let me know (by private message here on Pprune) if your travels ever take you to Vancouver Island, I would be delighted to show you our facilities and, hopefully, take you up for a flight.
Michael
Series 400 Twin Otter - ILS Approach to Akureyri, Iceland
Twochai:
Might the aircraft below have been SN 009 that you flew to Farnborough in 1966? The background of the picture shows the first tower of the Toronto-Dominion Center not quite fully completed, which suggests 1966. That would match up with the year of production of this aircraft.
Michael
Series 100 Twin Otter - TAA Livery
Might the aircraft below have been SN 009 that you flew to Farnborough in 1966? The background of the picture shows the first tower of the Toronto-Dominion Center not quite fully completed, which suggests 1966. That would match up with the year of production of this aircraft.
Michael
Series 100 Twin Otter - TAA Livery
Originally Posted by jabberwok
...I picked C-FMJO's Mode S code up at 1930 tonight (13th June) crossing the UK...
By any chance were you able to determine if our aircraft was transmitting all of the additional Downlink Aircraft Parameters (DAPs) that are appended onto the end of the transponder emission using the 1090 mHz extended squitter protocol?
During development of the Series 400, we decided to fit Mode S EHS capability (ADS-B out capability) as basic to all the new production aircraft, because we believe that ATC surveillance using ADS-B will soon become very common in the remote areas where Twin Otters are usually deployed - more or less the same way that cell phone service brought telephony to areas that had never previously been served by landlines.
Only problem we have had is that no-one in our home neighbourhood (Vancouver Island) has equipment to pick up the extended squitter, and the only folks that do have the service (Nav Canada around Hudson's Bay) filter out replies from ADS-B out aircraft that are not registered with Nav Canada to use this service.
None of the ATC people we talked to enroute had the equipment necessary to monitor the extended squitter. The people around Southern England probably have it, but traffic was so busy we didn't dare interrupt to ask if they could detect our DAPs.
So - if you can observe DAP data, look for us to depart Farnborough around mid-day on Monday July 26th, destined for Altenrhein, CH (LSZR). I would be most grateful to know what you see - the aircraft sends out an amazing amount of information in the extended squitter, including Latitude-Longitude, Magnetic Heading, True Track Angle, Roll Angle, Barometric Pressure Setting, and even the altitude the pilot has entered using the altitude alerter.
Michael
Yeah, that's it, V1, CF-UXE.
1st flight 08/27, 2nd flt and CofA 08/27, 3rd flt & ferry fuel system test 08/29, departed for the Goose 08/30. As always, a tight schedule!
twochai
1st flight 08/27, 2nd flt and CofA 08/27, 3rd flt & ferry fuel system test 08/29, departed for the Goose 08/30. As always, a tight schedule!
twochai
Last edited by twochai; 17th Jul 2010 at 11:52.
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Hi twochai,
You may be pleased to know DHC6-110 cn009 is still alive and kicking as DQ-FEZ flying in the Fiji Islands for Pacific Sun. I have had the pleasure of flying her myself a few years ago before migrating to bigger beasts. I believe she is currently the oldest DHC6 in the world still in active service. I have heard she will be retired soon though.
The Twotter will always have the top spot in my heart way above anything else I have flown to date and will probably every fly. I would give anything to take one up for one more flight
Cheers,
Coco
You may be pleased to know DHC6-110 cn009 is still alive and kicking as DQ-FEZ flying in the Fiji Islands for Pacific Sun. I have had the pleasure of flying her myself a few years ago before migrating to bigger beasts. I believe she is currently the oldest DHC6 in the world still in active service. I have heard she will be retired soon though.
The Twotter will always have the top spot in my heart way above anything else I have flown to date and will probably every fly. I would give anything to take one up for one more flight
Cheers,
Coco
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Hi ViOOOOps and twochai, thanks for such interesting posts! Its great to see the Twotter is back!!!! The Twotter was my first command (albeit single pilot) back in the early 90's and I loved every minute of the 1000 hours I did flying it.
Look forward to seeing at Farnborough this week and giving a 'pat on the nose'. Out of interest does it still has the electric fan next to the power levers?
Regards DB.
Look forward to seeing at Farnborough this week and giving a 'pat on the nose'. Out of interest does it still has the electric fan next to the power levers?
Regards DB.
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Hello fellow DHC-6 fans.
I too flew them for 6 years in northern Australia,for Bush Pilot Airways/Air Queensland.
Best fun of my aviation career. Went onto bigger,faster & higher,but,a part of me stayed in Twin Otters.
For those interested,there is a Facebook group for us Twin Otter lovers. Have a look,there are interesting stories,pictures & videos.
Welcome to Facebook
I too flew them for 6 years in northern Australia,for Bush Pilot Airways/Air Queensland.
Best fun of my aviation career. Went onto bigger,faster & higher,but,a part of me stayed in Twin Otters.
For those interested,there is a Facebook group for us Twin Otter lovers. Have a look,there are interesting stories,pictures & videos.
Welcome to Facebook
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Hi DB
They are gone. I crossed out the fan wiring on the legacy wiring diagram back in 2007. It's too late to ask if you want to keep them there
.
It's all Michael's fault since he asked me to do so.
MS
.It's all Michael's fault since he asked me to do so.
MS
Goodbye to the roof fans on the Series 400 - they have been replaced by two dedicated gasper vents on either side of the instrument panel (for cooling the pilots), and also replaced by additional ducting to provide more defrost air to the right and left side windshields.
The primary purpose of the roof fans was, I believe, to defog the inside of the windshields of aircraft that were not equipped with heated windshields. A heated (glass) windshield was not offered as part of the de-ice package on the very first Twin Otters - instead, you got a tank of alcohol and a windshield washer system to spray the alcohol on the outside of the plastic windshield.
The alcohol system was a 1960s solution to windshield de-icing, however, a heated glass windshield was introduced in the early 1970s, and it did a far better job of keeping both the outside and inside of the windshield clear. This kind of made the roof fans redundant, although they were retained (I guess for pilot cooling purposes) through to the end of Series 300 production in 1988.
The two gasper vents (visible in the photo further up this page, just underneath the autofeather switches, outboard of each primary flight display) provide a far greater volume of air for pilot cooling than the fans ever did, and don't present the same occupational hazard (hitting your head on the fan) that the roof fans did.
Progress...
Michael
The primary purpose of the roof fans was, I believe, to defog the inside of the windshields of aircraft that were not equipped with heated windshields. A heated (glass) windshield was not offered as part of the de-ice package on the very first Twin Otters - instead, you got a tank of alcohol and a windshield washer system to spray the alcohol on the outside of the plastic windshield.
The alcohol system was a 1960s solution to windshield de-icing, however, a heated glass windshield was introduced in the early 1970s, and it did a far better job of keeping both the outside and inside of the windshield clear. This kind of made the roof fans redundant, although they were retained (I guess for pilot cooling purposes) through to the end of Series 300 production in 1988.
The two gasper vents (visible in the photo further up this page, just underneath the autofeather switches, outboard of each primary flight display) provide a far greater volume of air for pilot cooling than the fans ever did, and don't present the same occupational hazard (hitting your head on the fan) that the roof fans did.
Progress...
Michael
You may be pleased to know DHC6-110 cn009 is still alive and kicking as DQ-FEZ flying in the Fiji Islands for Pacific Sun.
It's difficult to kill the good 'uns!
