Aircraft of the Week - DeHavilland Canada Twin Otter (DHC-6)

DHC-6 Twin Otter by Viking Air

Company: DeHavilland Canada (now made by Viking Air)
Years Produced: 1966 - 1988 (DeHavilland Canada) 2008 - Present (Viking Air)

Number Produced: Roughly 850 (844 by DeHavilland)
Primary Use: Regional utility, passenger and cargo plane.
Engine: 2xPratt and Whitney Canada PT6A-20's producing 550 horsepower (original spec)
Body: All metal 51'9"
Wing: 65' all metal wing
Cruise Speed: 173 mph (278 km/h)
Max Payload: 5,200 lbs

Last weekend I got to go to the Aviation Expo here in Calgary (post and pics to come later this week). It was awesome and I got to sit in the 2nd Twin Otter ever produced that was flown by Kenn Borek Air. Kenn Borek actually flies the worlds largest fleet of Twin Otters and it's not surprising to see one in their red, black and white flying around in various parts of the globe. Sitting in the Otter was pretty cool. This is a plane I've idolized for a while and always wanted to fly in one. Well, I still haven't flown in one but did get to go check out the Viking Air facility in Calgary which is making the next generation of Twin Otters. More about that later.

This is a Kenn Borek Twin Otter landing in the Canadian North. This video for me really embodies why the Twin Otter is so legendary. Versatility seems to be synonymous with the Twin Otter. If you couldn't already tell, the DHC-6 is STOL capable. Very much so. The Pratt and Whitney engines (made in Lethbridge, Alberta) are able to produce as much thrust in reverse as they are forward. I was told at Viking that Twin Otter pilots don't use breaks, they just use the engines. True or not, the above video really demonsates the ability of the Twin Otter to stop on a postage stamp.

Sitting in the cockpit of a Twin Otter

The Twin Otter's versatility has made it feel at home all around the globe. It's often seen flying floats on the coast, ski's and tundra tires in the Canadian and European North's and also a common sight in both the Caribbean and Antarctic regions. Since DeHavilland Canada closed it's doors, aviation companies have been trying to get the Twin Otter back into service. On February 24, 2006, Viking purchased the type certificates for all DeHavilland designs from the DHC-1 Chipmunk to the DHC-7 Dash 7 (the Dash 8 remained owned by Bombardier) which included the Twin Otter and in 2008 production of the Twin Otter was resumed under new management.

Wish I was there...

So now that Viking was producing the 400 series Twin Otter, what was the big difference? While touring Viking we were able to discover just that. Probably the most obvious difference if you were to jump in the cockpit of a new DHC-6 would be the avionics. The systems have received a major overhaul and now resemble the cockpit of a modern jet airliner rather than a plucky bush plane. Our guide (who is in charge of quality testing every Twin Otter) said there is 32km of wiring in every new Twin Otter.

The second big difference is the use of composite materials in certain parts of the body. The doors were most notably upgraded to composite materials which saved a lot in weight. All that weight was of course regained in the avionics systems with the wiring (did I mention 32km of it?).

Perhaps something that draws me to this plane most is the pride I witnessed in the people at Viking. They love the plane they make and believe it can do anything (and I've yet to find proof to the contrary) and it really shows. This plane is almost 100% Canadian from the engines to the landing gear. The only parts not made in Canada are the wiring harness found in the nose of the aircraft (made in Wisconsin) and the paint (painted in Spokane). 

DHC-6 landing on a beach strip

Since the re-introduction of the Twin Otter into service, there have been an influx of orders. According to the wonderful people at Viking, they get more orders every month and are scheduled to be delivering into 2016 while tripling their workforce along the way. The sad part? Not one of the orders is from a Canadian customer. With so much national pride inspired by this plane it seems a real shame that no-one has ordered one yet. If you own an aviation company out there, consider the new DHC-6! I promise you it won't disappoint!

- Davezorz

Not all images are original. If one of these images belongs to you and you would like it removed, please let me know.

WTF was flying over my head

Driving home from work today, I pulled over at a gas station near the airport hoping to catch some cool views as I filled up. At first, there was nothing special, a CRJ here, a Bell Long Ranger there you know, standard YYC stuff. Then, just as I was pulling out, I saw one of these fly over my head (if I had only had my camera).

I was shocked. Never had I ever seen something like this before. TWO ROTORS???? This I had seen on a Chinook or Sea Knight, but never in the configuration seen above. So after a little googling I can only conclude that the helicopter I saw was the Kaman K-MAX. It's unique contra-rotating rotor design gives it better lift, control and stability than the traditional helicopter. Neat eh? Anyway, just some fun plane-spotting facts from YYC!

-Davezorz


** UPDATE **
I realize that the picture I chose may not have done the best job representing how cool this thing actually looks in flight, so here is another pic.

Not all images are original. If one of these images belongs to you and you would like it removed, please let me know.

Aircraft of the Week - Antonov An-2

The Antonov An-2 at the Airdrie Air Show with my beautiful wife

Company: Antonov ASTC
Years Produced: 1947 - 2002
Number Produced: Over 18,000
Primary Use: Agricultural Plane, Airliner, Skydiving Platform
Engine:  Shvetsov ASh-62 engine producing 1,000 horsepower
Body: All metal 40'8"
Wing: Biplane with 59'8" upper wing and 46'9" lower wing both made of metal.
Cruise Speed: 120 mph (190 km/h)
Max Payload: 4,700 lbs

I had originally planned on spotlighting the Twin Otter today but just last night, the very plane pictured above flew over my house and reminded me how cool a giant bi-plane like this looks in the sky. Last week we showed you the DHC-2 Beaver. It's not a biplane but just to think about a quick size comparison the wingspan of the top wing of the An-2 is over 10 feet longer then the Beaver and the same is true of the fuselage. AND IT'S A BIPLANE! HOW COOL IS THAT? IT'S FRIGGEN HUGE!

Antonov An-2 on floats

Size is not the only claim to fame that this plane boasts. Until very recently the An-2 held the world record for longest production run of any aircraft. The first An-2 was produced in 1947 with the last one rolling off the assembly line in 2002 which is a staggering 55 years if my math doesn't fail me. Why was this plane so popular? Slow speed performance. Legend has it that this plane (with the help of a mild headwind) would actually fly backward with full control. This was due to an incredibly slow stall speed (estimated at 30 mph). Because this plane could fly very slowly and still maintain control, it was ideal for short take off's and landings and carrying paratroopers. This lead to quite a few countries adopting it into the military and even being licensed for production by the Chinese under the name Shijiazhuang Y-5.

Recently the tennis star Novak Djokovic appeared on Conan and talked about one of his commercials for sponsor Head where he was filmed playing tennis on the wing of an aircraft. I think this is a pretty spectacular way to end this week's post and a great way to see the An-2 in action.

-Davezorz

Not all images are original. If one of these images belongs to you and you would like it removed, please let me know.

Aircraft of the Week - DeHavilland Canada Beaver (DHC-2)

Harbour Air DHC-2 on floats

Company: DeHavilland Canada
Years Produced: 1947 - 1967
Number Produced: 1,657
Primary Use: STOL bush utility plane
Engine: Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Jr. radial engine w/450 hp (newer Turbo Beavers are different of course)
Body: All metal 30'3" long
Wing: High single 48' wing
Cruise Speed: 143 mph (230 km/h)
Max Payload: 2,100 lbs

The Beaver may be my favorite airplane of all time. I was on a camping trip somewhere in Ontario (not sure where, I was pretty young) and saw my very first float plane. Not surprisingly it was a Beaver. These legendary bush planes have been flying the North American back country since just after World War II. During the design phase DeHavilland Canada asked bush pilots what they were looking for in a plane. The outcome was an extremely versatile STOL (short takeoff and landing) plane that is equally at home on wheels, floats or skis. While not the fastest thing in the sky, designers were told it only had to "be faster than a dogsled". The resulting design was so successful that it was even named one of Canada's top 10 engineering accomplishments of the 20th century by the Canadian Engineering Centennial Board.

DHC-2 on wheels

Because of the big wing area and lots of horsepower, the Beaver was able to takeoff and land on short strips which made it ideal for flying supplies and passengers to parts of Canada that were inaccessible by almost anything else. While these beautiful planes saw the vast majority of their service life moving freight and passengers around the Canadian wilderness they also saw service in a dozen or so militaries across the globe and are still flying in some of them. There are still civilian air services too that operate DHC-2's like Harbour Air in Vancouver (picture top) and this plane has even gained some notoriety from my favourite pilot of all time: Harrison Ford. No word on how fast this one can do the Kessel run though!

The Turbo Beaver Amphibious as manufactured by Viking Air

If you are looking at getting your hands on one of these, Viking Air actually owns the patents now after buying them from Bombardier and makes Turbo Beavers (turbo prop engine rather than radial) and parts for the original planes too. The closest relative of the Beaver is the bigger Otter (and Twin Otter) which looks pretty similar but is much longer as you can see in the picture here.

The DHC-3 Otter is noticeably bigger then it's cousin.

I'd love to have one of these old radial engine beauties to fly around the Rockies as it would be a great family "station wagon". This plane is a big piece of Canadian heritage and should be celebrated so next time you see a DHC-2 flying through the sky be proud of the legacy it represents!

- Davezorz




All images are not original. If one of these images belongs to you and you would like it removed, please let me know.

Decisions Decisions

Making the decision to get your pilot's licence was an easy decision for me in the end. Actually getting my pilot's licence isn't so easy. Now that I've officially made the commitment I've been looking at options for flight schools around Calgary and it's going to be a pretty tough time deciding where I'm going to end up.

First, I still need at least $9,000 more before I will actually enroll (anyone who'd like to sponsor me, I'll wear a shirt with your face on it everyday I promise!). But money grab's aside choosing a flight school is harder than I thought. Here's a couple things I'm looking for from each school:

Price
This one is obvious. Every school is slightly different when it comes to ground school prices, aircraft and instructor rates and simulator rates. Some schools will choose to go with a inclusive sort of tuition where what you pay includes your flights with fuel. Others you will pay by the hour for both the plane and your instructor (when needed). Of course there is always the option of going to a traditional college or university; Mount Royal here in Calgary offers a 2 year aviation program, but I have neither the 2 years off nor the cash to make that option work.

Planes
This is my favourite thing to look at from each school. It's important to look at what planes you will have a chance to fly when learning. Chances are, any school you would think to look at will have a Cessna of some kind. Probably a 172. But usually there is a light twin for your multi-engine rating (something I'm going to want too). One of the local flight schools flies Diamond D-20 and D-40's which is pretty exciting, but I still want the chance to fly some of the more common trainers as they will be what I would most likely fly post training. There is also floats to consider but in Calgary, there isn't many schools that have float planes. In fact, none of the schools I've found in the Calgary region have float planes in their fleet.

Schedule
Part of not quitting my job means I have to do this 100% with vacation and after work time. So part-time ground school and flexible flight lessons are essential to finding a school that's going to work.

Location
What kind of airport do you want to fly out of? In the Calgary area we are lucky enough to have quite a few options of flight training and different airports. They are as follows:

Springbank (CYBW):

Calgary/Springbank Airport

I like Springbank a lot because it's probably the biggest of the airports that offers flight training since the last flight school stopped operating out of Calgary International. It's also probably the closest to my house! There are at least two schools I've looked at here that offer training and on of my good friends trained here as well.

Okotoks Air Ranch(CFX2):

Okotoks Air Ranch

A very pretty little airport with a really cool concept. They have a subdivision built right in with the airport. COOL RIGHT? I'd love to live there one day and fly to and from "work" everyday. As for flight training, Skywings operates out of CFX2 and another good friend was an instructor here. It is quite a drive from our little Airdrie abode - especially in rush hour or for early morning flights - but still a pretty good choice. They also run their ground school on evenings and weekends for a pretty low price which speaks right to what I'm looking for. While it's not quite as big as Springbank, maybe that's a good thing for learning. I dunno, I'm new at this.

High River(CEN4):

High River Regional Airport

This one is the farthest from my house and I have to drive right past Okotoks to get there, but it's a pretty cool looking strip too. The website for the airport (Here) is pretty hard to navigate around, but they have a webcam and live runway weather so that's pretty neat. The flight school that flies out of High River flies a more modern fleet (the Diamonds I mentioned earlier) which would give me a chance to fly planes I may not fly again for a while. The Diamonds also have full "Glass Cockpits" which means they have beautiful LCD displays rather than the old school analoge instruments. The geek in me loves the idea but the aviation geek in me kinda wants to learn the old school way first in which case there are closer and cheaper options.

These are just some of the things that I am looking at before choosing where to register. It's all very exciting and has done nothing more than pull me further into the aviation rabbit hole. Now if only I could save that 9 grand in a few weeks...

-Davezorz

All images are not original. If one of these images belongs to you and you would like it removed, please let me know.

Every Journey Begins with a Cliché

Hey Team!
Sorry for the slow posting. I had a head full of ideas for this blog when I started it but lately its been full of other things. I've written several draft posts over the last week but I always sound like a raving lunatic which isn't really the vibe I'm going for. The simplest way I can say this is: I can't seem to get my head out of aviation.

For those of you who don't know what I do, I write training programs for a telecommunications company. I don't work nor have I ever worked in aviation and I don't have a pilot's licence. I do have a passion for planes though. When I was a kid, I would make my mom pull over if a plane was taking off or landing at the little airport in Sarnia, Ontario. I had the good fortune to live overseas for 6 years and spent a good chunk of my childhood on transatlantic flights and the experience has definitely rubbed off.

Now while my passion for aviation may have cooled a little at times while I followed some of my other passions like music and theatre, it has come back into my head and won't leave me alone. I don't know if I've EVER been this obsessed with something and I swear if you look close enough, you'll see propeller's spinning in my pupils. Lately I've been filling the PVR with anything with the words "flight" or "wings" in it just to learn all I can about anything that's ever flew (just ask my wife), browsing flight blogs and laying awake at night thinking about planes.

You may ask "Dave, if you love planes so much, why don't you marry them?" and to you dear person I say "Ouch dude, back off. Why do you have to be like this?" But you raise a good point. Why didn't I end up around planes if I love them so much. Well, part of the reason I never got into aviation was the career path. Trying to become a comercial pilot is fricken hard. It's expensive, it takes forever to get the hours required and the lifestyle is tough. I admire the shit out of professional pilots but just knew I could never swing it and used that as a stupid reason to keep my distance from flight.

I'm not saying it's a good reason but welcome to my life, I do stupid things some times. Anyway, in my many hours spend thinking skyward recently, I've come to the conclusion that I don't have to work in aviation to enjoy what I've always wanted to do most.

I have decided to get my pilots licence. I'm not talking like "one day I'll get my pilot's licence" I mean "getting my licence is now priority #1".  I don't have all the money I need, I'm not registered in ground school and I'm not gonna be in the air in a week, but you have to start somewhere right? Enter this blog.

I want to use the blog to share my passion of aviation with anyone who will listen. But I also want to learn anything I can about aviation and doing things like Aircraft of the Week helps me to do that. If anyone reading this knows about aviation I encourage you to comment and add your own thoughts and facts to any posts because that will just make this better. I would even love to have guest writers some time who would be willing to write about their passion as well.

Anyway, I can't ignore the smell of baked yam any longer (thanks to my hot wife). Sorry for the novel of a post without any pictures but I needed to get this stuff out of my head. Post again soon!

-Davezorz

Princess Ghibli

I LOVE Hayao Miyazaki movies. Anyone who hasn't heard that name may have heard of some of his work. Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Porco Rosso (just to name a few). I find Miyazaki's story telling and whimizical new worlds always leave me feeling so inspired and entertained and Porco Rosso in particular leaves me thinking about sea plane dog fights for weeks after watching it.


It was only one short week ago one of my friends on Google+ shared this album with me and I was absolutely blown away. Princess Ghibli takes the wonderful inspiring scores from Miyazaki's films and puts more of a death metal twist to them. Yep, I said death metal.


Now I'm not the hugest fan of death metal most of the time but I've found myself listening to this album at work 3-4 times daily since purchase. I can't get enough. It's fantastic. Allow me to include the track listing:


1. Tonari No Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) (feat. Disarmonia Mundi & Sophia Aslanidou)
2. Kimi Wo Nosete (Laputa:Castle In The Sky) (feat. Disarmonia Mundi & Yoko Hallelujah)
3. Teru No Uta (Tales From Earthsea) (feat. Blood Stain Child & Ettore Rigotti)
4. Gake No Ue No Ponyo (Ponyo On The Cliff) (feat. Destrage & Yoko Hallelujah)
5. Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) (feat. Living Corpse & Yoko Hallelujah)
6. Country Road (Whisper Of The Heart) (feat. Disarmonia Mundi & Sophia Aslanidou)
7. Itsumo Nandodemo (Spirited Away) (feat. Blood Stain Child & Claudio Ravinale)
8. Arrietty's Song (Japanese version) (The Borrower Arrietty) (feat. Disarmonia Mundi & Sophia Aslanidou)
9. Yasashisa Ni Tsutsumaretanara (Kiki's Delivery Service) (feat. Destrage & Yoko Hallelujah)
10. Toki Niwa Mukashi No Hanashio (Porco Rosso) (feat. Disarmonia Mundi & Yoko Hallelujah)
11. Sanpo (My Neighbor Totoro) (feat. Living Corpse & Yoko Hallelujah)
12. Nausicaa Requiem (Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind) (feat. Neroargento & Yoko Hallelujah)

Not every song sounds exactly the same as the original but it's such a fun way to hear your favourite anime themes all over again that I just can't stop listening. I highly recommend that if you are a fan of Studio Ghibli's work that you go pick this album up. Also I'm sure metal fans will enjoy this as well, if you don't mind the lyrics being in Japanese :)

The only track that seemed to stick out was a version of "Country Roads" that was taken from Whisper of the Heart. It wasn't my favourite song to start with, so a Japanese metal cover of it didn't thrill me. Let me know what you think though!

Rating: 4.8 out of 5 cat-busses