de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter
de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter | |
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U-1A in flight |
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Type: | Transport plane |
Design country: | |
Manufacturer: | |
First flight: |
December 12, 1951 |
Production time: |
until 1967 |
Number of pieces: |
466 |
The de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter is a single-engine propeller aircraft produced by the Canadian manufacturer de Havilland Canada . It is the enlarged version of the DHC-2 Beaver . It was used, among other things, as a bush plane and military transporter. The Otter served as the design basis for the Twin Otter, which is equipped with two turboprop engines .
history
De Havilland Canada began developing a robust STOL -capable multipurpose transport aircraft in early 1951 , after the Beaver had already been successfully introduced. The new, originally known as the King Beaver, single-engine shoulder -wing monoplane should be able to carry higher payloads than its predecessor.
The new design provided for a longer hull and a larger wingspan compared to the Beaver. The number of passenger seats could be increased to up to eleven. The drive consisted of a 450 kW Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp radial engine . Like its predecessor, the Otter could be equipped with skis or swimmers.
The first flight took place on December 12, 1951. In October 1952, the Otter received Canadian approval as a land and seaplane. Series production began shortly afterwards. On March 14, 1955, the first six machines were delivered to the US Army , which should perform observation tasks in the Arctic. 466 copies were built by 1967.
use
Although the Otter met with high demand from Bush airlines, the US Army became the main buyer. 184 U-1A Otters were delivered to this customer . Other military users were Australia, Canada and India.
The Otter is still used in civil aviation today, including parachuting.
variants
- CSR-123 Otter : Canadian Air Force DHC-3
- YU-1 Otter : six trial versions for the US Army .
- U-1A Otter : Production version of the US Army.
- UC-1 Otter : Version of the US Navy in the designation system valid until 1962 ( C stood here for the manufacturer de Havilland Canada ); from 1962 referred to as U-1B Otter .
- DHC-3T Turbo-Otter : Turboprop version with a 494 kW PT6A-27 drive
- Texas Conversions Super Otter : Turboprop version with a 662 kW Garrett-Honeywell TPE 331-10 drive
Conversions
Some machines were converted to turboprop aircraft and received either a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 drive, the Czech Walter M601 engine or a Garrett / Honeywell TPE331-10 engine . These aircraft were named Turbo Otter , the latter also Texas Conversions Super Otter .
Occasionally, the machines were Airtech Canada on radial engines of the type ASz-62IR-M18 converted to the Polish manufacturer PZL were license-produced. They were then called DHC-3/1000.
Accidents and incidents
- On August 29, 1961, an Eastern Provincial Airways (CF-MEX) DHC-3 , which was operated for Greenlandair , took off from Sondrestrom Air Base on a charter flight to Aasiaat Airport . When the machine reached an altitude of 3,500 feet, a serious fire developed on board, triggered by a leak in the carburetor. The pilots, who sustained severe burns in the incident, managed to make an emergency landing on a lake, causing the machine to slide onto the bank and burn out. The four passengers were uninjured. During the events, the flight captain was thrown out of the cockpit and trapped under a floating skid. He suffered severe burns from which he died on September 9, 1961 (see also Greenlandair's flight accident near Kangerlussuaq 1961 ) .
- On July 26, 1969, the crew of a Boeing 707-331C operated by Trans World Airlines simulated an engine failure on a training flight by switching engine number 4 to idle. When a missed approach was to be initiated when the decision altitude was reached, neither the landing flaps nor the landing gear could be retracted. The crew switched off the hydraulic systems without reactivating engine no. 4. She lost control of the machine, which rolled to the right and began to descend. The plane hit the ground and went up in flames, killing the five-man crew. A United States Air Force DHC-3 (576-109) parked near the crash site was so badly damaged by the subsequent fire that it had to be written off as a total loss (see also Trans-World Airlines flight 5787 ) .
- When a 53-year-old DHC-3T machine crashed on August 9, 2010 in Alaska , five of the nine occupants were killed, including former Republican Senator Ted Stevens . Former NASA boss and CEO of EADS North America Sean O'Keefe and his son survived seriously injured.
- Up to and including March 2011, four DHC-3 had an in-flight breakup (detachment of structurally important parts during the flight).
- June 25, 2015: Another DHC-3 machine, equipped with floats, crashed due to bad weather in Alaska. All 9 occupants were killed (1 pilot and 8 passengers).
Military users
- Argentina
- Ethiopia
- Australia
- Bangladesh
- Chile
- Costa Rica
- Ghana
- Haiti
- India
- Indonesia
- Cambodia
- Canada
- Colombia
- Malaysia
- Myanmar
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Nigeria
- Norway
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Philippines
- South Vietnam
- Tanzania
- United Kingdom
- United States
Technical specifications
Parameter | Data |
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span | 17.69 m |
length | 12.80 m |
height | 3.83 m (seaplane: 4.57 m) |
Empty mass | 1860 kg (seaplane: 2055 kg) |
Takeoff mass | 3630 kg (seaplane: 3613 kg) |
Passengers | 10-11 |
crew | 1 |
Top speed | 258 km / h (seaplane: 245 km / h) |
Service ceiling | 5,730 m (with S1H1-G) |
Range | 1,545 km |
Engines | a radial engine Pratt & Whitney R-1340 S1H1-G or S3H1-G Wasp with 447 kW |
See also
Web links
- CC-123 Otter at the Canada Aviation Museum (English)
- Busch aircraft (English)
- Otter in the US Navy in the Antarctic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Transport Safety Board of Canada: Loss of Control - In-flight Breakup. Black Sheep Aviation & Cattle Co. Ltd. ... , Aviation Investigations Report A11W0048, Ottawa, March 31, 2011, p. 6 (accessed March 9, 2015)
- ↑ https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19690726-1
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated August 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Transport Safety Board of Canada: Loss of Control - In-flight Breakup. Black Sheep Aviation & Cattle Co. Ltd. ... , Aviation Investigations Report A11W0048, Ottawa, March 31, 2011, p. 9 (accessed March 9, 2015)