The design of the Twin Otter appears, at first blush, to be fairly improbable in many particulars. Twin engine aircraft typically have retractable landing gear, the Twin Otter does not. Turboprop twins usually don’t feature high lift wings supported by struts, but once again, the Twin Otter does. To get any stranger than the Twin Otter, we’d have to consider the Shorts Skyvan series of aircraft, or planes that came from the Soviet Union. But as strange as the Twin Otter was, and still is, it was a winner not only in the bush, but accepted as a small regional airliner the world round. The Twin Otter didn’t seem to fit anyone’s conception of what an airplane should be, and perhaps by doing so, it created a niche for itself with many different users. The design was solid and dependable and even though its been out of production for years, there are persistent cries from many camps for a resumption of production. All Twin Otters were trigear aircraft, except those fitted with floats, and it could be fitted with skies.
The Twin Otter was derived from deHavilland’s successful single Otter design. It would be a bit simplistic to say it was merely a “twin Otter” but it did share many similarities to its smaller single engine brother. Depending upon the specific model, Twin Otters seated between 15 and 22 people. All models were powered by the
Pratt & Whitney PT-6A series
turboprop, which is a legendary engine in its own right. The Twin Otter typically cruised around 150 mph and, for a plane its size, could get in and out of remarkably tight strips. The design was an instant hit in the bush as it replaced many antiquated designs (such as the DC-3) that never were really designed for the bush in the first place. The only thing, other than size and acquisition cost, that initially limited its use in the bush was availability of jet fuel, with some remote areas not having any jet fuel supplies at all. In modern times the situation has come full circle, now piston fuel is becoming more and more scarce in remote locations. This is one of the reasons calls for resumed production are often heard.
Viking Air of Victoria, Canada owns the production rights to the Twin Otter and will resume production of the
Twin Otter - Series 400
if they obtained enough firm commitments at their Twin Otter Conference on September 13, 2006 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
The video below features a Twin Otter on skis landing on a frozen Saskatchewan lake at 40 below freezing. Its a sight to see.
Watch this de Havilland Twin Otter perform a snow landing at Mt. Vinson base camp in Alaska from the cockpit view.
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