Tag Archives: DHC-3T

At Last, This Otter Is Nicely Lit

There is a privately owned DHC-3T Otter that lives in the Puget Sound area, and it comes in and out of BFI on a regular basis. I have seen it plenty of times but have always struggled to get either a nice angle on it or favorable light. I won’t claim it is my white whale, but it has begun to frustrate me somewhat. Therefore, I was delighted when I heard it call up on approach one evening when the sun had popped out from behind the clouds and the warmth of the light was nice.

I saw it far out on approach as it angled in towards the longer of BFI’s two runways – occasionally disappearing behind the trees as it maneuvered in. I was using a lot of lens to see it and even then, it was a bit distant but, since the conditions were favorable, I wasn’t struggling with haze issues. Soon enough it was on short final, and I finally was able to get the types of shots I have been hoping to achieve for a long time. Now I can move on in peace!

I’ve Seen This Before

A while back, I was wandering around the Kenmore Air base at the top of Lake Washington.  I saw a camouflage painted Otter on the parking area and grabbed some quick shots.  More recently, it was operating on the lake with a new registration and Kenmore’s own markings.  I guess they have taken it on charge.  Not sure where it came from, why it is painted in this scheme and whether it was always the plan for it to be added to the Kenmore fleet but here it is!

Log Boom with Mark

My buddy, Mark, was heading through the region on his way south but he had a little time to kill.  We agreed to meet up late in the afternoon to see what the traffic was like at Kenmore.  He comes from Vancouver, so floatplanes are not a novelty for him, but a different operator is some variety I guess.  I am always happy to watch floatplanes.  I got there a little before him and got a couple of extra movements but there was still enough happening once he showed up.  Log Boom Park provides a good spot to watch the planes from, but the summer can be trickier as it becomes a popular spot for the local kids to hang out and swim.  Fortunately, the day was cooler, so we weren’t surrounded by kids.

Most of the planes approached from down the lake and came straight in but there was one Cessna that decided the southerly wind necessitated the approach over Kenmore.  I would like more of those to be honest as they provide some interesting angles, but it was just the one this time.

Down in the Slough at Kenmore

It has taken a while for this post from the 75th anniversary celebrations at Kenmore Air.  They operated one of the planes from the slough that runs alongside the base.  They had back taxied one of the Otters to start its takeoff run from earlier to mean it was taking off close to the spectators.  Then, when landing, they brought it down in the slough again.  It made for a great view of the plane compared to the normal departures and arrivals way out in Lake Washington.

Wind And Rain Have A Benefit Sometimes

I may have complained a little about the weather being damp and windy during our trip to Victoria but there was one upside to this.  Unfortunately, it took one missed opportunity before I realized.  The wind was strong and from the west.  The normal approach for Harbour Air is to come in through the opening to the harbor and then touch down in the outer area before taxiing into the Inner Harbour.  With the wind coming from the opposite direction, they reversed the flow.

I had seen this once before on a previous visit to Victoria many years ago and had forgotten it could happen.  Our hotel was located right on the corner of the shoreline around which the planes would approach and we had a view out of our (not huge) window as they came around to touch down.  The first time I realized I could get the shot, I had to make so with shooting through the window.  This does not do much for image quality but it was still okay and I got an Otter coming in.

The next time something was due, I planned ahead.  The window of our room did open but it only opened a very small amount.  Not enough to get a camera out of except when looking off to one side.  However, the restriction on opening was the result of a small screw that was in the track for the window and it was not very securely fastened.  With my fingertip, I was able to remove the screw and with that out of the way, the window could fully open.  A Twin Otter was on the way so this time I was ready to get a clearer shot.  There is plenty of warning of their arrival because the sound of the props reaches you long before the plane does.  Besides, they are on final approach so hardly going too fast.  The only downside to this shot is that the touchdown location is further around and out of sight of where we were.  Bad weather can have its benefits.

Harbour Air Movements In The Rain

I had a bit of time one morning during our Victoria stay to walk along the shoreline.  The hotel that we were staying in was right on the shore so I only had to step outside and then I could walk around to the more open are of the harbor.  This also meant I could get some shots of the Harbour Air operations.  Their floatplane base is in the Inner Harbour area but the planes taxi out to the outer areas for departure.

I was able to get some shots of arrivals and departures as well as taxiing planes.  Some of those I could shoot from our hotel window when I wanted to stay dry!  I was happy to shoot the Otter movements but I was more interested in the Twin Otters.  We have plenty of Otters around here with Kenmore but Twin Otters are not common down here so some variety was welcome.  Besides, it is a bigger plane so a little easier to shoot at a distance!