Otter 460 was delivered to the Tanzanian Air Force on 28th March 1966 with serial JW 9107. It was crated and shipped to Tanzania, where it was re-assembled and entered service, based at Dar es Salaam. The history of the Tanzanian Otters has been explained in relation to Otter 451. Of the eight Otters acquired, three remained in Canada and were used for training purposes. The other five, including 9107, went to Tanzania where they continued in service until April 1972, when all five were purchased by Bannock Aerospace Ltd., of Toronto, Ontario.
These five Otters were flown from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi-Wilson airfield, Kenya in April 1972 and during May were prepared for the long ferry flight back to Canada. They were registered to Bannock Aerospace Ltd., JW 9102 (452) becoming CF-DIO; JW 9103 (453) CF-DIV; JW 9104 (454) CF-DIY; JW 9106 (459) CF-DJA and JW 9107 (460) CF-DIZ. Four of these Otters passed through Shannon in Ireland on the delivery flight home, the fifth passing through Prestwick in Scotland. CF-DJA and CF- DIZ came through Malta together on 25th July 1972 and arrived in Shannon the following day, next stop Reykjavik, Iceland and then onwards via Greenland and Newfoundland to Toronto.
Bannock Aerospace Ltd., sold CF-DIZ on 10th October 1972 to New Sioux Enterprises Ltd., of Flin Flon, Manitoba and it was leased by them to Parsons Airways Northern Ltd, to whom it was registered that month and entered service, based at Flin Flon. An incident was recorded at Kadeniuk Lake, Manitoba on 29th June 1975 described as “propeller accident to person”. The Otter was not damaged and continued flying for Parsons Airways Northern until it crashed at Riou Lake, Saskatchewan on 1st October 1979. Lowering ceiling and visibility forced the pilot to descend to about one hundred feet over the lake. Rather than turn around, he elected to continue. At the shoreline, rising terrain exceeded the rate of climb of the Otter and it crashed into the trees. As the accident report noted : “Inadequate pre-flight preparation or planning”. Neither the pilot nor his four passengers were injured, but the accident ended the Otter's flying career for the next twenty years.
Despite the remote location of the crash site, in the very north of Saskatchewan near to Stony Rapids, and after CF-DIZ had lain where it crashed for some time, it was retrieved by Southern Aviation Ltd and taken south, to their base at Regina, Saskatchewan. It was assessed as being beyond economical repair, and languished at their facility for years, alongside Otter CF-IGM (75), which Southern Aviation had also retrieved from the bush after a crash. Over the years that followed, the price of Otter aircraft rose, so that repairing DIZ became an economic proposition. It was eventually sold to T.C. Leasing Ltd., to whom it was registered in March 1996 as C-FDIZ and taken to their base at Saskatoon where it was rebuilt as a Vazar turbine Otter.
On completion of the rebuild, the Otter was registered to Osprey Wings Ltd., of Missinipe, Saskatchewan, an associated company of T.C. Leasing, in May 2000 and entered service with Osprey Wings. It spent its first summer flying out of Otter Lake, Missinipe on fire-suppression duties, re-joining the active Otter community after a down-time of over 20 years. This work involved patrolling for forest fires, and being available to fly fire crews as close as possible to the scene of a fire. As it was a somewhat wet summer in the region, it was not too busy on that task and was therefore also used to fly fishermen and hunters to remote lodges in this beautiful region. DIZ continues in service with Osprey Wings as part of its fleet of Otters.
To be updated.
Full history up to 2005 courtesy of Karl E Hayes from DHC-3 Otter - A History (CD-ROM 2005).
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