Riding the Waves

By Peter Cooper.

In British Columbia, where floatplanes are a way of life and de Havilland aircraft rule the waves, Pacific Wings’ UK correspondent Peter Cooper visited West Coast Air in Vancouver and found out that the company has a Kiwi connection.

The rugged Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) is extraordinarily beautiful and picturesque. It is a “must see” attraction for constant streams of visitors, not only from across Canada, but also from the USA and around the world. Although there is much to see and do all year round, it is during the summer months that Vancouver—the gateway to British Columbia for overseas visitors—bustles with tourists.

The Canadian way of life incorporates a great deal of travel by necessity. In an area as large as British Columbia, it is because most tourists travel by air or sea that Mr de Havilland (Canada) is so popular to meet the tourist demand for floatplane travel. Floatplanes are big business throughout Canada, but nowhere is this more evident than in British Columbia, where they are an essential and “natural” way of life.

The attractive city of Vancouver, on Canada’s southwestern border with the USA, boasts a bustling waterfront floatplane base at Coal Harbour (the stretch of water that extends from the city to the north shore of Burrard Inlet). At peak summer tourist periods, it is a hive of activity that records more than 150 movements during a typical 12-hour operating day. Two major BC floatplane operators share the dock and terminal area here: Harbour Air SeaPlanes and West Coast Air—the main subject of this article. During the day, there can be as many as 10 or more aircraft moored at the floating dock at one time. However, most aircraft only spend short periods at the dock and are airborne again within 15 minutes or so after arrival.

The floatplane base sits next to the newly constructed Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre and the cruise liner terminal, from which the floatplane operators gain some of their trade. Operations on this stretch of water require a finely coordinated effort, with all movements being controlled from a visual control room high above the harbour on the 29^th floor of the Vancouver Sun building (higher above the aerodrome it controls than any other air traffic control room in the world). The control room maintains a safe landing and takeoff pattern on a stretch of water that is heavily populated by boats of all sizes, from small pleasure boats to ferries and merchant and large passenger vessels.

With more than 35 years’ experience operating DHC-6 Twin Otters on floats, West Coast Air is a major player in the Vancouver area, connecting coastal communities throughout British Columbia for pleasure or business. The company operates numerous daily scheduled return services from Vancouver to Victoria, Naniamo and Comox (all on Vancouver Island), and, during the summer season, from Victoria to Whistler (the winter sports village and a major attraction, which will host the 2010 Winter Olympics). In addition, it flies to many other destinations as required on a charter basis, including specialised flights for fishing, whale-watching, tours in connection with cruise ships, fly-and-drive excursions and many different scenic flights.

As well as the Twin Otter, West Coast Air has also operated the DHC-2 Beaver—itself a Canadian icon—for many years. The distinctive roar from the Beaver’s 450-hp (336 kW) P&W R-985 Wasp Junior 9-cylinder radial engine at full power and the propeller tip-speed sound at takeoff are unforgettable, and the sight of the aircraft riding over the waves is quite awesome to experience. The venerable Beaver first flew on 16 August 1947, and 1,692 of them were built between 1947 and 1968. Many of these workhorses still fly regularly throughout Canada and there are more than 70 of them on floats in British Columbia alone. Several of around 60 Beavers, which have been re-powered by P&WC PT6A-20 or -27 turboprop engines and fitted with modified tail areas, can be seen in the British Columbia area earning their keep.

In April 2007, West Coast Air obtained a further batch of eight Beavers when the company merged with Baxter Aviation (another British Columbia floatplane airline). West Coast Air now has 11 of the type on strength. Some of its Beavers still wear their red and white Baxter colours (albeit with West Coast Air titles) but all will eventually be repainted in West Coast Air’s green, grey, white and blue colour scheme.

West Coast Air has been operating DHC-6 Twin Otters for years and has six on strength (five series 100s and one series 200) and these all now wear the smart new livery. The Twin Otter is the mainstay of the West Coast Air fleet and the latest addition entered service in April 2007. The DHC-6 first flew on 20 May 1965 and 844 of them were built before production by de Havilland ended in 1988. The type has proved to be such a versatile aircraft—and so popular–that the Canadian company Viking Air bought the production rights and is putting the type back into production at its Victoria, Vancouver Island, facility. There have already been 50 new examples ordered of the latest (Series 400) aircraft—the prototype of which made its maiden flight on 1 October 2008.

Externally, the new Viking Series 400 Twin Otter appears indistinguishable from older models, although some of the components are now made from composite materials to reduce weight. The new lighter airframe has more powerful engines and modernised avionics, including a Honeywell Primus Apex glass cockpit.

West Coast Air carries around 200,000 passengers annually from its busy Coal Harbour base. Its operations—particularly those from the Twin Otter dock, which can host as many as 40 flights a day—are impressively slick. After landing, the Twin Otters taxi to the dock area, which is just wide enough for the floats. Here, the dock handling crew secures the aircraft, which is shut down while the passengers disembark; the aircraft is then refuelled if necessary. In some cases, the aircraft will be boarding passengers around 15 minutes later and departing on yet another trip to Victoria or Nanaimo, such is the demand.

West Coast Air’s chief pilot is a New Zealander, Captain Steve Sheehy. Originally from New Plymouth, Steve moved to Canada in 1990 to pursue a rugby career. After meeting and marrying a Canadian girl, he now lives in Vancouver. Steve had always been interested in aviation but did not pursue it as a career until he was encouraged to do so by his supportive Canadian wife. After obtaining his Canadian commercial pilot’s licence, his career with West Coast Air began as a dock-hand. However, he soon progressed to a flying position by being in the right place at the right time to be offered a right seat in a Twin Otter.

Although Steve only began flying in 1997, he has already flown around 12,000 hours. Nearly 11,000 of these have been in float-equipped aircraft (around 10,000 in Twin Otters and 500–600 in Beavers). However, he is not entirely unfamiliar with wheels, having also flown wheeled Twin Otters in addition to the small training aircraft in which he learnt to fly.

According to Steve, WCA averages between 35–40 flights a day to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Flights are not long—only around 30 minutes’ duration—and on an average day, four Twin Otters working back-to-back typically accomplish the daily schedule

As well as Victoria, WCA’s Twin Otters also serve Nanaimo, while its Beavers serve a variety of destinations including Comox, Nanaimo and Sechelt from either Coal Harbour or Richmond.

The company usually has around 40 pilots on its books at any one time, although this number falls slightly in winter when things are quieter. Most of the pilots are dedicated to one type—either the Twin Otter or the Beaver—but two or three pilots (like Steve) fly both types. West Coast Air has some of the world’s highest time Twin Otter pilots, one of whom has approximately 42,000 hours total time, with around 33,000 of these on floats

Each Twin Otter crew typically makes 10 takeoffs and landings a day. Depending on weight, the Twin Otter is airborne at between 60–65 knots and has an approach speed of around 70 knots. WCA’s aircraft cruise at between 3,500–4,000 feet at between 135–140 knots.

Steve is a devout Twin Otter fan and believes that the only aircraft capable of replacing a Twin Otter is another Twin Otter. “It is a very stable aircraft with STOL capability; it’s durable and carries a good payload,” he says. “It’s just a very good all round aeroplane.” He considers the aircraft’s relative simplicity as a strong point and says that despite having been around since the 1960s, Twin Otters still perform the same as they did when they were new. Steve insists that the Twin Otter is the only aircraft available that can fulfil West Coast Air’s needs.

From 2000, Steve spent four years flying Twin Otters for Trans Maldivian Airways, where he was able to compare the aircraft with a new Cessna Caravan on floats. He says that in that particular environment, the Caravan could not compete with the Twin Otter, pointing out that of the 50 new Viking Twin Otters ordered, some of the first aircraft are going to the Maldives!

Not surprisingly, corrosion is a potential issue for WCA’s fleet of (salt) water-borne floatplanes. Accordingly, the aircraft are often washed two or three times a day, and are painted every five years or so during heavy maintenance. WCA is able to carry out some minor maintenance at its dock, but its main hangar facility, where major maintenance is carried out, is at Vancouver International Airport.

When the Twin Otters are due for maintenance at Vancouver International Airport, they land in the adjacent Fraser River. There, they have wheels attached to their floats to transform them temporarily into amphibians. This allows them to taxi up a slipway, through the airport gates and along a taxiway to the WCA hangar close to the South Terminal. The Beavers are simply lifted out of the water at the slipway and onto a specially modified vehicle that transports them to the hangar.

The picturesque city of Victoria, on Vancouver Island, is a tourist attraction and business centre that lies only a stone’s throw from the bustling capital city of British Columbia. West Coast Air has operating bases at Victoria and Nanaimo (which host the majority of scheduled services) and Comox, which is only a small office within a restaurant. As it does at Coal Harbour, WCA shares its Victoria floatplane base with Harbour Air.

Movements in Victoria’s harbour average 175 a day with floatplane traffic landing and taking off along the waterway known as the Esquimalt. Like Coal Harbour, this is also shared with a host of waterborne traffic ranging from ferries and cruise ships to numerous pleasure craft.

Further up the east coast is Nanaimo, where West Coast Air shares a terminal with Harbour Air. There, the jetty can accommodate up to 10 aircraft in total. While Nanaimo is also very busy with boats of all sizes, it isn’t quite as busy as Coal Harbour. The Twin Otter flight time between Nanaimo and Coal Harbour is around 16 minutes, cruising at around 140 knots at an altitude of approximately 3,500 feet, directly across the Strait of Georgia. The flight between Coal Harbour and Victoria, which takes around 30 minutes, gives an excellent view of the many gulf islands and inlets en route, and the occasional opportunity to spot Orcas from the air in the strait or around the islands.

There are many other commercial floatplane operators in British Columbia as well as a plethora of private operators, and some of these will be covered in the second part of this feature.

The residents of Vancouver can be justifiably proud of their floatplane assets. The heritage that was begun by the floatplane entrepreneurs in the 1920s has not only shaped today’s operations but also tomorrow’s future.