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Otter 282 was delivered to the United States Army on 26th August 1958 with serial 57-6134 (tail number 76134). It was delivered from Downsview to Fort Hood, Texas, one of four Otters delivered at this time to the 2nd Missile Command. By January 1962 it was serving with the 57th Aviation Company at Fort Sill, Oklahoma where it remained until August 1963. Its subsequent Army career is unknown until November 1967 when it arrived at the Sharpe Army Depot, Stockton, California where it was made ready for dispatch to Vietnam. It arrived in Vietnam in May 1968 at the 388th Transportation Company, Vung Tau and in September 1968 joined the 54th Signal Battalion. It served until July 1969 when it was placed in storage with the 520th Transportation Battalion and then shipped back to the United States, arriving at the Atlanta Army Depot, Georgia in September 1969. Here it remained in storage until May 1972 when it was put up for disposal as military surplus.
The Otter was acquired by Laurentian Air Services Ltd., of Ottawa, who flew it to their Ottawa base and converted it to civilian configuration. It was registered to Laurentian Air Services as CF-CEE in 1973 and joined their fleet of Otters, operating in Québec. It was later re-registered C-FCEE. In 1981, the three Otters still flying for Laurentian Air Services (C-FCEE, C-GLAA and C-GLAB) were transferred to Air Schefferville Inc., a subsidiary of Laurentian Air Services, based at Lac de la Squaw, Schefferville. This was because the aircraft were based in Québec, where they did most of their flying and where the authorities preferred to deal with a Québec corporation rather than an Ontario corporation. CEE continued to fly for Air Schefferville for the next eighteen years.
An incident was recorded at Lac Harris, Québec on 13th May 1982. As the pilot was turning into wind in preparation for take off, the tail ski broke through the ice, the ski punctured the fuselage, causing some structural damage and jammed the rudder controls. There was another minor incident many years later, on 13th May 1997 at Lac Kathleen, 36 miles north-east of Schefferville. After landing on the lake, the Otter became stuck in a few inches of slush on the lake's surface. The cause was traced to one of the skis, which would not stay in the full extend position because the extend / retract system had lost its charge. The system was serviced, the aircraft freed and normal operations resumed.
These were only minor incidents in a remarkable 25 years of bush operations by CEE for Laurentian Air Services / Air Schefferville. As the company wound down its operations, CEE went on lease to Huron Air & Outfitters of Armstrong at McKenzie Lake, Ontario for the summer of 1998. It then returned to Air Schefferville before being sold in January 1999, along with C-GLAA (226), to 1191517 Ontario Ltd., (Piper Martin Air Partnership Number One) of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, a leasing company. This company leased out both Otters to Johnny May's Air Charter of Kuujjuaq, Québec for the summer of 1999. In April 2000, CEE was advertised for sale, having at that stage of its career an impressive total time of 19,008 hours on the airframe. The sale did not proceed, and CEE remained on lease to Johnny May's Air Charter, based out of Kuujjuaq, Québec.
Re-registered C-GMAY (2) 27 February 2013. TTSN 24,196 (February 2017). C-GMAY was taken after the DHC-2 Beaver c/n 1123 was sold and de-registered 04 May 2012.
In the course of its long service with Johnny May’s Air Charter, a number of incidents were reported on CADORS as follows:
17 August 2002. Otter CEE alighted on Lac Stewart without making contact on the Mandatory Frequency. The aircraft’s radio had broken.
8 July 2003. Otter CEE alighted Lac Stewart without radio contact due to transmitter problems.
19 June 2004. While taxying for take-off at Kuujjuaq Airport, CEE reported there was a caribou on runway 07.
21 June 2004. The FSS specialist at Kuujjuaq saw three caribou on the side of the runway and notified Otter CEE when it reported on finals for runway 13. The Otter landed without incident.
22 August 2005. Ten miles south-east of Lac Stewart in the Kuujjuaq mandatory frequency area, CEE called for information and then reported on finals for Lac Stewart but did not call back once it had landed on the water. Air Inuit flight AIE406 took off from Kuujjuaq and flew over Lac Stewart and confirmed to the FSS that Otter CEE had landed safely on the water.
20 July 2008. First Air flight FAB864 informed Kuujjuaq FSS that before landing he was in contact with the pilot of Otter CEE, which had conducted a flight from Lac Stewart to a destination 30 miles to the south-east, where the Otter was stuck on a sandbank, but not damaged. The company was informed and sent help to release the Otter from its predicament.
28 August 2008. The pilot of CEE contacted the FSS at Kuujjuaq to request that a boat be dispatched to the Otter on Lac Stewart because one of its water rudders was broken and the pilot could not steer the aircraft.
Over the winter of 2008 / 2009 Otter C-FCEE was converted to a Vazar turbine, with the installation of a PT-6A-34 engine. It was the 89th Vazar conversion. The work was undertaken at the Air Inuit hangar at Montreal-Dorval and an increased gross weight kit was installed at the same time. On 17 June 2004 the registered owner of the Otter had been changed from Johnny May’s Air Charter Ltd to Johnny May’s Air Charter (2002) Inc. On 25 June 2009 it was further changed to Johnny May’s Air Charter (2009) Inc. After the turbine conversion the Otter returned north to Kuujjuaq and resumed serving the Québec north country as a turbine Otter. Further CADORS incidents comprised:
1 September 2010. On a flight from Lac Stewart to seaplane base SQ7 fifty miles to the west, Otter CEE experienced radio failure and could only contact the FSS after landing.
22 July 2011. Otter CEE was on a VFR flight from 56 miles north-west of Kuujjuaq to Lac Stewart water aerodrome. After having received the advisory service from the airport, the pilot never responded to the FSS. The pilot was heard a few minutes later broadcasting his intentions on the mandatory frequency. Once he had landed the pilot established communications with the FSS.
On 27 February 2013 the Otter was re-registered to Johnny May’s Air Charter (2009) Inc as C-GMAY, taking the ‘fixed’ registration of a company DHC-2 Beaver which had been sold. It continued service from Lac Stewart on floats during the summer, and on wheel skis in winter.
3 August 2014. Fifteen miles north of Kuujjuaq, Otter C-GMAY entered the mandatory frequency area without first establishing contact.
1 April 2015. Kuujjuaq Airport personnel advised the FSS that a vehicle was on the edge of Taxiway Alpha when Johnny May’s Air Charter Otter departed runway 31 from the intersection of Alpha.
11 June 2015. The ELT on the Otter went off when the mechanic was working on the Otter at Kuujjuaq.
24 May 2016. The Otter was landing at Kuujjuaq and executed a missed approach to ensure that the aircraft’s skis were okay. It landed safely on runway 31.
6 February 2017. C-GMAY was en route to Kuujjuaq. It entered the mandatory frequency area with no prior communication with the FSS until it was ten miles out at 1,800 feet.
7 May 2018. Otter on a VFR flight from Lac Lemoine to Kuujjuaq with pilot and seven passengers. On landing at Kuujjuaq, the Otter veered off the runway to the left. The pilot did a U-turn and taxied back onto the runway. A tailwheel adjustment was the cause.
Otter C-GMAY continued in service with Johnny May’s Air Charter during summer 2018.
Full history up to 2005 courtesy of Karl E Hayes © from DHC-3 Otter - A History (CD-ROM 2005), now with added and updated information which Karl has supplied for the benefit of the website.
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