Otter 403 was delivered on 2nd August 1961 to the Ontario Provincial Air Service (OPAS) as CF- ODW, based at Sault Ste.Marie, Ontario. In September 1972 the registered owner was changed to Province of Ontario, Ministry of Natural Resources, registration C-FODW. The Otter faithfully served the Province for nearly thirty years. ODW and ODX (427) were amongst the last Otters operated by the Province and were put into storage at Sault Ste.Marie in 1989. In order to dispose of the two aircraft, a deal was struck with Waweig Lake Outfitters whereby they acquired the two Otters in exchange for a Bell 206L helicopter. As they only required one Otter, Waweig Lake Outfitters retained ODX and sold on C-FODW.

The purchaser of ODW was Aerokon Aviation Ltd., of Whitehorse, Yukon to whom the Otter was registered on 3rd April 1991. It replaced Otter C-FBCG (408) which had crashed in May 1990 while operated by Aerokon. A few incidents are recorded by ODW while flying for Aerokon Aviation.  On 21st July 1992, while flying over Mayo Lake, the aircraft experienced a cylinder failure and made a successful forced landing ten miles north-east of Mayo. A company aircraft was dispatched to pick up the pilot and passengers. At the time, the company also flew a Beaver and some Cessnas. On 12th September 1993, the Otter was on descent towards final approach when the number one cylinder failed. The pilot observed smoke emitting from the front of the engine. He shut down the engine and landed at Mayo “uneventfully”, as the report puts it.

Aerokon Aviation ceased trading the following year, and the Otter was sold to Black Sheep Aviation & Cattle Company Ltd., also based at Whitehorse. On 29th June 1994, forty miles east of Wellesley Lake, Yukon the pilot of the float-equipped Otter experienced a propeller overspeed condition in cruise flight. He performed a precautionary landing on an available lake without incident. Maintenance personnel suspected a propeller governor problem. The next operator of ODW was also based at Whitehorse, Ross River Flying Service, trading as Action Aviation, to whom the Otter was registered in May 1995. It was involved in another incident on 8th August 1995 at Misty Lake in the Yukon. While landing in glassy water conditions, the pilot landed hard. Damage was described as “wrinkles in the float skins aft of the rear strut attachment”.

After five years flying out of Whitehorse with these operators, in May 1996 the Otter was sold to the owner of the Wollaston Lake fishing lodge, Saskatchewan, but was registered to Points North Air Service Inc, of Points North Landing, Saskatchewan who would operate the Otter on behalf of its owner, to service the lodge. As its web-site proclaimed: “Our classic nine passenger de Havilland Otter float plane is perfect for getting to even more remote lakes. The lodge maintains boats on several of the more remote areas of Wollaston. The Otter taxies right up to the boats and drops you off for a full days fishing”. During the winter of 2000, ODW was converted to a Vazar turbine Otter by T.C.Aviation at Saskatoon, then returning to service with Points North Air Service, carrying “Wollaston Lake Lodge” titles. It continued to support the fishing lodge during the summer months, going into storage at Winnipeg during each winter. The other member of the fleet was Convair 580 C-GKFP, also carrying Wollaston Lake Lodge titles and operated on its behalf by Kelowna Flightcraft. The Convair collected the lodge's guests at Minneapolis and Winnipeg and flew them up to the lodge. The Otter then took over and flew the guests out to the remote fishing areas.

The operation of the Otter by Jackson Air Services continued until the end of the summer 2008 season, at which stage Jackson Air Services was itself closing down, and its registration of ODW was cancelled on 1 February 2009. Yet again a new operator was required, also for Otter C-FWEJ (208) which was also owned by and operated for Wollaston Lake Lodge.

As an interim arrangement, ODW was registered on 20 February 2009 to Pike Air Inc., of Edmonton, Alberta and remained registered to that company until 10 July 2009. During that period the Otter was in storage. The new operator who would fly the Otter (and C-FWEJ) on behalf of Wollaston Lake Lodge for summer 2009 and subsequent years was Kississing Lake Lodge Ltd., trading as Wings over Kississing, to whom ODW was registered on 14 July 2009. The Otter is painted in the Lodge’s green and white colour scheme with titles and flies alongside WEJ.  That remains the position as of spring 2023.

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.