Twin Otter On Track For Mid-2009 Deliveries
Aviation Week Dec 1, 2008 David Collogan
Fresh off 60 hours of flight tests with the prototype DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 400, officials of manufacturer Viking Air remain confident the first production aircraft will be delivered to a customer this coming summer.
The float-equipped prototype made its first flight Oct. 1. It was then flown to Orlando where it towered over many of the other aircraft in the static display at the National Business Aviation Association convention during the first week of October. Because the Series 400 will be built "under an update" of the original Twin Otter type certificate, the number of required flight test hours is far lower than for an all-new aircraft, said David Curtis, president and CEO of the Victoria, British Columbia-based Viking. Since Viking does not have to certify an entire new design, he told BA, the flight test program is "somewhat mundane." The prototype is now back in the hangar where the floats are being removed and technicians are installing digital acquisition units as part of detailed checks and tests of the Honeywell Apex integrated avionics system. The Apex system worked quite well during water tests, Curtis said. Even when the aircraft was put into unusual attitudes and subjected to heavy wave action the Apex system consistently spooled up within 40 seconds of being activated, he said.
Certification of the Apex installation in the Series 400 is "the long pole in the tent," Curtis said, but he remains confident Transport Canada and European Aviation Safety Agency approval will be nearly concurrent. Officials from both agencies are already engaged in the Apex approval process, he said, and the human factors assessment has been completed. No significant hitches are anticipated because the Apex system was recently approved in the Pilatus PC-12 NG single-engine turboprop so "folks are familiar with it," he said. Viking is pursuing EASA certification before FAA because several of its early customers are based in Europe.
Curtis is "not naive to the fact we're dealing with two different regulatory organizations," but he said company officials have attempted to engage officials of those agencies early on to help ensure there are no unexpected problems. "So far, so good," Curtis said. The Series 400 certification schedule is aggressive, he acknowledged, but "we're just working hard to minimize those risks." On the production side, Curtis said the first customer aircraft, S/N 845, "just came out of the major jigs" at the company's final assembly facility in Calgary, Alberta, major components for S/N 846 left Victoria for Calgary on Nov. 24 and work on S/N 847 is under way in Victoria.
Orders continue to hover "around the 40 mark," a satisfactory level at this point, Curtis said, because with Viking's conservative ramp-up schedule the backlog currently extends into late 2011 or early 2012. There continues to be "a fair amount of activity" on the sales front, Curtis said, noting an order this month for two Series 400 aircraft from Maldivian Air Taxi (MAT). The company already is the "largest Twin Otter seaplane operator in the world," Viking said, with a fleet of 24 heritage Twin Otters in service.
Viking hopes to deliver seven Series 400 aircraft in 2009 and to reach a production rate of one per month in 2010, climbing to 1.5 per month in 2011. The production rate is purposely being held down next year, Curtis said, to make sure the manufacturing process is completely debugged before the rate is ramped up. The Viking CEO readily acknowledges that the Series 400, like the original Twin Otter, is a niche airplane. But many current operators are now flying aircraft that are 25 or 30 years old, and Curtis is confident there is a "core replacement market" that will supply the orders to get through the challenging economic times that currently prevail.
As for financing of the Series 400 program itself, Curtis notes that Viking is part of Westkirk Capital, Inc., a Canadian private investment firm that Curtis said is well capitalized. "We're within 5 percent of where we said we would be" on capital costs, Curtis said. "We're not trying to raise any capital," Curtis said, because it is not needed. Viking does have a few customers scheduled to take aircraft deliveries next year that need financing for their purchases, but he said the company is working with Canada's Export Development Corp. to make sure the financing will be there for those who need it.
