The Beaver, into the Wild
The first
you hear is a slight growl that disturbs the calm air over the lake as it
approaches, the sound grew louder and quickly went from an aural hallucination
to something real, the tell-tale roar of the De Havilland Beaver’s radial
engine imposing upon the wilderness calm of Moose Lake. Anyone who has spent
time in the Alaska wilderness is intimately familiar with the sound of the
Beaver.
It came into
sight low over the Sitka spruce trees of the temperate rain forest surrounding
the lake the familiar shape of the Mk1 Beaver, 9 cylinders and 450hp making
that unmistakable sound. I pondered this legendary aircraft as it roared above
Moose Lake circled at the far end then touched down on the water as gently as a
feather falling on snow.
They call
the Beaver the Massey Ferguson farm tractor of the sky and was instrumental in
opening up remote areas of the Alaskan wilderness.
The cockpit
is fitting for a post-World War II vintage aircraft somewhat weathered-looking
with all controls worn and well used. External pilot inspections are limited to
a visual look at what you can see, keep in mind the best advice when flying the
Beaver on floats is, and don’t get wet.
Set the mags
on both ensure the internal oil dipstick cover is secured, throttle set just
open, pitch fully fine and the last check that the water rudder is down, then
push off from the pontoon pointing the nose out to open water.
Jump on
board via the front pilot’s door and without any delay hit the start button,
idle power is sufficient to move slowly forward and now it’s vital to remember
you have no brakes so straight on to rudder control to steer via the water
rudder and taxi out into the lake towards your take-off point selecting take
off flaps.
Line up
picking a point ahead in the Sitka spruce trees and as best you can check the
water surface ahead is clear of floating logs or debris, all looks OK, let’s
go. Ease up the power to 1200rpm keep it straight, as we accelerate a quick
check of the mags and cycle the pitch once to get hot oil in the system, still
good, so ease the throttle to full power and raise the water rudder as the
aircraft rudder is now good. The aircraft is slow to accelerate and the noise
is incredible with heavy vibration, we are still not on the step so keep the
elevators back, and then you sense the aircraft is on the step and almost ready
to fly, there is no need to look at the airspeed it feels ready to fly, so ease
the stick back to leave the water surface, it’s still noisy and vibrating but
the buffeting from the water stops.
Hold it
level for a moment to accelerate to 65mph for the climb then raise the nose,
throttle and pitch back into the climb settings, at 300ft start the turn onto
downwind and level at 600ft over the trees. Keep it close to the lake as the
terrain either side rises steeply to 6000ft. It’s important to check the lake
surface, not only for debris but also wake from boats or other aircraft, there
is our own wake visible, so pick a landing point that looks the smoothest.
Turn onto
base and finals making it a curved continuous turn and bring the power back,
select the flap control lever to down and pump the flap lever three times to
set landing flap gradually reducing the speed, make sure the water rudder is
up. There is no threshold or runway as such so aim for the best smoothest water
surface for the touchdown point.
Now the tricky bit, with the airspeed reducing below 60mph aim to fly level just above
the water surface, hold the nose attitude just above the horizon and wait, the
mooring rope that is left attached for a flight may sometimes help as you sense
it hitting the water. Immediately as the floats hit the water surface vibration
and buffeting start, keep the elevators back and the aircraft rapidly slows, as
it slows lower the water rudder before the aircraft rudder becomes ineffective.
As you steer
towards the mooring pontoon, another tricky bit comes up, you have no brakes and
no reverse pitch so you need to judge your speed, keep it slow, and access the direction you are drifting in order to arrive alongside the pontoon just about
stopped. Idle engine power keeps you moving forward so it’s vital to turn off
the engine before you arrive in order to slow and stop.
The Beaver
has a storied history. The first one rolled out of an Ontario manufacturing
plant after being test flown in 1947 by World War II flying ace Russell Bannock
in the skies over Downsview. Two decades later in 1967, construction no 1657
the last Beaver ever built, took to the skies. However, this robust, powerful,
and rugged little aircraft has left an enduring impact on Alaskan life and
aviation, and elsewhere in the world. A majority of them are still flying
today.
When De
Havilland engineers put pencils to draft paper and set out to design the
aircraft, the newly appointed director of sales, legendary bush pilot Punch
Dickins turned to fellow bush pilots who earned their livings flying and
working in remote regions, often under difficult weather conditions. The question was simple: if they could build their dream bush plane, what would it
look like? Overwhelmingly, the responses were consistent: bush pilots wanted a
powerful aircraft with plenty of luggage space and short take-off and landing
capability, or STOL.
When the
engineers responded that such design parameters would make for disappointingly
sluggish aircraft, one pilot famously countered that with: ‘You only have to be
faster than a dog sledge’
It’s an apt
metaphor. The Beaver is like the dog sledge of the sky, hardworking and resilient.
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