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msn 167
DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 200
T-82
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167

Series 200

T-82

• Registration • Activity and details of Owner/Operator and other historical information

• T-82 de Havilland Canada Inc., Downsview, ON. Rolled out 23-Sep-1968. First flight 18-Oct-1968.

• T-82 Argentine Air Force / Fuerza Aérea Argentina Escuadron Aéreo VII de Transporte. Delivered 13-Nov-1968.

• T-82 Transferred to LADE - Lineas Aéreas del Estade, Grupo Aéreo 9. Later Air Brigade I, II Line Transport Squadron, Based at Comodoro Rivadavia State.

Note: Involved with evacuation of wounded personnel from Pebble Island, Falkland Islands, during the conflict. 29-May-1982. This involved two flights in order to evacuate wounded servicemen to the mainland, and also Ten. Nivoli the pilot of the A-4B Skyhawk during the attack on frigates Brilliant and Glasgow on 12-May-1982.

Incident: Nine Km from Argentinian Esperanza Antarctic Base: 27-Jun-2007 The only Twin Otter supporting the Argentinian, Antarctic programme, suffered a serious accident after it had flown a load of cargo from Marambio base, which is situated on an island near the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula close to parallel 64, to Esperanza Base on the tip of the Trinity Peninsula which itself is at the top of the Antarctic Peninsula, one of just two civilian settlements on the continnent. As there is no man made airstrip at this location the aircraft landed on the “Pampa Mattress”, a plain on the “Glacier Buenos Aires” close to Esperanza which was commonly used for such visits. When completing the braking manoeuvre on landing the aircraft was blown onto an area of sastrugi, a ridge of hard windblown snow andwhich caused damage to the nose wheel ski assembly, the nose structure, the hydraulic system, part of the radio and radar communications system. Being impossible to fly in such condition the crew tied the aircraft to the frozen snow to try to protect it from the winds in the area which during storms typically exceed 200 kph (125mph).

Meanwhile at the IX Air Brigade at Comodoro Rivadavia, a working group was formed with the mission to repair the aircraft on the glacier in the open air and to recover it as quickly as possible before any violent storm could cause irreparable damage. Two days after the accident, on the 29th-June, a party consisting of a pilot, several metal and structure specialists installation and power engineers flew in a C-130 Hercules to Marambio Base. It was not until the 01-Jul that the weather allowed a Chilean Air Force Twin Otter to take them to the Esperanza site.

This generous co operation from the Chilean Air Force was crucial as the damaged and now repaired Twin Otter was the only way to move cargo between Maraimbo, the only place where a C-130 can land, and the three other bases on the Peninsula operated by Argentina. Strong winds of over 200kph from 02-Jul until 06-Jul-2007 prevented the team getting out to the accident site. With decreased wind and sleet and with the aid of the Argentine Army and their snowmobiles which are based nearby at San Matin Base that they were able to get to the aircraft and found that no further damage had occurred .The repair team working in extreme low temperatures and during the brief daylight hours were able to return the aircraft to Maraimio base by 03-August.

Note : The overhaul was done at the Marambio Base by Argentine Air Force in 2008, and returned to service.

Note: In 2011, its avionics and airworthiness directives were updated in Argentina. Viking Air Ltd., supervised the work in order to obtain certification as an official workshop.

Accident 14-Sep-2019. Crashed after striking a snow berm on landing, 54 km from the Mariambo Base on Ross Island, Antarctica. The aircraft was on a local training sortie at the time, and there were no injuries to the nine onboard.

• Current •

T-82 getting the snow swept off at Downsview.
Photo: Sheldon D. Benner © 17 November 1968 - Michael J. Ody Collection
T-82 at ZAP.
Photo: Anthony J. Hickey © February 1995 - Michael J. Ody Collection
T-82 in later markings.
Photo: Roberto Alarcón © 04 January 2007 - Aird Archives