by Steve Mackenzie

This time in my continuing Twin Otter series, I am going to look at some of the small, often short lived local operators (most of these are long gone), sometimes making it difficult to find background info (a further five operators will be covered next issue). One area to closely look at in photos of these aircraft and the accompanying drawings is the aerial fit which varies enormously between different operators and in some cases individual machines in the same company. Another thing to watch for is that some machines may have an additional window in the airstair door on the Port side. If so you will have to cut and glaze a window to match.

Karratha Flying Services

Karratha Flying Services (KFS) operate out of Karratha Airport providing charter services. They appear to be still operating, with a varied fleet of light aviation types. I could not get more info as what is listed as their website did not load for me. They are listed as previously operating two Twin Otters, VH-XFM and VH-ZKF both of which came out of service with them in 2016, being replaced by types such as King Airs.

VH-XFM

VH-XFM was operated by KFS from Mar 2014 to Feb 2016. It was actually leased from Ryebridge Air Inc., North Vancouver, BC (Canada) of all places but operated by KFS. Background info and images of this airframe can be found on the 'Twin Otter Archive' at https://twinotterarchive.com/DHC-6_164.html.

Profile of VH-XFM in a fairly simple scheme of Gloss White overall with Dark Blue areas on the engine cowls, lower fuselage, wing and horizontal tail plane tips. Yellow rudder and flaps plus narrow fuselage stripe. Black rego on fuselage. Spinners are Silver as far as I can tell.

VH-ZKF

VH-ZKF was operated by KFS from Jul 2004 to Mar 2016. It originally flew with several local airlines with the rego VH-TZL but when it went to KFS in 2004 it was given a new rego VH-ZKF. Background info and images of this airframe can be found on the 'Twin Otter Archive' at https://twinotterarchive.com/DHC-6_43.html. During it's long service with KFS there were small changes in it's colour scheme as below.

This appears to have been the early scheme for VH-ZKF when it was with KFS. There are images at 'https://twinotterarchive.com/DHC-6_43.html', Jetphotos and https://www.flightaware.com/photos/aircraft/VHZKF.

Profile of VH-ZKF in a fairly simple scheme of Gloss White overall with Dark Blue areas on the engine cowls. Brown and Green fuselage stripes, later changed to Dark Blue and Green. Black rego on fuselage. Spinners are Silver as far as I can tell.

This appears to have been a later scheme for VH-ZKF when it was with KFS, by then it had an insignia on the tail. There are images at 'https://twinotterarchive.com/DHC-6_43.html', Jetphotos and https://www.flightaware.com/photos/aircraft/VHZKF.

Profile of VH-ZKF in a fairly simple scheme of Gloss White overall with Dark Blue areas on the engine cowls (different to previously). Dark Blue and Green fuselage stripes. Black rego on fuselage. Spinners are Silver as far as I can tell.

Noosa Air

When discussing VH-ZKF above, I mentioned that it had previosly been registered VH-TZL with a number of local airlines, one being Noosa Air which I had not drawn before. There are images at 'https://twinotterarchive.com/DHC-6_43.html', https://aussieairliners.org/dhc-6/vh-tzl/vhtzl.html and https://AirHistory.net%20-%20vhtzl%20aircraft%20photos.html.

Profile of VH-TZL in a comp;icated scheme of Gloss White overall with Black areas on the engine cowls, nose, anti-glare panel and de-icing strip on the forward vertical tail. Black rego on fuselage. Red and Black stripes on the fuselage, lower cowlings and fin, also fuselage and tail logos. Red wing and tail end plates and top to vertical fin. Spinners are White.

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