Harbour Air

Harbour Air is a commercial airline in British Columbia offering domestic and continental scheduled and charter services using seaplanes; it is the largest seaplane airline in BC and the world.

Harbour Air serve ten destinations (nine domestic, one continental) in two countries.

History
Harbour Air was established in 1976.

Incidents

 * 1 November 2000 DHBC-6 Twin Otter VB-HRG (c/n C1565/1977), operating as Flight H3 151 from Vancouver–Coal Harbour to Victoria Inner Harbour, suffered a loss of power in one engine on take-off and crashed. Shortly after take-off for the 35-minute scheduled flight, at an altitude of around 80 feet the no. 2 engine failed. The aircraft struck the water about 25 seconds later in a nose-down, right wing-low attitude, and the right hand float and wing detached from the fuselage. Both pilots and the fifteen passengers managed to clamber up onto the float and the wing until rescue boats, including the SeaBus harbour ferry, arrived to evacuate the survivors. The investigation revealed that a planetary gear in the propeller gearbox of no. 2 engine disintegrated, causing the drive shaft to disconnect from the propeller, which resulted in the loss of propulsion from the engine. The gear failure was found to have been caused by the fracturing of the oil strainer screen sending wire fragments and debris into the gear bearing sleeve. Investigators also concluded that although the airspeed was above V MC, the aircraft became uncontrollable due to power on the remaining engine not being reduced to relieve the asymmetric thrust until impact was imminent.


 * 21 February 2020 DHC-3T Turbo Otter VB-HAZ (c/n 288/1958) suffered a serious fracture in the right wing whilst moored at Vancouver–Coal Harbour after being struck by the right-hand wing of a Seair DHC-2 Beaver that had been stolen from its mooring. As the Turbo Otter was unoccupied, there were no injuries, but the aircraft was deemed uneconomical to repair and was written off.


 * 15 July 2021 DHC-3T Turbo Otter VB-HAW (c/n 19/1953) moored at Ganges Water Aerodrome was struck by a Seair Cessna Caravan that had escaped from its dock after engine start-up. The Turbo Otter sustained considerable damage, but was repaired and returned to service.

Current

 * Cessna Caravan - 2 (2017 to date)
 * DHBC-6 Twin Otter - 12 (1976 to date), six delivered new, six acquired second-hand from Omineca Airlines (2, 1976) and Pacific Western (4, 1979)
 * DHC-2 Beaver - 7 (1976 to date)
 * DHC-3 Otter - 1 (2011 to date)
 * DHC-3 Turbo Otter - (1991 to date)

Historic

 * DHC-2 Beaver - 7 (1976 to date)
 * DHC-3 Otter - 2 (1984–2002)

BC-made aircraft
''Note: a green background indicates an aircraft in service, a yellow background indicates a retired aircraft, and a pink background indicates an aircraft lost in an accident.

All aircraft are fitted with floats.

Routes


Entries with a green background indicates a destination in British Columbia.