Light · ICAO DHC2

De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver

The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is one of the most celebrated bush planes ever built, designed from the outset around the needs of Canadian wilderness pilots rather than conventional airline routes. Its short-field performance and rugged construction let it operate from lakes on floats, snow on skis, or rough gravel strips on wheels, often all with the same airframe fitted with different landing gear. It became so associated with remote flying that it's sometimes called the 'pickup truck of the skies'. Decades after production ended, hundreds remain in active service across Canada, Alaska, and other remote regions worldwide.

De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver, example photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Alex Lutz from Mammendorf, Germany · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Did you know?

The DHC-2 Beaver was designed around Canadian bush pilots' needs, able to swap wheels, skis or floats on the same airframe.

Specifications

Length9.2 m (30 ft)
Wingspan14.6 m (48 ft)
Height2.7 m (9 ft)
Maximum passengers6
Persons on board8
Maximum take-off weight2.3 t
Range455 NM (843 km)
Maximum speed143 kt (265 km/h)
Stall speed39 kt (72 km/h)
Service ceiling17,900 ft (5,456 m)
Optimum ceiling15,000 ft (4,572 m)
Rate of climb920 ft/min (4.7 m/s)
Take-off distance491 m (1,611 ft)
Landing distance305 m (1,001 ft)
Fuel capacity520 l
Engines1x Pratt & Whitney R-985
Units built1,657

Curated by CatchFlights from manufacturer documents, ICAO Doc 8643 and reference works; values are left out where no source could confirm them. Sources are listed on our credits page.

In CatchFlights

In CatchFlights the De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver starts as a Very rare catch. The tier is an editorial judgement of how special a sighting of this type is. The more often you catch it, the closer it moves to Common for you.

A catch counts for the manufacturer De Havilland Canada, the DHC-2 Beaver family and the model in your collection, and the daily Type Rating quiz asks about the types of each family.

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