( ) CULTURE OF THE SMALLEST CORPS Flying Twin Otters safely on challenging missions BY JIM MOORE P H OT O G R A P H Y B Y M I K E F I Z E R Loaded light for a short flight, the Twin Otter leapt skyward. In the seconds before, a takeoff clearance amendment had been requested and granted-and a pretakeoff checklist completed-as the de Havilland DHC-6 rolled slowly down Runway 24 at Barnstable Municipal-Boardman/Polando Field in Hyannis, Massachusetts. With that done, the pilots, uniformed officers of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), each placed a hand on the power levers, advancing the Pratt & Whitney PT6A engines to full power with a couple of hundred feet of runway already behind them. Still, the agile Otter broke ground before reaching the first taxiway intersection. 72 | AOPA PILOT April 2014 DIGITAL EXTRA Fly a Twin Otter mission in this online video.