Form follows function: You wouldn’t drive a Ford Mustang over a mountain creek bed—you’d want a Ford Explorer. You wouldn’t haul seven 10-year-olds and their soccer gear in a Honda Civic—you’d want a minivan. You wouldn’t fly a Cirrus SR22 into a short, unpaved strip in the Amazon jungle—you’d want a Quest Kodiak. The Kodiak is a relatively new addition to the general aviation fleet, having just been introduced to the market in 2007, but its strength and good looks (think Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, not Benedict Cumberbatch)—have made this STOL (short takeoff and landing) aircraft a must have for both rugged adventurers and long-distance trekkers. Surfer Kelly Slater flies one. So do the pilots of Mission Aviation Fellowship. Kodiaks are designed to carry a lot—they have a useful load of 3,500 pounds—and fly to hard-to-reach places, and take off and land in 1,000 feet or less. They’ve helped victims of earthquakes in remote areas and helped save rhinoceroses and elephants in Botswana. When not carrying services and supplies to remote regions, they can be found carrying executives into the urban jungle. Now owned by a Japanese firm, the Kodiak was the brainchild of U.S. manufacturers and pilots who designed the airplane to get them into—and out of—places most of us fear to tread.
SPEC SHEET
Quest Kodiak
Powerplant: 750 shaft-horse- power Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34
Seats: 10
Length: 34 feet 2 inches
Height: 15 feet 3 inches
Wingspan: 45 feet
Empty weight: 3,770 pounds
Useful load: 3,535 pounds
Max gross weight: 7,255 pounds
Performance
Cruise speed: 174 KTAS
Range: 1,132 nautical miles
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