Tour Airplane Logs over 13,000 Nautical Miles While Garnering Customer Interest
September 27, 2011, Sandpoint, ID...The Quest KODIAK has just completed a three week demonstration tour in Brazil, the Caribbean and other Latin American countries. The aircraft was seen by a variety of potential customers including government, para-military, fire and rescue operations, 135 and personal use operators.
The executive interior-configured KODIAK left its home base of Sandpoint, ID on August 25 and after stops in Puerto Rico and Trinidad, landed in Manaus, Brazil, and began a series of static displays and customer demos around the country.
"There was a lot of interest in the KODIAK from a variety of market segments," said Lynn Thomas, Quest's Director of Technical Marketing who oversaw the trip and also piloted the KODIAK. "We flew demonstration flights for companies who haul freight, provide charter, and perform utility work. In addition, we met with government and para-military users as well as individuals interested in the KODIAK for personal use."
"Brazil, as well as other parts of Latin America, represents a solid market for the KODIAK," said Steve Zinda, Director of Sales and Marketing. "We were anxious to show the KODIAK to this region and are delighted with the interest we have received. Customers were very enthusiastic about the speed, performance capabilities and the cost of operations. We are currently finalizing our work toward Brazilian certification, and in fact a team of Quest engineers just returned from the country after meeting with Brazil's National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC)."
"From a performance standpoint, the KODIAK flew exactly as expected," Thomas added. We spent long periods of time over the Amazon jungle and water and there were no issues what so ever. We experienced icing on several occasions, and again all systems performed flawlessly."
Since beginning customer deliveries in late 2007, the KODIAK has since been deployed in more than 10 countries around the world in a variety of applications. KODIAKs are in service with charter operators, small businesses, personal owners, skydiving operations, U.S. and international governments, and humanitarian organizations.
The KODIAK's rugged aluminum construction combines superior STOL performance and high useful load. It offers proven turbine reliability with the Pratt & Whitney PT6 turbine engine, has the ability to land and take off from unimproved surfaces and is capable of working off floats without structural upgrades. The KODIAK can take off in under 1,000 feet at full gross takeoff weight of 7,255 lbs and climb at over 1,300 feet per minute. A 3-panel Garmin G1000 integrated avionics suite including Synthetic Vision Technology is standard equipment on the KODIAK.
Quest Aircraft Company, LLC is the manufacturer of the KODIAK, a 10-place single engine turboprop utility airplane, designed for STOL use and float capability. Headquartered in Sandpoint, Idaho, the company was established in 2001 and began deliveries of the KODIAK in December 2007. For more information, please visit www.questaircraft.com.
Media Contact: Julie Stone
Office: (912) 898-8673 ▪ Mobile: (912) 398-0498
jstone@questaircraft.com