Audio:
Steve Ottaviano
Assistant Director for Flight Standards
JAARS
Into the Wild: KODIAK Pilot Testimonial
(Duration 5:57min)
Thursday, September 30, 2010...…If you want to know what's really going on with your aircraft, ask someone who's been using it (or abusing it) in the field. Go in with no expectations and be happy with what you get. That's what we were thinking when we sought out JAARS pilot Steve Ottaviano on the phone.
Steve has been driving the KODIAK in exactly the kinds of environments we were dreaming of when we designed the aircraft. From a trans-Pacific ferry flight, to mission work in the wilds of Papua New Guinea, to keeping relief flights running continually for weeks on end in Haiti. Steve's been there, done that, in a KODIAK. It would be a shame to think someone could wrap that kind of experience up in one sentence but, after 300 hours in the cockpit, Steve set us back in our seats with this summation:
"It's proven to be the efficient, useful, rough, simple to operate and very reliable, I would say, mechanically, airplane that we'd hoped it would be ... which is a lot to say for a new design, and a new company."
Listen in (above) to hear the rest of the story.
Steve, we are honored to be a part of the work that you and JAARS do, we thank you for putting the KODIAK through its paces, and we are looking forward to hearing more from you in the months and years ahead. Godspeed in your adventures to come.
For more information please visit www.jaars.org and www.ottavianotes.blogspot.com.