Aircraft
Quest wins FAA OK for Kodiak
Six years after opening its doors, two-and-a-half months after flying its first fully conforming aircraft and less than a month after losing company chairm

Six years after opening its doors, two-and-a-half months after flying its first fully conforming aircraft and less than a month after losing company chairman Bruce Kennedy in the crash of a Cessna 182, Quest Aircraft has been awarded the type certificate for its turboprop utility single. The clean-sheet-design Kodiak is a 10-place, PT6-powered STOL aircraft that’s big on payload and short on runway requirements.

CEO Paul Schaller said the airplane was designed to meet specific needs. The airframe is able to accept floats without any additional structural changes, and given its intended purpose of supporting the niche market of mission and humanitarian work, the airplane had to be able to take off and land in short distances and carry a heavy load while doing it, Schaller said. The numbers suggest the company succeeded.

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