Page 28 - Oct22T

Owner’s
Corner
Kodiak of the Keys
Allen Wood of Islamorada, Flor- ida, has been a pilot for nearly five decades. He currently owns a Daher (formally Quest) Ko- diak 100 he flies for personal and busi- ness use predominantly within the United States, occasionally venturing to the Caribbean and Central America. We recently spoke to Wood after he arrived home from an 8,000-nautical mile trip from Florida to Alaska. He ex- plained what initially drew him to the adventure-enabling utility turboprop.
“Between the safety features, ex- ceptional short field capabilities and reliability of the PT6[A-34], purchas- ing the aircraft seemed like a great choice,” he said. “Garmin G1000 was an experience for me coming from steam gauges at first, but once it clicked, it was all good.”
Wood had his eyes on the Kodiak for several years before purchasing one from the dealer nearest him in 2018.
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He was totally sold after visiting the factory in Sandpoint, Idaho.
“I casually looked at Caravans, but I was really impressed with the reli- ability and stoutness of the Kodiak. For example, the gear is just massive and has what they call a ‘nine-inch
stump capability’ – meaning it can hit a nine-inch stump without damag- ing the nose gear. It’s a modern-day bush plane and luxury SUV capable of performing humanitarian missions, which I’ve completed a number of af- ter hurricanes.”
The multi-mission utility turboprop Kodiak 100.