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groceries, air tanks and a boat motor, and it still can take off in much less than the runway. With the 750-horse- power PT6, you have plenty of power and can load the thing up. It’s a beast.”
Equally at home on the water as he is in the sky, it’s no surprise that Wood is rated to fly seaplanes. And while the Kodiak is routinely outfitted with Aerocet composite floats, he doesn’t anticipate ever operating his aircraft from the water.
“Every Kodiak that is built is aerody- namically ready to go on floats. There are no structural changes that have to be made, whereas a lot of planes have to undergo quite a bit of work to put them on floats,” Wood explained.
But he has reservations about configuring his aircraft for water operations as the corrosive environ- ment he lives in demands extra atten- tion from the high-wing turboprop. But being that he lives alongside his Kodiak, preventative tasks are relatively hassle-free to perform as needed.
“I have a compressor wash cart and do a rinse after any extended flight over the water. Then I have a sched- uled wash with the soap that I also do right here at my house. With the salt air down here in The Keys, I like to wash the plane often. I like to wash it once a week, but really it probably gets washed two or three times a month just to keep the salt off.”
When asked about hopeful desti- nations for future Kodiak adven- tures, he elaborated on a few. “I’m very interested in making a trip to South America. I don’t know how far, but I want to fly there and have be- gun studying that. Also, after recent travel to Italy, I’ve become pretty intrigued with the possibility of a Europe trip.”
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