Spirit Air Receives Plane In Ceremony

Last week, Quest Aircraft Company delivered its first customer Kodiak turboprop, to launch depositor Spirit Air... marking the company's latest step in its transition from an aircraft developer, to a full-fledged planemaker.

The completed aircraft was delivered to Spirit Air in a presentation ceremony Friday, at the company’s headquarters in Sandpoint, ID in the presence of the entire Quest team. Accepting the Kodiak were the co-owners of Spirit Air, JoAnn Wolters and Dan Schroeder. Spirit Air was the lead commercial customer for the Kodiak when the company began taking deposits in May 2005.

"The first delivery of the Kodiak is truly a momentous occasion for Quest," said Paul Schaller, Quest Aircraft’s President and CEO. "This has been a remarkable journey for everyone involved with the program, including our customers like Spirit Air. We appreciate them supporting us from the beginning and through all of the milestones of certification and delivery. We are delighted that they are here today accepting their Kodiak, N838SA."

As ANN reported, the Kodiak received FAA Type Certification on May 30 of last year. Quest says it continues to work with the FAA to achieve its production certificate, at which point the company hopes to make progress against what is currently a three-year delivery backlog.

"We are very excited to accept delivery of the first Kodiak," said JoAnn Wolters. "Quest is a great company and the Kodiak is a fantastic airplane. We chose the Kodiak because of its robustness, reliability and versatility. We are looking forward to putting it to work in the Alaska wilderness, Idaho backcountry and on commuter and small package runs."

Quest states the all-aluminum Kodiak combines superior STOL performance and high useful load. Powered by a single Pratt & Whitney PT6 turbine engine, the Kodiak is capable of working off floats without structural upgrades and has the ability to land on unimproved surfaces. The Kodiak can take off in under 700 feet at full gross takeoff weight of 6,750 lbs with a useful load of 3,325 lbs and climb at over 1,700 feet per minute.

A three-screen Garmin G1000 integrated avionics suite is standard equipment on the Kodiak. Quest notes they were the first installation in a turboprop aircraft of the popular G1000 (Cessna has since followed with its own G1000 installation in the Caravan.)

FMI: www.questaircraft.com