50 AUGUST 2018 ÇPlane&Pilot
Skyport in San Marcos, Texas, to show it of to me. I’ve
got a dozen or so hours in the Kodiak over the years,
so I was pretty familiar with it, but Mark has lived
with the airplane for a few years now, and he knows
it inside and out and talked me
through a terriic demo ride that
left me with lots more in-depth
knowledge of the bird.
Up front is a Pratt & Whitney
PT-6A-34 putting out 750-hp
(700 continuous) for an air-
plane with a 7,305-pound
ramp weight. With that kind
of power, even at max takeof
weight under standard condi-
tions, the Kodiak needs less than
a thousand feet of runway to get lying, and it can get
down and stopped in even less room than that. And
its max rate of climb is great, too, 1,371 fpm, which
is much appreciated when the granite around is
climbing fast, too.If you’ve never lown a Kodiak, think of it as a
big Cessna 182 that carries up to 10 people and has
slow-light manners better than most light aircraft.
Even the prelight and start is easy, with a graphi-
cal weight and balance utility,
easy start sequence and all of
the info you need right there on
the displays in front of you color
coded for ease of interpretation.
Takeof is fun. Acceleration
is brisk, and before you know
it, you’re at a rotation speed of
just 55 knots and airborne—just
remember, you can’t “drive” 55,
because by then you’ll be lying.
We were light and used almost
no runway, maybe 600 feet or so, before we were of,
and our rate of climb was around 1,500 fpm, even
adding a few knots for better forward visibility. On
our way out we threaded our way through the clouds,
and when Mark pointed to low part of the cumulusIf you've never own a
Kodiak, think of it as a
big, turbine-powered
Cessna 182 that can
carry 10 people.
The giant portal in back is where passengers climb aboard and where pilots can load the cargo. The Kodiak can fly as many as 10 people
and carry a couple thousand pounds of bags and boxes ... and who knows what else.