52 AUGUST 2018 ÇPlane&Pilot
I irst thought it unlikely. hen he suggested I slow
it down to best angle rate of climb and up we went,
easily topping the deck by more than legal clearances.
It was surprisingly smooth despite the buildups
as we made out way out to a Central Texas airport,
Llano Municipal, famous for its friendly service
and proximity to Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que,
the best in the world, some say. Llano also has a
grass runway, and we did a bunch of landings and
takeofs there while I got reacquainted with the bird.
With the big tires and the slow landing speeds of
the Kodiak—it approaches at speeds similar to a
Cirrus, an airplane that weighs half what a Kodiak
does—the landings were fun but completely unremark-
able, as though the plane were saying, “Is that the
best you got?”
After some lunch--there's no wrong choice, it's
all amazing--and ighting of a food coma, we took
of, did a few more circuits of the grass and then
headed out for some air work. I have to say that Mark’s
demonstration of the Kodiak’s slow light capability
opened my eyes. he plane has a cufed leading edge
that does wonders, keeping the tips, says Brown, from
stalling even when the stick is pulled all the way back.
Mark demonstrated, and then I tried my hand at it. Itis indeed remarkable. Even with the stick all the way
back and the stall warning horn blaring away, you
can make turns in either direction without a hint of
loss of control, all the while mushing downward at
a very slow rate of descent. hat, Brown said, is the
Kodiak’s version of a parachute, except the rate of
descent in this bird was a lot slower. We didn’t test
out that technique, however.
Another potentially useful technique we did try
out were tight turns. Slow this baby down, thrown
out an armful of laps, and turn, and you use almost
no real estate in the process. Mark says he can get it
turned in about a quarter mile, which is a nice ace
in the hold should you ever need one.
he Kodiak isn’t a fast bird, but it’s fast enough,
about 175 knots at 48 gph and 135 at just over 30
gph. It’s a remarkably easy plane to ly and a remark-
ably easy plane to ly well. Kodiaks are selling well,
and one can see why. It’s a rugged plane that can be
outitted as one wishes—even with full amphibious
loats—and that will go just about anywhere and do
it dependably and economically. It’s a pretty good
formula for success, and it’s one Quest has been fol-
lowing for years. Only now, it’s with an airplane that’s
a lot slicker and even more reined. PPThe Kodiak is an excellent IFR platform. With the Garmin G1000 NXi avionics suite, optional TKS FIKI anti-ice gear, rock solid handling and
power to spare for those missed approaches in the mountains, pilots have the tools they need and then some.