Quest Aircraft Company, manufacturer of the next generation Kodiak, has announced that it has received full certification from Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC). The Kodiak is now certified in seven countries around the world, and work continues on additional certifications.

“Quest has come a long way in a relatively short period of time,” said Steve Zinda, Director of Sales and Marketing. “Since beginning customer deliveries in late 2007, the Kodiak has achieved certification in multiple countries and been deployed around the world in a variety of applications.

“We are very pleased to add Brazil to our certification list as it, along with other countries in Latin America, represents a solid market for the Kodiak,” Zinda continued. “We have had a lot of interest from a variety of market segments there, including government and commercial users. We are eager to bring the Kodiak back to this region with our certification in hand.” The aircraft completed a three week demonstration tour in Brazil, the Caribbean and other Latin American countries last fall. The company is preparing to embark on another tour of the region next month.

Quest Kodiak

“We were pleased with the interest we received on our previous tour, and look forward to getting the Kodiak back in front of more potential customers,” added Lynn Thomas, Quest’s Director of Technical Marketing, who piloted the aircraft on the first tour of the region. “There was great enthusiasm about the speed, performance capabilities and low operational costs the Kodiak offers.”

Kodiaks are in service with charter operators, small businesses, personal owners, skydiving operations, U.S. and international governments, and humanitarian organizations. Several Kodiaks on floats have been delivered, including nine float-equipped aircraft to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The rugged aluminum construction combines superior STOL performance and high useful load. It offers proven turbine reliability with the Pratt & Whitney PT6 turbine engine, has the ability to land and take off from unimproved surfaces and is capable of working off floats without structural upgrades. The Kodiak can take off in under 1,000 feet at full gross takeoff weight of 7,255 lbs and climb at over 1,300 feet per minute. A 3-panel Garmin G1000 integrated avionics suite including Synthetic Vision Technology is standard equipment.