A unique time to travel

As we all can attest to – this has been an unexpected year. It struck me part way through this year of Covid – that not in my life time have so many people been home – and stayed home. Venturing abroad has not been an option for most. So to have this opportunity to fly – feels incredibly fortunate and maybe a little unique. We are so curious as always – and maybe a little more this year – of the people we will meet and the places we will see and the stories we will hear.

This ferry flight began back in 2018 when N190KQ was bought – almost new – 50 hours on it – from Setouchi – the former owner of Quest. The Kodiak was then painted and then worked into the M.A.F. flow of preparing aircraft for overseas work – such as; HF, satellite, single point fuelling and a number of other small mods. Initially there was a delay because of import permissions and then COVID hit and was delayed again.

In light of the world situation – it is exciting to get this aircraft on its way!

We are delivering N19OKQ to Sentani, Indonesia, a town in Papua Province, bordering on Papua New Guinea and one of more remote islands of Indonesia

We will be flying up through the mountains of Alaska, the barren islands of the Aleutian Chain, Siberia, and on route to Japan we hope to see the remote, stunning and often cloud covered kuril Islands and then over the warm Pacific Ocean to Guam and Sentani

You are welcome to follow along with this blog as we go!

Departing April 16th

Oh just a few fun facts about the Kodiak:

the Kodiak was initially designed for the needs of humanitarian aviation when it began with Quest Aircraft in Idaho in 1998
it is a high-wing, unpressurized single engine turboprop with a fixed tricycle gear
this plane is able to hold 10 people and has short-field capability (which means it is able to land on and take off from unpaved, remote strips)
the max speed is 183 KIAS and a stall speed of 77 knots