I’m hanging out with photographer Jeff Berlin and Quest’s chief demo pilot Mark Brown beside the stunning Green River, which through the millennia has carved a deep gorge flanked by dramatic red rock cliff walls through Canyonlands National Park in Utah. The river begins at the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming and feeds into the great Colorado River, which snakes through another rock cathedral — Arizona’s Grand Canyon. We’ve parked at Mineral Canyon (UT75), a 2,000-foot dirt airstrip in a remote location that would take several hours to get to by ground transportation. The nearest town is Moab, home to a little more than 5,000 permanent residents and thousands of tourists from all over the world in search of the outstanding mountain biking, rafting, hiking and other outdoor recreational activities the area offers. From the Canyonlands Field Airport (CNY), west of Moab, where we started our day, this stunning spot can be reached by air in not hours but minutes, and a local company called Redtail Air uses the strip for sightseeing and to bring rafters to and from the river, Redtail’s director of air ops Nick Lamoureux says.
We Fly: The Kodiak 100 Series II Is Built To Do It All
Key Takeaways:
- The article highlights the Quest Kodiak 100 Series II as a highly versatile and reliable turboprop aircraft, ideal for operating in remote, unimproved backcountry airstrips like Mineral Canyon in Utah's Canyonlands.
- Designed for rugged utility, the Kodiak 100 Series II features robust construction, a dependable Pratt & Whitney PT6A-34 engine, advanced Garmin G1000 NXi avionics, and practical elements like high prop clearance and a configurable cabin with an optional cargo pod.
- The aircraft demonstrates impressive short-field performance, benign stall characteristics, and a sturdy design that inspires confidence for various missions including sightseeing, cargo transport, medevac, and charter flights, even in challenging conditions.
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