I’m still trying to figure out how they pulled it off, fielding an ideal complement of single-engine turboprops into the market during a calendar year. But that’s just the shiny part on the surface that we see—the mountainous iceberg of effort that went into bringing the TBM 960 and now the Kodiak 900 to certification in 2022 began years before, in both cases.
In the case of the 900, it started within Quest—and a desire to meet a clear need for a larger cabin and faster cruise speed. But underlying that project was another, greater challenge—to bring together two teams that not only differed on engineering mission but also in culture. The cranberry color of the airplane caused me to recall the Thanksgiving holiday I spent solo in Paris several years ago. I set out to recreate a handful of favorite dishes to mark the occasion. Finding a turkey leg to roast was easy—but for the life of me I could not find fresh cranberries with which to make sauce. But my dinner was far from ruined—I roasted chestnuts and had a tarte tatin for dessert, combining the best of my new locale and the heritage I brought with me.
