Quest Kodiak 100 Series II Turboprop N195KQ Calls into CQ Airports on Demo Tour - Photographed at Whitsunday Airport at Shute Harbour

As posted below, Quest Kodiak 100 Series II turboprop N195KQ is on an Australia-wide demonstration tour and has spent the previous couple of days stopping at some Central Queensland Airports.  It has visited Gladstone Airport, Rockhampton Airport (see below) and Hamilton Island Airport, and on Tuesday 12 March, N195KQ was photographed in stunning conditions at the Whitsunday Airport at Shute Harbour.

It was open for inspection outside the main terminal building at the Whitsunday Airport and proved quite popular with many local aviators and some curious onlookers taking the opportunity for a look through the Kodiak.

This particular airframe (C/N: 100-0195) has flown just over 100 hours.  It is currently set up inside with two seats in front and six seats in the main cabin, but can have two more seats.  The seats and carpet can also be removed to take cargo and the bottom side door can swing down level to allow a forklift in.  On the right wing there is the radar pod.

After being on display, N195KQ departed the Whitsundays for Cairns and Mareeba Airports where it was due to continue its tour in Far North Queensland before continuing onwards to Darwin in the Northern Territory.

The Kodiak 100 Series II is a high-wing, unpressurized, single-engine turboprop-powered fixed tricycle landing gear aircraft built by Quest Aircraft, a Japanese owned aircraft manufacturer based in the United States of America.  The Kodiak is described as a utilitarian air vehicle capable of carrying 10 or more persons, using aluminium construction, short-field capability, and good useful load.  Large contributors to the Kodiak's STOL performance are a fixed, discontinuous leading edge on the outboard wing and the high performance Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 turbine engine.

A decade after the first delivery of the original Kodiak 100, the Series II introduces a range of enhancements. The standard equipment list has been expanded to include Garmin’s next generation G1000NXi, as well as an Angle-of-Attack indexer, digital 4-in-1 standby, Flight Stream 510 and a two-year subscription to the Kodiak Mobile App, backed by Garmin Pilot.

The Quest Aircraft Company website can be found at:  https://questaircraft.com/  or follow them on Facebook.

Photos and video used with permission  ©