How I was introduced to the Kodiak

It was a Sunday lunch in my home town of Bradenton, Florida when I heard about a new airplane company from a family member. I gave it a Google.?

I looked them up, called the OEM, and asked if I could get a copy of a POH because I was in flight training at the time and enjoyed looking at different airplane specs. They sold them…for $300…which was out of the question price wise. However the nice woman on the phone mentioned I could download a free PDF on the website. The next day I was printing it out.?

So there I was with my three ring binder POH for an advanced airplane while I was still learning flight basics myself. It followed me through ratings, sitting with the pile of ASA study books and old sectionals with sea monsters scrawled off the coast of Miami. (Bermuda triangle anyone?) I would occasionally open up the POH and flip through. I grew to really like this STOL turboprop plane and its story.?

One day a prominent local backcountry pilot asked me something to the effect of “Do you actually FLY those or not?” Dejected, I said “no, I just like what they do.” He was unimpressed.

Later on while working as CFI, I became a volunteer for an incredible humanitarian organization that is the largest operator of the type. I took time off from instructing to sit in front of this plane for a week at Sun n fun and talk about what the organization does with it.

I took off another stretch of work to fly out to one of their fundraising events in another state to volunteer to hold doors and seat guests.?

Next thing I knew, directly related to my volunteer work and networking…I was headed away from flight Instructing and into a job in that aforementioned state where I would get to FLY this favorite plane of mine. I joined a corporate flight department that was also a distributor and service center for this airplane. When I wasn’t flying, I’d work on them in the shop. I continued to volunteer while at this new job and spent a week at OSH by the humantatian organization’s booth talking about what this really neat airplane does in isolated places all over the world. Fast forward a few years and I had a batch of turboprop PIC, P91 corporate flight experience in the plane, and an A&P certificate out of the deal.?

COVID came along, and the company I worked for sold their last backcountry bird that I had been flying. It was an end of a very fun and rewarding chapter, but I was pretty bummed. What followed was 2 years just turning wrenches and barely staying current in airplanes like so many of us at that time. (Admittedly, maintenance is something I also enjoy quite a bit and an invaluable trade in aviation infrustructure, please thank a mechanic). In a fit of desperation, I sought out new opportunities and got myself a class date with a regional airline. The sky still calls like The One Ring to Gollum. However for me this was still a big compromise as it’s just not the type of lifestyle I wanted.?

But once again thanks to relationships I’d built along the way (and probably my presence on Istagram with the airplane to be honest) a different job opportunity came about to work for the company that makes this neat turboprop.

Two weeks before class date with the airline I sent SkyWest a sorry not sorry note and was driving up to the Idaho panhandle

for a job with the manufacturer of my favorite airplane. I would work In the Customer service department!?

I am the maintenance instructor for our general familiarization course. If you buy one or work for a service center, you and/or your mechanic will come to my class. I’m also a company flight ops pilot and fly both types enough to stay happy as a bear cub in their first spring. I also assist with maintenance on a few of our owned airplanes to stay active with tools. I can truly say I’m working my dream job right now. The variety is a spice to my life like the sea salt of my home state of Florida.?

Why do I bother mentioning all this? Because this forum has a lot of good encouragement and discussion around flying, and I wanted to share just my personal view on the best reason to be in aviation:?

Decide what you want and go after it; but don’t forget that aviation is about relationships. Give back. Care about the people around you. Be passionate about something outside of just the next upgrade or the better contract. What will bring you the purest joy each day? For me-it involves airplanes, yes-but is sourced from the people I get to work with and serve along the way. Seek this in your own place in aviation and reap the good harvest of a satisfied heart.?

This airplane was originally designed to fly in the uttermost parts of the world to help people, and has since found a broad appeal outside of just that vision.