Daher Kodiak 100 and Kodiak 900

Updated: October 2026 – At a general aviation airfield stands an aircraft that looks as if someone had put wings on an off-road vehicle: high on big tires, boxy fuselage, wing on top with a heavy strut, a turboprop up front. At the back a wide cargo door is open, and skydivers or crates are just disappearing through it. That is very likely a Daher Kodiak. The utility turboprop from Idaho was built for grass strips in the jungle, islands without road access and lakes without an airport. On this page you learn how to tell the Kodiak 100 and Kodiak 900, where the type comes from and where you are most likely to get it in front of your lens.

What is the Daher Kodiak?

The Kodiak is a single-engine utility turboprop for up to nine people in the Kodiak 100 and up to ten in the Kodiak 900, in each case including the pilot. Instead of a pressurized cabin and cruising speed, other values take center stage here: short takeoff and landing distances, a fixed and robust landing gear, plenty of room for cargo and an engine that runs on kerosene instead of hard-to-get avgas. That makes the Kodiak a machine for places with no paved runway and often no maintenance shop either.

It was developed by Quest Aircraft of Sandpoint in the north of the US state of Idaho. The company was founded in 2001 with an unusual goal: to build an aircraft that helps humanitarian organizations and mission pilots in remote regions. Design work had already begun in 1999, and the first flight followed on October 16, 2004. The US aviation authority FAA issued the type certificate in May 2007, and the first aircraft went to the launch customer in January 2008. EASA certification in Europe took until April 2017.

After that the company changed owners twice. In 2015 the Japanese Setouchi Holdings bought Quest, and in 2019 the French group Daher took over the company; it already had a successful single-engine turboprop in its lineup with the TBM. The Kodiak is still built in Sandpoint. By the end of 2025, Daher says it had delivered 390 Kodiaks, 25 of them in 2025.

Built for grass strips and mission flying

The Kodiak’s concept can be read from its customers. Mission organizations such as the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and JAARS fly in regions where a runway is often just a cleared meadow on a hillside. Quest wanted to give these organizations an aircraft that can take such conditions for years – and, according to available information, sold part of its production to mission organizations on special terms.

This results in several design features that you can see as a spotter too:

• Fixed nose-wheel landing gear with big tires: less machinery that can break, and enough ground clearance for uneven strips. According to EASA, oversized tires are also approved.
• High wing with strut: The wing sits above the cabin, so it stays clear of grass, stones and water, and passengers have an open view downward.
• Stepped wing leading edge: On the outer wing the leading edge is interrupted in a step. This fixed design keeps the ailerons effective even in very slow flight – a core part of the short takeoff and landing abilities.
• Aluminum fuselage that can be repaired even far from large maintenance shops.
• Wide cargo door in the rear fuselage, according to the manufacturer around 1.25 meters high and wide, with fold-out steps. Seats can be removed on rails, so the passenger cabin quickly becomes a cargo hold.

According to the manufacturer data from the flight manual, the Kodiak 100 needs a takeoff ground roll of around 285 meters and rolls out around 233 meters after landing. Figures like these make it attractive for islands, mountain regions and bush strips. For flights into known icing conditions it has been approved with a TKS de-icing system since 2010.

The versions: Kodiak 100 and Kodiak 900

The Kodiak comes in two basic versions. The Kodiak 100 is the original from 2004 and has been modernized several times; the Kodiak 900 is a stretched and more powerful development. Daher offers both in parallel.

Version	Introduced	Engine	Key new feature
Kodiak 100	Certification 2007	PT6A-34, 750 shp	First production version
Kodiak 100 Series II	May 2018	PT6A-34	Revised equipment and detail improvements
Kodiak 100 Series III	March 2021	PT6A-34	Garmin G1000 NXi with GFC 700 autopilot, synthetic vision, optional weather radar
Kodiak 900	July 2022	PT6A-140A, 900 shp	Fuselage about 1.2 m longer, 210 knots cruise speed, wheel fairings

The Series III mainly brought technology to the cockpit: the Garmin G1000 NXi with a fully integrated autopilot, the SurfaceWatch runway monitoring and synthetic vision, plus an optional weather radar and an executive interior with club seats and air conditioning. According to Daher its range is around 1,132 nautical miles, its top speed 183 knots.

Daher unveiled the Kodiak 900 in July 2022 at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh. Its development had begun in 2016, and the first flight took place on February 28, 2020. The fuselage is about 3.9 feet – roughly 1.2 meters – longer, and cabin volume rose by 20 percent according to the manufacturer. Under the cowling works the PT6A-140A with 900 shp, and up front turns a five-blade composite propeller from Hartzell. Daher quotes a cruise speed of 210 knots and a maximum range of 1,129 nautical miles. The 900 received FAA certification in 2022 and EASA certification in April 2023. In the European certification documents it is officially called the Kodiak 200.

Kodiak, Caravan, Porter or Otter?

Single-turboprop high-wing aircraft are the workhorses of bush flying, and at first glance they look alike. The finder helps you sort them out.

The most common mix-up is the Cessna 208 Caravan. It is the direct competitor, also a strut-braced high-wing aircraft with fixed gear and a PT6. But at 10.42 meters long the Kodiak 100 is shorter and looks much stubbier; the Caravan has a smooth wing leading edge and, depending on the version, a striking number of cabin windows. The Pilatus PC-6 Porter is slimmer, has a tailwheel and a very long nose. The classic bush planes DHC-2 Beaver and DHC-3 Otter mostly carry radial engines or converted turboprops and have a tailwheel, while the DHC-6 Twin Otter has two engines on the wings. More help identifying propeller aircraft is in the guide Telling turboprops apart.

The Kodiak as a seaplane

For many fans the Kodiak on floats is the most beautiful subject. With amphibious floats it can land on lakes, rivers and bays and still roll on land on its wheels, which are built into the floats. In the US, the float maker Wipaire received approval for its Wipline 7000 on the Kodiak as early as 2010. There are also lightweight carbon-fiber amphibious floats from Aerocet; the Aerocet 6650 is also approved by EASA for the Kodiak 100. According to Daher the Series III was designed for float operation from the start.

As a seaplane, the Kodiak competes with the classic de Havilland Canada types that shape seaplane airlines such as Harbour Air in Canada or Kenmore Air in Seattle. Compared with an old Beaver it offers more space and a modern cockpit, compared with a Twin Otter lower operating costs thanks to just one engine. On floats the Kodiak looks even taller and stockier, and the big floats run almost the whole length of the fuselage.

Who flies the Kodiak

The Kodiak has developed from a mission aircraft into an all-rounder. Besides MAF and JAARS, very different operators are among its customers today:

• Police and agencies: According to Daher, a large share of the 2025 deliveries went to US police agencies, including the Virginia State Police, the New York State Police and the San Jose Police Department. One Kodiak 900 went to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona.
• Firefighting: The Montana Department of Natural Resources received the first Kodiak 900 configured for firefighting missions in 2025.
• Skydiving: With room for up to 15 jumpers, the Kodiak 100 is popular with jump operations. In France the first Kodiak went to Héli-Béarn in Pau in early 2021, which uses it for skydiving.
• Tourism and charter: In New Zealand, Glenorchy Air flies two Kodiak 100s for scenic flights over the Southern Alps. In Japan, the charter provider Sky Trek ordered twenty aircraft in 2016.
• Private owners: With the executive interior the Kodiak is also a touring aircraft for owners who want to fly to destinations away from large airports.

A special variant is the Air Claw from Northrop Grumman, a surveillance version with an infrared camera and wide-area sensors. It shows how flexibly the simple basic design can be adapted to special tasks.

Where to find the Kodiak

In Europe the Kodiak is a rare aircraft. There are practically no scheduled flights with fixed times, and most aircraft fly in North America. Still, you have realistic chances if you look in the right places.

The most important event for Central Europe is AERO in Friedrichshafen. Around Europe’s big general aviation show, numerous private and demonstration aircraft land at Friedrichshafen Airport; Daher regularly exhibits there. More in the article on AERO Friedrichshafen. According to industry reports, the European Kodiak dealer and service company Rheinland Air Service has been based at Mönchengladbach Airport since 2014 – aircraft stop by there for maintenance.

If you travel to North America, it is much easier. The Kodiak 900 was unveiled at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, and every year many utility turboprops stand on the huge grounds; tips are in the article on EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. In Alaska, where bush flying is part of everyday life, it is worth a look at the general aviation airfields; Plane spotting in Anchorage gives you a start.

Place	Chance of a hit	Why
Sandpoint area (Idaho)	high	Manufacturer’s plant with test and delivery flights
EAA AirVenture Oshkosh	high, but only during the show	Manufacturer presentation and many owners flying in
AERO Friedrichshafen	medium, only during the show	European presentation and demonstration aircraft
Skydiving sites	medium to low	Some jump operations use the Kodiak
Large hubs like Frankfurt	very low	Hardly any general aviation, hardly any Kodiak

How to follow such flights live is explained in the guide on flight tracking with ADS-B. General tips on private and utility aircraft are under Spotting general aviation, and you can track down small airfields away from the airports with the guide Finding small airfields on maps.

Spotting in practice: targeting utility aircraft

The Kodiak confronts you with the typical challenges of general aviation: it shows up without advance notice, uses small airfields and often taxis to remote hangars. With a little preparation you can still raise your chances considerably.

The runway direction in use tells you which way aircraft take off and land; how to judge it is explained in Understanding the runway direction at an airport. Whether your location is legally fine is covered in Is plane spotting allowed?. And because the Kodiak is often registered abroad, the guide to aircraft registrations helps with looking them up.

Photo tips specifically for the Kodiak

The Kodiak is not an elegant subject but one with character. It plays to its strengths when the picture shows what it was built for.

If you are specifically after exotics, you will find inspiration under spotting rare aircraft. The same airfields often host the Pilatus PC-12, the Piper PA-18 Super Cub as a small piston-engine bush plane or the fast sister from the same house, the Daher TBM. The PT6 engine found in almost all of these aircraft comes from Pratt & Whitney Canada.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Conclusion

The Kodiak shows how strongly a purpose can shape an aircraft. Built for mission flights on grass strips, it now flies for police, fire services, skydivers, tourism operators and private owners – on land as well as on water. A strut-braced high wing, fixed gear, a short boxy fuselage and the stepped wing leading edge reveal the type. Wheel fairings, five pairs of windows and a five-blade propeller set the Kodiak 900 apart from the 100. Because the Kodiak is rare in Europe, every sighting becomes a highlight in your logbook.