Pilot project

Missions: A new missionary plane may revolutionize ministry to the underdeveloped world | Mark Bergin

Missionary pilot Dave Voetmann spent a quarter-century looking for places to touch down amid the jungles and deserts of Africa. Now, he has found a permanent airstrip in the open spaces of Sandpoint, Idaho. It's there that Voetmann landed his beloved Quest Aircraft Company and set out creating a plane to reach every tribe and tongue.

The Kodiak, a rugged, single-propeller bush plane, will hit the market this summer at $1.3 million. With pre-orders approaching 100, Voetmann is scrambling to double his manufacturing plant's current production capacity of one per week.

Such demand does not surprise the seasoned aviator, who designed the Kodiak specifically to solve the frustrations of missionary pilots. Voetmann, 72, understands the need to land on narrow and treacherous strips of terrain. He knows all too well the maddening inability to lift off from tight quarters with a full load. "I had to leave people and cargo behind repeatedly, because I just didn't have room," he recalls. "That was a daily occurrence."