Anybody use a caravan or a kodiak as a personal aircraft. What are your thoughts on it?

the Kodiak is built like a Truck, would be a fun puddle jumping toy!

Met a guy at Ocracoke, NC with a personal Caravan. He had one very narrow mission - fly a couple hundred miles to Ocracoke with girl friend, dog, bicycles, coolers, anything else he wants. He did it alot. Haven't seen him recently (I go to Oracoke a few times per year).

If I recall corectly, he had some seats in the back left home to make room for "stuff".

For my desires, no pressurization really limits the utility as a travel airplane.

But if you have a different purpose, I.e. Carry a ton of stuff, backcountry, a specific destination not far away, or my personal favorite putting it on floats, then it could be a great alternative.

Some tech mega millionaire dude had a Caravan at RHV as a personal plane a few years ago, fully plushed out executive interior like the nicest of business jets, not a spec of dirt on the outside. I don't get it, barring a bush or cargo specific need, for comparable cash I'd want something faster and would go with a TBM or Pilatus...

I think a Kodiak would be a awesome personal machine. 174kts on 48 gph of JetA with a 3500lb useful. Twice the useable and twice the fuel as a baron at similar speed.

Here is a 2009 with only 286hrs on it for the price of a new baron.
http://www.trade-a-plane.com/detail/air ... 45460.html

Send Fred Scott a PM.

He had a caravan on floats at one time.

Fred likes the "north" country......probably closer to "narwth"

Leldon

There used to be at least three C208's based in the Bay Area for owners that I helped train. They seemed to like them, but as others have said, they have a specific purpose.

I have about 1,000 hours in Caravans. You're welcome to PM for a phone number to discuss them, if you wish.

My father bought a brand new Grand Caravan in 1999. We put in an executive interior and state of the art (at the time) Garmin avionics. We have a total of 10 seats, air conditioning and the cargo pod. We still are flying the airplane today, now with a G600.

Our Caravan has been to the tip of South America, Alaska, and Nova Scotia. Our normal trips include 340 nm to our ranch in South Texas and back on one tank of gas. We also do 650 nm from KFTW to KASE and land with 2 hours of fuel in reserve.

Here are the great points of the Caravan: Simple, robust systems. I cannot remember missing a trip in 15 years for unscheduled maintenance. It is very comfortable, the interior is about a foot wider than a King Air. It is a very forgiving airplane to fly. The workload is on par with a 206, which is great for a owner flown airplane. The pod is easy to load and will swallow two Suburbans worth of luggage. It is the only airplane that I will allow passengers help load. Four doors make it the easiest airplane to get in and out of. You can fly it like a small airliner, or you can fly it like a 206 down low.

The limitations: 150 to 160 knots at 300 to 350 lbs per hour. It is not efficient. Stay out of ice. You don't have the power to get above it, and the airframe does not carry ice well. Hot and high performance is not good. I only fly into Aspen in the morning in good VFR weather. Gross weight climb out of Aspen is about 400 fpm. It is not pressurized. Its best performance seems to be at 10,000 to 12,000 ft. Flying there for long periods time is fatiguing unless you use oxygen.

There is no other airplane like the Caravan. The Kodiak Quest is smaller and made for a different mission. The new Caravan Ex with a bigger engine, G1000, and TKS solves many of the deficiencies, but it is still a big moving van.

I currently fly the Caravan and a B36TC. I prefer the Caravan in weather. It is much easier to fly with the reliability of a PT-6.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Butt simple flying decent speed (close to a baron), ability to land pretty much anywhere, ability to fit 10 adults and go 1,000 miles.

600 miles at 175knots = 3hr 23 mins
600 miles at 220knots = 2h 42 mins
600 miles at 260 knots = 2h 17 mins

Definite time difference but for simplicity of flying I'm not sure it can be beat. You don't get out of the weather (unless you wear oxygen)

TBM is way too small for me. I'm looking at the Pilatus too. It's double in price to either a Kodiak or a Caravan. For less than 600 mile trips and numerous trips to the islands, it may be overkill.

A friend of mine had a Beaver on amphibs and wanted to go faster so he bought a new Caravan on amphibs. I got about a half hour in it. Easy to fly, basically a 182. Insurance for a guy with a lot of float time was $98K per year. He kept it for a few years and sold it because it was too much plane for his wife to handle around the dock. With any wind she could not handle it.

Michael, do you have any idea what a new one costs? I can't find it anywhere.

And with the price of Jet A on these CAA cards 48gph aint all that much considering you can take the whole family. And play catch in the back!

Edward, thanks, great post. I thought that the 208 had almost the same size cabin as the Quest, 15ft approx., but the EX was about 3-4 feet longer.

TBM is way too small for me. I'm looking at the Pilatus too. It's double in price to either a Kodiak or a Caravan. For less than 600 mile trips and numerous trips to the islands, it may be overkill.