Last week was "Mountain Week" for our flight orientation staff and trainees. It is the culmination of three and a half months' specialized training in the Cessna 206 and Helio Courier, in preparation for field assignment. Host for the project is Avery County Airport near Spruce, Pine, NC. We joined the Training staff for two days with the Kodiak and let local people take rides in it. One side project on Saturday was checking out one of the mountain airstrips we use for training, Friendship airport, owned by the Jim Huff family. You can see the airstrip in the upper left part of this photo from the Kodiak turning on to final approach.
This beautiful little landing site, located just a few miles from Asheville, NC, sits on a hillside at between 6 and 8% slope, and is a mere 1,000 feet long (not including some useable over-runs). Mark and I took 8KQ into Friendship and shut down to spend a little time with the Huff family. 
We then each did three landings and takeoffs before returning to Avery County. Just a few more lessons learned on what the Kodiak can handle, and what techniques work best in such a situation. Now this was starting to look something like what we will be seeing on the field in September! For a reminder, take a look at "What it's All About" on this blog.
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