idaho united states key people ceo sam hill products general aviation aircraft owner setouchi holdings 2015 1 number of employees 184 2015 parent tsuneishi group website www.questaircraft.com quest kodiak quest aircraft company is a japanese owned aircraft manufacturer located in sandpoint idaho united states . quest was started in 2001 to design and provide aircraft suitable for domestic and international humanitarian applications . in february 2015 the company was sold to setouchi holdings of japan . setouchi had been acting as a dealer for quest and as a result of that relationship decided to purchase the company . 1 2 mission edit the company was founded primarily for the purpose of creating an aircraft specifically suited for the humanitarian and mission field . quest aircraft also works with multiple not for profit groups that partner with the company as quest mission team members . the company business model is especially unique the profits earned by selling the kodiak commercially are used to subsidize the manufacturing of approximately every tenth aircraft which is then delivered to a participating not for profit organization . 3 history edit the earliest origins of quest aircraft can be traced back to 1998 when idaho air group was founded by tom hamilton and david voetmann . tom and david saw a need to develop an aircraft uniquely suited to the rugged flying environment found in humanitarian aviation . after raising the necessary funding the quest aircraft company launched in 2001 with a staff of 14 . after a 27 000 square foot facility was dedicated in 2002 work started on the first prototype aircraft which led to the production of the quest kodiak turboprop . 4 paul schaller became ceo of the company in 2004 and by 2009 the employment force was 340 people . 5 following a soft economy in 2010 the workforce was reduced to 155 employees but 2011 saw a fresh infusion of capital and a change in executive leadership as schaller migrated to a consulting role in the company . 6 sam hill is the present ceo of quest aircraft joining the company in 2012 after previous experience at embraer aircraft corporation and honda aircraft company . 7 in february 2015 the company was purchased by setouchi holdings part of the tsuneishi group of japan . 1 2 products edit quest kodiak see also edit list of companies based in idaho references edit a b c turboprop builder quest aircraft sold to japanese group . retrieved 23 february 2015 . a b new ownership for quest aircraft . avweb . 17 february 2015 . retrieved 24 february 2015 . mission and history . retrieved 22 february 2014 . company overview . retrieved 22 february 2014 . namowitz dan 2011 06 10 . quest aircraft ceo to depart ; other changes announced . aopa aircraft owners and pilots association . aircraft owners and pilots association . retrieved 2012 10 15 . changes quest aircraft shifts management shows progress . aero news network . 2011 06 12 . retrieved 2012 10 15 . management team . retrieved 22 february 2014 . marsh alton k. aopa pilot 2006 external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to quest aircraft . quest aircraft home page cam case study of quest kodiak retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title quest aircraft & oldid 740970651 categories aircraft manufacturers of the united statescompanies based in idaho2004 establishments in idahohidden categories commons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages bahasa indonesia edit links this page was last modified on 24 september 2016 at 14 38 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view