Maule flying experience?

[Wayne Lorgus]

As a 300-hour commercial pilot (all of it in C152s, C172s and PA-28s)
contemplating his first aircraft purchase, I am curious whether anyone
can
give me some feedback on the flying characteristics of a Maule and the
difficulty of transitioning to one. The aircraft seems to offer a good
balance
of reasonable cross-country speed, useful load, STOL safety margin, and

relatively low maintenance costs, but I have no experience in flying
one, and
no idea how its flying (and landing) characteristics relate to the
trigear
Cessnas and Pipers I'm used to.

Feedback would be most appreciated. Even more appreciated would be a
referral to a Maule owner who might be willing to give me a ride in
one!

[Edwin Johnson]

I've had my M5-235 Maule since 1986 and find it a delightful plane, good for
'play' and cross country. Although not as fast as some of the cleaner, metal
planes it has relatively good cross country speed, is well balanced and
light on the controls, and for a blend of characteristics is probably the
best plane for the money. It is honest in both maintenance, being of simple
construction, as well as flying characteristics, with no really bad, quirky
habits.

I don't think it would be any more difficult a transistion than any other
tailwheel airplane, but I had a Luscombe for 17 years before getting this,
so can't really speak to your circumstance. As with any tailwheel
transistion, my best advice is to learn, especially at first, to look for
nuances of movement as to direction of movement while on the ground and
learn to act on those with the appropriate control input. This will become
clear as you work with an instructor during the transistion.

Feel free to contact me for further discussion at my email (below). Good
luck in your decision. ...Edwin

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ Edwin Johnson.........elj@prysm.net ~
~ http://www.prysm.net/~elj ~
~ ~
~ "Once you have flown, you will walk the ~
~ earth with your eyes turned skyward, ~
~ for there you have been, there you long ~
~ to return." -- da Vinci ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Stuart Goering]

Where are you located? I'd be happy to give you a ride, but I'm based at
Merril Field in Anchorage, Alaska.

I bought my M-7-235C in September 1997, and it has been exactly as
advertised; my only gripe (which I knew about before I ordered it) is the
relatively low useful load. I think your assessment of relative value is
right on target.

I made the transition from tricycle gear in an MX-7-160 at Spence Field
(home of the Maule factory) in 10 hours over three days. I had about 1000
hours as a commercial CFI at the time. I have since done one tailwheel
transition/Maule checkout as an instructor. Maules are not terribly
difficult to fly or land, but they are not especially like anything else
I've flown before (Cessna 152, 172, 172XP, 182, 185, 206 and T210, Piper
PA-36, Beech C23, F33 and A36, Mooney 201).

I'd strongly recommend a thorough checkout from an instructor with plenty of
Maule experience, which are admittedly hard to find in many parts of the
country. I can recommend Maule Flight at Spence for flight instruction,
maintenance and used aircraft (although I bought mine new).

Stuart Goering
COM ASEL CFI based at Merrill Field (MRI or PAMR for the ICAO types)
N483AK M-7-235C

Wayne Lorgus wrote in message <366B74C3...@icdc.com>...

[ArtHartley]

I had a M-6 / 235 for about five years (sold it for a baron). If I were to go
back to owning a single, it would be another Maule. Excellent flying machine. I
also got my checkout down at Spence field by Raymond Maule (son of the
original designer). Great folks.

Art

[THoeks1567]

I'm doing my Instrument training in a Maule tricycle gear. Did my primary PP
training in a Warrior. Some previous work in Cessnas. Maules are less stable
than Warriors but similar to the Cessna series. Maules nearly could delete the
ailerons for turns as they are very rudder dependent. Landing is no problem
except they tend to drop like a rock if you don't leave a little power in (good
for STOL but not so good for squeekers on log patches of asphalt. They rent
them at Marshall, MI (RMY) and have qualified instructors who fly them (both
trikes and tailwheel varieties)

Tim Hoekstra

[Jeff Mullen]

Check out Alpha Aviation. Not sur of web address, but know that they have
one, along with e-mail. They have a couple Maule's at least. They use them
to tow gliders. They may also have them for rent??? They are located in
N.W. Washington (Arlington and Bellingham)