I'm almost finished with my owner-assisted annual inspection...no big surprises, and it's a simple plane in great shape, but it sure seems like a lot of work...

So now the search continues, and it's time to look at Maule's! It's come to my attention that some people on this site like Maule's, and before I go talk to the Maule dealer I thought I'd ask people what their favorite Maule or Maule feature is.

The 220hp M4 seems to have a loyal following, and that blue and yellow one is mighty pretty, but the Fralklin engine fills me with dread.

The M-5 through M-7 look pretty similar on paper, but I imagine there's more to it than I'm seeing. So what say you Maule owners...where to start looking?

Ravi, go to my site and select 'specifications' then 'chronology' and this will give you a list of models, when built, wingspan, engine, etc.
Lycomings are best but more expensive. Also the later the model, the more expensive, generally speaking though it depends also on condition.
Come by and kick tyres and take a ride, you're right next door.
Jeremy

I would be all over that blue and yellow one. It is in your neck of the woods. Have you gone to look at it yet? Do some Franklin 220 research. Get on the Maule forum and talk to the M4 220 guys. I am sure that they will know a lot more that guys like me.

I you are interested in a strait tail 182, then I am the guy you should come to for advice. I still think they are a really great plane but I am envious of the cavernous doore on the Maule.

Tim

As an owner and operator of a Franklin for the past two years, I can sympathize with your suspicion of the brand. When I first began researching Stinsons I queried the gents on the Stinson forum about my concerns and got blasted for even asking the question. In their view Franklin naysayers tended to be individuals working off of heresay - rarely those who had actually owned and flown one. I flew behind a variety of 165s when I was looking for my Stinson and was readily impressed by their smoothness and performance. So I took the plunge...

The good news is there is a support network out there for them. Greg Lucas (cglucas.com) and Bruce Kown are the two names you need to know, and if you have any questions about the 220 you are looking at I would give either of them a call. Even better, their are two gentlemen in Poland (http://www.franklin-engines.com/) who have already begun producing approved parts and promise to expand their offerings - supposedly to include complete new 220 engines. So the future may be bright for Franklin operators.

Having said all that, I am sitting in a hotel room in Auburn, Ca right now at the completion of a 4-day road trip from NC. It was supposed to be a cross country to relocate my plane here (grass valley actually), but it ate an exhaust valve on the first leg of the trip. This failure is likely not due to a design flaw, but in considering my options I intend to look seriously at Lycs and Contis.

Vick, Bummer...had I known you were stuck in town I'd have come enlisted your help with my annual . By the way, there is a guy here in Auburn with a 108-2 converted to a Lycoming O-360, which he absolutely loves. Seems like it would be an interesting conversion for the M-4 also, though I've never seen one.

Honestly there is just about nothing I enjoy less than when my plane doesn't run. I'm sure a Franklin engine is a fine engine in the right hands and with the right care, but it's just a bit more trouble than I want to take on. That beautiful M-4 is priced right, but the engine looks like it might only have a couple hundred hours left on it...that's one year of flying for us, and I don't want to spend six flightless months trying to get a rebuild done. I sure don't want to have to send to Poland for parts! Give me an engine with easy to acquire parts that anyone can work on, even if I have to pay for it up front, which it appears I will .

Though I gotta say I like that blue and yellow paint!

Oh ya, I investigated putting the Atlee Dodge folding seats in a 170...pretty much covered at least 18 months of Maule insurance difference. One day I'll quit being surprised by the cost of this, but not soon.

The O-360 swap for the 108 sounds great - do you know if he is running a C/S or fixed-pitch prop? There are actually two STCs, one for each configuration.

The other popular swap is to the O-470 - that delivers some pretty sweet numbers on the same fuel consumption as the stock 165. Of course you're talking $30k+ to get into it.

I'm with you on the parts and ease of maintenance issue. The 360 and 470 are two of the most common engines out there, so finding someone to work on them should never be an issue.

Not to many Maule guy responces. Glad it got turned into a Stinson conversation.

Tim

The O-360 swap for the 108 sounds great - do you know if he is running a C/S or fixed-pitch prop? There are actually two STCs, one for each configuration.

He's running the fixed pitch, which he says he is very happy with. I think he mentioned there is a stc for the 150 horse 0-300 Lycoming which is less than half the price of the 0-360 stc. He said he's building another one as well, but I don't remember what exactly he's doing to it.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Maule, they have impressive performance. My mechanic, who works on them frequently, refers to them as certified homebuilts.

IdahoSupercub

Univair holds STC's to install the 180 horse Lyc O-360 in the 108 series,and the 200 horse IO-360 into the 108-3. The 180 horse is fixed pitch, the 200 is constant speed.
Don't know who sells the 470 STC. There's also an STC to install the 210 horse Continental IO-360.

Eric

Just answer the mans question. I do believe that was our instruction a while back.

So ravi, my answer is the huge cargo doors.

Now that being said. This is a good engine thread over at the MaulePilots.Org EBB.

http://maulepilots.org/forums/viewtopic ... sc&start=0

Buy what makes you happy. Rob

So ravi, my answer is the huge cargo doors.

Huge cargo doors seem to be top of the list!

Idaho SuperCub wrote:Don't get me wrong, I like the Maule, they have impressive performance. My mechanic, who works on them frequently, refers to them as certified homebuilts.

IdahoSupercub

OK, so we aren't allowed to brag about Maule's anymore, but I don't have to put up with this. A little super cub is cute, but not good for much really except for putt-putting around at 90 mph. Call me when you get one with a half ton useful load, can haul a family of four, file and fly IFR at 130 kts. with 5 hour legs with reserve and go "almost" anywhere a SC can, all the while it's a newer airplane, still in production with factory support for far less money.

Slow flying IFR certified Putt Putt if you please!

IdahoSuperCub

a64pilot wrote: OK, so we aren't allowed to brag about Maule's anymore, but I don't have to put up with this.

Whatever you do, don't brag about your reading comprehension....

This thread is you Maule guys' chance to shine! The question actually is "tell me about a Maule!!!!"

Must not be any cookies in the cookie jar

Wide open for all you Maule guys and its a boring read

Okay.........I flew my M5 to KEUG from KOLM which is about 171 NM on Friday. GPS was clocking 160kts, chock to chock 1:10. Now a 182Q would have done the same time since it was the tailwind that gave me the kick. Oh....I had to pay a little extra on the way back. I don't have any of those trick folding bikes...but if I pull the front wheel off the regular kind they will fit in the back with the seat out (now I don't know how the seat comes out or where it is, or if this really happened, since its not in the logbook). But it was fun riding around San Juan Island.

There was about an 18kt headwind leaving KEUG and it was like stepping onto an elevator when I grabbed the flaps...."going up!". Maybe rolled 150'. Fun day.

Some of the stuff I do or have done with a Maule.

Typical flight when bushflying M5-235 in AK years ago.
Leave Fairbanks with myself and 3 hunters and gear for Kogoluktuk River 2.2 hours away, land on a gravel bank which, depending on amount of rain, might allow 350ft or 650ft. Drop the hunters and gear off, load up with 600lbs of meat and nearly 70" antlers so big that the flight back was doors off and depart that gravel bar and fly back to Fairbanks, having enough fuel for reserve and carrying survival gear.
Refuel and take another load in.
A days work.

Put a 55gal barrel in the back and fly via Greenland and Iceland for sightseeing on the way to England.

Two people, two bikes, two chairs, icechest, foldup canoe, food etc for a month long hangout from strip to strip wherever my fancy takes me.

Get the shortest landing (3knot wind) in 86ft at the competitions.

Fly to 10000ft from sealevel in 11mins and drop out 5 jumpers.
Perform emergency drops to downed people, mining supplies, equipment to salvage old aircraft etc etc

Go fishing and diving on floats to miniscule reef islands in the Bahamas.

Crop dust the back 40 faster than a Pawnee. Actually a customer did this and sold his Pawnee.

Four people from Calistoga to Truckee with skis for a day's skiing and back by nightfall.

Been in someone elses Maule who knew what he was doing, in a loop and a roll.

It would take a book to detail all the adventures, but hope this answers some of the original request

Jeremy

Jeremy,
Thank god someone finally spoke up...I was about to ask what people love about flying a Cessna so the Maule guys would come out of hiding. We'll be over to see you when we finally get a day off together and the 140 is back on three toes.

Now, I don't in any way mean this to be inflammatory, and I'm really not trying to pick a fight, but if Maule's do so much at such a reasonable price, why is it that they haven't taken over the commercial backcountry market? Seems like I see a whole lot more other-than-Maule's listed for hire, which puzzles me. You'd think a Maule M-X (at half the price of a Cessna 206 and with a bigger cargo door) would drive that flatland company right out of business, but it aint happening.

I really don't claim to know what the answer to that is, and I don't necessarily think the answer has much to do with which plane is better for the job at hand, but it makes me wonder. It could be as simple as the insurance premium, which is really the only thing that keeps me from diving head first into Lake Maule. Of course, that begs the question of why a Part 135 operator would pay more to insure a Maule than a Cessna X...a question which I've never gotten an answer to that I could understand. I know that's not saying much.

Bottom line is that I'm an ignorant consumer at the bottom of the food chain trying to figure out if I'll get screwed harder by one make of aircraft than another. I once took pity on a homeless woman and, being taller than her, took it upon myself to fish various products out of the grocery store dumpster. It surprised me how brand conscious she was, refusing some items based on nothing but brand loyalty. That was more that twenty years ago, but I find myself identifying with her more and more each day…