You noticed in 62 that they increased the gross weight. They did not increase the usefull load. The empty plane weighs more than the 61 so to keep the same usefull load they just lowered the service ceiling. Heard of a guy that just lowered his sevice ceiling in his strait tail 182 so he figured he could increase his usefull load to that of a 62 model. Met him in Austin.

The 62, 63 and 64 have the same tail feathers and are the most nose heavy of all the 182's. The later 182's improved some but never came close the narrow model 182's slow flight feal.

Just a simple question in the original post and this turned into a 182 thread.

Took my wife and dog flying today. This was her first time from our grass. dogs been up before.

Tim

My thanks to those of you that know airplanes and took my enquiry serious and provided useful information.

I flew over to Orlando and looked at, and flew, a used 260 HP Maule with tricycle gear - very nice and a good performer. I then drove over to Moultrie, Georgia and toured the Maule factory and had a demo flight in their 235 HP Tricycle gear Maule. Very impressive as we took off and landed right on the factory's ramp. I met with Brent and Ray Maule and they showed me how they are beefing up the wing for an additional 300 pound gross and about 280 pound useful load on the M9 which they hope to have approval from FAA this summer. For any of you interested in the performance, etc of the Maule, it's all on the web.

I'm now going to research a Turbo 182 with fixed gear and will look into some of the suggestions you've made with respect to the engine and Stol.

Thanks
Bob