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A fun Mighty Maule video

Our North American cousins seem to take their off road tail wheel aircraft everywhere, impressed that their other half is also game for living out of a rucksack.



Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom

Amazing! And great!

LSZH, LSZF, Switzerland

Yes!! Almost makes me want to go out and buy a Maule !

Excellent video, thanks! Can’t watch that without a big

Bordeaux

That looks like jolly good fun!

Forever learning
EGTB

Yes!! Almost makes me want to go out and buy a Maule !

but before you do so, consider some of the pros and cons – based on 3 years ownership and about 400 hours in a MX-7-180:

Pro:
Relatively inexpensive (compared with “Brand C” bushplanes)
Very docile easy to fly
Simple to maintain with reasonably priced parts
Big loading door and 900 # useful load
8 hour endurance and surprisingly comfy seats
Can be equipped with A/P etc. for IFR
Even faster cruising speed than a super cub
Forgiving oleo landing gear with narrow track for farm roads
No performance data in flight manual for the Federales to hang you with

Con:
Feels a bit “homebuilt” (compared with “Brand C”)
Rather boring to fly
Parts not always off the shelf from the factory
If your flying buddy has a Cub you’ll have to carry half of his fuel and gear
Limited toilet facilities – best to make precautionary landing(s) on a long trip
Non FIKI
Take off (usually more than 6 seconds) is even worse than a Carbon Cub
Anaemic climb rate with 31" Alaskan Bushwheels – but a Maule without bushwheels is like a lurcher with two broken legs
Mud and sh1t from farms stick like glue to wings and tail
Water splashes through poorly fitting doors on lake and river bed landings
Water landings tend to piss off the Feds

Glenswinton, SW Scotland, United Kingdom

Rather boring to fly

Your flying never looks boring to me!

Buying, Selling, Flying
EISG, Ireland

Very cool!

LFHN - Bellegarde - Vouvray France

That’s amazing. Is that the “tundra tyres” option?

I flew in a Maule some years ago, and flew it for maybe 30 mins. It got airborne in probably about 50m! The downside was very little crosswind capability (unless you have plenty of ground sideways) and the owner’s wife was vomiting in the back seat for the whole flight – light UK summer turbulence.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

The downside was very little crosswind capability (unless you have plenty of ground sideways)

Jacko may step in, but am not aware the Maule is crosswind challenged – it has plenty of rudder and good brakes, perhaps a slightly forward CG so you may want to be careful on the brakes on a wheel landing – but preferred technique is a two wheel landing (upwind and tail).

Tailwheel bush planes have good rudder effectiveness precisely for crosswinds – you may need a couple or more wing walkers for taxying afterwards, if say its 30 knots plus.

Did you mean if the runway is wide you can land across? A Super Cub might have a landing roll comfortably in 30-40m once winds are 20knots on the nose – although I prefer to be cautious and would limit myself to 10 knot crosswind.

Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom
15 Posts
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