For reasons that are both easy to understand and completely counterintuitive, the four-seat, piston-powered airplane has, for decades, dominated the GA marketplace. And it continues to do so, even though the number of pilots who buy these planes as a transportation tool has slowed dramatically, mostly in lock step with the slowing of the overall GA piston market. The tens of thousands of personal planes sold every year in the ’60s and ’70s, the true heyday of flying in the United States, has turned into fewer than a thousand planes in a good year, and the two dozen or more available models have shrunk to just a handful.

That four-seaters should be the prototypical GA ride makes sense to pilots—but to few others. Considering that most flights go out with one or two occupants (including the pilot), it seems a two-seat alternative would make sense. I’ve thought so for years, but the market was never developed for such a runabout. This is surprising because two-seat planes, like the Van’s RV series, dominate the kitbuilt market and have for decades. Not so in the Part 23 world.

Last year, GA manufacturers worldwide turned out 1,139 piston-powered planes. In the US, manufacturers of piston planes delivered 829, including 771 singles. Of those singles, 380 of them were Cirrus SR22s or SR20s, and 160 of them were Cessna Skylanes, Skyhawks or TTx (a single delivery).

For its part, Piper Aircraft delivered 114 four-seaters in 2018. So those three manufacturers—Cessna, Cirrus and Piper—accounted for all but 87 of the piston singles sold. Sales of six-seat (or larger) piston planes need to be factored in, as well. Piper sold 20 M350s (formerly the Mirage) and Beech handed over 15 G36s.

Internationally, it doesn’t get any more crowded. The top seller among other companies was the Diamond DA40, with an impressive (but still modest by historic standards) 45 deliveries. The bottom line is that recent sales of four-seat models are scant, and those sales are dominated by a few companies.

Moreover, the profile of the customers putting cash on the cowling for four-seat planes has shifted tremendously, as well. In the ’60s and ’70s, though it’s hard to come up with firm numbers, most four-seat piston planes were marketed and sold to private owners. That still happens in some instances, especially in the case of Cirrus Aircraft, which targets affluent pilots looking for high-tech personal transportation. The two other major players, the Textron Aviation Cessna Skyhawk and the Piper Aircraft Archer, are overwhelmingly sold to flight schools.

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There have been a couple of departures from our last roundup of four-seat planes. Textron Aviation pulled the plug on the critically acclaimed but slow-selling TTx (formerly the Columbia, among other names), and it ended production of its problematic diesel-powered 172 JT-A. Piper announced this spring that it was no longer producing its four-seat retractable landing gear Arrow model, though the company acknowledged that it could and likely would restart production if a substantial fleet order materialized.

Another major change in the marketplace is the drying up of the piston-single retractable gear market. Beech sold 15 Bonanzas, and Mooney sold seven each of its Ovation Ultra and Acclaim Ultra, and that was about it. There are a couple of emerging retractable-gear models. The Pipistrel Panthera has been inching toward certification for a few years now—is this the year it gets it done? —and Diamond’s exciting DA50 retractable-gear single is looking as though it might get the company’s attention after sitting on the back burner for the past several years. Both planes are included at the end of this roundup as being on the horizon, thought if you’ve been in aviation very long, you know that the horizon is usually much farther away than it looks.

The other big wild card in this whole four-seat equation is the Part 23 rewrite—I guess we’ll have to come up with another term that now it’s been rewritten. These liberalized certification standards have been adopted but not put into practice much. As such, the new FAA standards will allow manufacturers to wrangle approval for their light planes by using industry consensus standards, much the same way as it’s done in the LSA world but with more FAA oversight. Will these changes result in more Part 23 four-seaters (or any other type, for that matter)? We’re just not sure. But in the LSA segment, this certification approach has resulted in an impressive number of new designs.

Lastly, there remain two big stumbling blocks for the return of the four-seat market to anything resembling its former glory. First, and most obvious to the consumer, is that these new planes are expensive, not just in dollar numbers, but even when adjusted for inflation and other factors. Second, the manufacturers aren’t getting rich on these planes, either. Everything they use to build these planes, including the labor, is more expensive, too.

One ray of hope is, ironically, the aging of the piston fleet. With the introduction by Garmin and a few others of game-changing avionics retrofit options for owners of older planes, which is a lot of us, there’s suddenly new life for these planes. That doesn’t mean they’re getting any younger though, just that they’re more useful to us for a while longer. But the truth is, the supply of decent used planes is shrinking, and they cost a lot to maintain.  There’s nothing we can do about either of those things.

There’s also the subject of electric power. The dream of having small planes that run on battery power is great, but it’s not happening anytime soon. Four-seat planes are about twice as heavy as two-seaters, and battery power doesn’t make much sense on two-seaters, yet. Until there are major breakthroughs in battery storage capacity and/or weight, electric flight will remain more science experiment than practical solution.

Some of the four-seaters that remain in production, however, are impressive examples of how new technology can successfully breathe life into great, old designs. Cessna’s high-wingers spring to mind. Others, like the Cirrus piston singles, are new airplanes, relatively speaking at least, and show that innovation can actually create new markets.

Click the button below to see our lineup of production Part 23 four-seat singles. Enjoy.

Cirrus SR22 G6/SR22T

Okay, the Cirrus SR22 isn’t really a four-seater—it’s a four-/five-seater, but we’ll allow it since the plane’s general configuration is identical to other recent Cirrus models, but with extra room inside to add a third, smaller backseat passenger. It’s a good thing we’re counting them, too, as the SR22 is the most-produced light plane in the world. It’s not the fastest piston single in the skies—that distinction belongs to the Mooney Acclaim Ultra, but the SR22 is the most technologically advanced model available, with its built-in whole-airplane recovery parachute system, optional known ice protection, excellent exterior lighting and much more. It’s also the bestselling single in the world once again, despite a steep price of around $900,000 with all the bells and whistles. The latest model, the SR22 G6, has the Garmin G1000 NXi avionics suite, which was rare when Cirrus launched its G6, but is now in just about every new model. NXi is great, but Cirrus takes it several steps further with its Perspective keyboard controller which, with practice, cuts down on pilot workload and eases operation. The SR22 is available in a normally aspirated or turbocharged version, though most buyers go with the turbo. That would be our call, too, as the blower allows the plane to achieve its best true airspeeds when you head up to the mid-teens, where we spend most of our time when we’re flying the plane.

Niche: Premium fixed-gear transportation plane.
Bragging Points: The chute, great styling, outstanding visibility and excellent cross-country performance, high style and excellent visibility.
Tradeoffs: Premium price point, control feel that leaves something to be desired, less-than-best-in-class speed.
Base Price: $539,900; $639,900
Price Typically Equipped: $950,000
Competitors: Mooney Acclaim Ultra, Mooney Ovation Ultra
Fun Fact: Cirrus offers trade-up programs for pilots looking to up their game in an SR22 and later transition to the SF50 Vision Jet.

Specs SR22; SR22T
Main Construction: Composite
Engine/HP: Continental IO-550-N/310 hp; Continental TSIO-550-K/315 hp
Propeller: Hartzell, 3-blade, composite, constant speed, 78 diameter; Hartzell, 3-blade, composite, constant speed, 78″ diameter
Avionics: Cirrus Perspective+ By Garmin (Garmin G1000 NXi)
Top Cruise Speed: 183 kts; 213 kts
Stall, Landing Configuration: 60 kts; 60 kts
Max Range: 1,118 nm; 1,021 nm
Max Takeoff Weight: 3,600 lbs.; 3,600 lbs.
Payload (full fuel): 798 lbs.; 716 lbs.
Useful Load: 1,330 lbs.; 1,248 lbs.
Takeoff/Landing Distance: 1,082 ft./1,178 ft. (groundroll); 1,517 ft./1,178 ft. (groundroll)

Mooney Acclaim Ultra

Mooney is back in business, and its latest models offer huge improvements in comfort and utility, while taking nothing off the eye-popping speed numbers. The Mooney Acclaim Ultra is different than previous Mooneys because it has two doors—one on each side. Construction is very similar to previous sheet-metal Mooneys, with the exception of the forward fuselage section being composite, which allowed the company to add a door and make both doors substantially larger than previous portals. As a bonus, the windows are also lower for better overall visibility. How fast is the Acclaim Ultra? As they say in Beantown, it’s wicked fast, to the tune of 240-plus knots fast. To get that speed, Mooney pairs its slick aerodynamics to a 310 hp turbocharged Continental TSIO-550. The Acclaim Ultra is now standard with the Garmin G1000 NXi, so owners can get all the latest avionics goodness. In all, the Acclaim Ultra is a four-seat single that’s faster than any other plane in its segment, has FIKI ice protection as an option and is more comfortable than ever.

Niche: Premium retractable-gear personal transportation plane.
Bragging Points: Best speed in the world, greatly improved interior, comfortable seats, tremendous range.
Tradeoffs: It’s smaller inside than an SR22 or TTx, and the gear adds complexity, weight and, down the road, maintenance.
Base Price: $769,000
Competitors: Cessna TTx, Cirrus SR22
Fun Fact: The Acclaim Ultra can trace its roots back to the original Al Mooney-designed M20 of 1955, with a wood wing. It’s come a long way since then, but it’s still built in Kerrville, Texas.

Specs
Main Construction: Composite
Engine/HP: Continental TSIO-550-G/280 hp
Propeller: Hartzell, 3-blade, metal, constant speed, 76″ diameter
Avionics: G1000 NXi
Top Cruise Speed: 242 kts
Stall, Landing Configuration: 56 kts
Max Range: 1,100nm (45-min. reserve, standard tanks)
Max Takeoff Weight: 3,368 lbs.
Payload (full fuel): 384 lbs.
Useful Load: 1,000 lbs.
Takeoff/Landing Distance: 2,100 ft./2,650 ft. (50 ft. obstacle)

Mooney Ovation Ultra

When Mooney got back into business several years ago now, Job One was to reinvigorate the lineup. In 2017, Mooney got FAA approval for its Acclaim Ultra, the turbocharged version of its slick airframe. The normally aspirated model, the Ovation Ultra, came next. The company got the thumbs up for that model last year. Like the Acclaim Ultra, the Ovation Ultra gets a fiberglass shell on the forward fuselage in place of the former sheet-metal outer shell. As on the Acclaim, this gave Mooney the ability to reimagine the forward shell, adding a pilot’s side door, enlarging and lowering the windows, all without adding additional weight. Like the Acclaim Ultra, the Ovation Ultra features the Garmin G1000 NXi avionics suite. Known icing protection is available, as is air conditioning. The big differentiator between Ovation and Acclaim is the powerplant. The Acclaim, designed to fly high, relies on better true airspeeds up there without losing horsepower for its best-in-class speed. The Ovation, on the other hand, accomplishes this with more power—310 hp compared to 280 hp for the Acclaim Ultra. It works great, too. The Ovation Ultra is the fastest normally aspirated production piston single, achieving just a couple of ticks short of 200 knots true. The model also boasts tremendous range, greater than 1,400 nm, and terrific climbing ability.

Niche: High-performance retractable-gear transportation plane
Bragging Points: Fastest non-turbo plane in its class. Top-notch avionics. 
Tradeoffs: Not as roomy as its fixed-gear competition. Does its best work at lower altitudes.
Base Price: $689,000
Competitors: Cirrus SR22, Mooney Acclaim Ultra
Fun Fact: Mooney delivered seven Ovation Ultras in 2018, the same number as for the Acclaim Ultra.

Specs
Main Construction: Metal with forward-fuselage composite skin
Engine/HP: Continental IO-550-G/310 hp
Propeller: Hartzell, 3-blade, metal, constant speed, 76″ diameter
Avionics: Garmin G1000 NXi
Top Cruise Speed: 197 kts
Stall, Landing Configuration: 59 kts
Max Range: 900 nm (45-minute reserve, standard tanks)
Max Takeoff Weight: 3,368 lbs.
Payload (full fuel): 514 lbs.
Useful Load: 1,130 lbs.
Takeoff/Landing Distance: 1,600 ft./2,500 ft. (50 ft. obstacle)

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In an iconic piece of aviation advertising, Belford D. Maule, universally known as B.D., used to tail his demonstrator ship deep into his Moultrie, Georgia, hangar. In a blast of noise and a cloud of dust, he shot out the front door with the nose angling sharply to the sky, the giant “MAULE” letters on the front face of the hangar clearly visible. Captured on film, that image formed the centerpiece of Maule marketing materials for decades, and Sam Lyons later immortalized the act with his painting “Be Back In A Minute.”

Fifty years later, Spence Air Base doubles as a fairground. Taxiing to the nearest runway is now a 10-minute affair of nosing through chain-link gates, slaloming light poles and picking between the buildings that house Moultrie’s Agricultural Exposition. The company’s reins have changed hands through the generations, but the Maule aircraft design remains soundly fixed, with a few nods to modern technology and innovation to improve its designs. Maule’s MX-7-180B demonstrator recently took wing sporting a few backcountry modifications as the company tailors the design to customers’ needs.

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A Longstanding Family Business

The passion for slow-flying machines came early for Maule. While enlisted in the U.S. Army, he became a mechanic on dirigibles, and at that same time he designed and built his first airplane, the M-1. With its 27-horsepower coming from a motorcycle engine, the M-1 looked more like a Bleriot monoplane than the Maule of today, but it was a solid beginning for a man whose passion for flight and knack for inventions kept him in business for life. A mechanical starter design opened his first business; his later designs of tailwheel mechanisms and fabric testing tools helped Maule’s products find use by operators of airplanes from many manufacturers.

In 1952, B.D. Maule began designing the M-4, which took flight in 1957 and received certification in 1961. In 1968, the Maule family moved from Jackson, Michigan, to their current home in Moultrie, Georgia. Located on the former Spence Air Base, the factory continues to hand-build utilitarian aircraft that haven’t changed a whole lot since its inception — and while it isn’t setting any records with its production numbers, the production line hasn’t stopped since its first bird rolled out the front door. That’s something few of the industry giants can say about their single-engine product lines. And as the locals in South Georgia will tell you, it ain’t bragging if it’s true.

After Maule died, aged 83, in 1995, the company continued under the leadership of his bride, June, until her passing in 2009 at age 92. Their son Ray headed up the company until his death in January at age 83. Today, a much younger face runs the show. Brent Maule, Ray’s son and B.D.’s grandson, heads the operation. The plant employs about 30 people, including some young faces who are the fourth generation of the Maule family in the business.

To date, Maule has produced just shy of 2,600 airplanes, with power ranging from 145 to 420 horsepower, with engines made by Lycoming, Franklin, Continental and Allison. You can order up a taildragger with spring or oleo gear or, if need be, a nose wheel. Floats and skis are options. The M-9’s deeper fuselage allows for a fifth seat in back. They’re flexible on panel equipment. Maule has been called the “Mister Potato Head” of aircraft manufacturers owing to the interchangeability of major components to custom tailor airframes to its customers’ needs, and that flexibility has helped keep them in business all these years.

While Maule never closed the doors of its factory, recent years have seen some low production numbers. The 2017 General Aviation Manufacturers Association report shows no airplanes sold — but that report is incomplete. The 2016 report shows Maule shipped out one copy each of its MX-7-180C, M-7-235C and M-7-260C aircraft. By those numbers, the company’s 2017 gross sales would only just barely buy a new Cessna 206. There were Maules still rolling out the door, but the family member who’d handled GAMA reporting had passed and many deliveries went unreported. “We’re still in business,” Brent said, “And this year has seen a strong upswing of orders.”

Getting To Know The MX-7

The MX-7-180B is Maule’s base model. With four seats in the standard arrangement and an easily removable rear seat, the MX-7 can quickly swap between a four-seat family airplane and a backcountry camping or cargo hauler configuration. The two doors for the rear seat and cargo area are both on the right side of the fuselage—the door for the rear seat opens forward, and the cargo bin door hinges aft to create an opening that will accommodate any reasonable load. The 42-inch cabin width at the shoulders is 2.5 inches wider than a Cessna Skyhawk. A carbureted Lycoming O-360-C1F pushes 180 horsepower through a Hartzell 76-inch constant speed prop, offering reliability and ease of maintenance with a firewall-forward section familiar to nearly any FBO mechanic. The structures are conventional, maintainable and rugged. The wings are strut-braced aluminum; the fuselage and tail feathers are steel structures covered in Ceconite fabric.

The stock panel sports a standard, analog six-pack and a JPI 930 engine monitor. Maule’s small-volume production allows each owner to tailor the panel to their individual needs. Basic VFR and IFR panels are installed in-house, while advanced custom IFR panels are generally installed after ferrying to an avionics shop. The demonstrator flown for this review sported a clock, airspeed indicator, altimeter and compass, an EDM engine monitor, transponder and comm radio, along with an AirGizmos dock for a Garmin Aera 660. The minimalist panel saves pounds of weight that might otherwise be used for fuel, people or cargo. For low-time Maule drivers taking a demonstration flight, it means that a quick glance at the panel will never yield extraneous information. When the only needles in front of you are airspeed and altitude, you won’t be hunting for the right instrument.

Maule interiors are functional and simple. The seats are fabric, with leather as an option, and the heavy-duty carpet won’t protest when using a shop vacuum on muddy footprints. There aren’t a lot of plastic pieces to break when wrestling something heavy into the back. The manual flap handle, trim wheel and vertical column for the flight controls occupy the space between the pilot’s right leg and the front passenger’s left leg.

On the sidewall by the pilot’s left knee, the three-position fuel selector offers selections for off, or either or both of the 21.5-gallon left and right tanks. The auxiliary tanks offer another 21 gallons of useable fuel, which is transferred into the main tanks via electric fuel pumps. That 85-gallon fuel capacity gives the MX-7 long legs but requires that you pay attention to the fuel load when hauling anything more than two adults. With full tanks, 510 pounds of fuel eats up almost half of the airplane’s 1,030-pound useful load. The endurance the main tanks offer is plenty for most owners and operators. Once Cessna drivers learn to temper those “top her off” fuel requests to “mains only,” the problem is solved. All four fuel tanks are metal and removable, bypassing the long-term maintenance woes of a leaking sealed wing or dry-rotted rubber fuel bladders.

Maule offers a multitude of choices for landing gear. Within the MX-7 family, the MX-7-180B has an oleo absorber gear with a 6-foot track that offers light weight, an option for extended gear legs, and the spacing between the main wheels matches well with wheeled vehicles if your backcountry needs include landing on roads. The MX-7-180C sits on an aluminum spriung gear with a wider stance at 7 feet, 10 inches but weighs 75 pounds more than the B model. If you’re worried about ground handling, the MXT-7-180 couples the sprung aluminum gear with a nose wheel to help with ground handling and insurance. Main wheels are available from the stock size of 7.00-6 through 35-inch bushwheels. The tail of the demonstrator is perched on an Airframes Alaska Baby Bush Wheel.

A quirk of the Maule family is worth noting: Flaps 0 and Flaps up are not the same thing in a Maule. In cruise, those wings are creating enough lift that the nose-low attitude to maintain level flight creates additional drag. In cruise, the flaps are reflexed seven degrees up to cancel out excess lift and put the nose back on the horizon, gaining a few knots in cruise. As you grab the handle and start pulling, the first click stops the flaps at zero degrees, used for normal climbs. The second notch, at 24 degrees, is used for takeoff and best-angle climbs over an obstacle, while the third andfourth notches at 40 and 48 degrees, respectively, are used for landing.

If you’re the type who paces off a field and hits the slide rule for performance calculations, prepare for an anxiety attack. The Maule POHs, all of which are available for download online, have no performance tables, and the checklists are correspondingly brief.

Flying The MX-7-180

Given the bush wheels and extended gear legs, climbing into the cabin is a daunting task for first-timers. To climb into the seat, start with the gear leg’s step, then grab the steel tube over the glareshield, swinging in while using the seat back as a balancing point. The engine starts just like any other carbureted Lycoming: Mags on, mixture rich, prime if needed, and turn the key. Taxiing out from the Maule factory, the visibility over the nose is surprising: Even with the nose pointed skyward on the big tires and long gear legs, the view isn’t bad. Looking straight ahead, you get enough view to see the centerline well ahead, although you’ll want to S-turn or lean out the window to see anything very close and ahead, such as when the neighborhood dog trots out to say hello.

Foregoing a long taxi to the runway, Maule factory pilots instead use the ramp in front of the hangar as a runway, which is ample for their needs. With a notch of flaps deployed, we powered up, dropped the brake and launched. Despite being the lowest-powered offering from Maule, the acceleration was appreciable as the prop turned up toward 2,600 RPM. Maule demo pilot Kit Wilkes pushed the nose briskly to level, then, as we reached flying speed, he hauled back with the assertiveness we’ve come to expect after watching Valdez STOL contest videos. The tailwheel thumped back to the asphalt for half a second, then we clawed into the air, clearing pine trees and powerlines by a comfortable margin. The stall horn chirped a few times in the initial climb, but the wings gave no indication of quitting as we climbed out just shy of 50 knots with a steep nose-up attitude.

There’s no VSI in the demo ship, and the broken layer of scud meant we leveled off quickly. Maule claims a climb rate of 1,000 feet per minute at gross. We were about 450 pounds under gross with two pilots and half tanks in the mains, and nothing but air in the aux tanks. The 85-degree June morning in Georgia’s sultry humidity was far from standard, but working planes don’t wait around for standard days.

Visibility in cruise is excellent, and a full-sized Plexiglas cabin roof makes the cabin seem even larger than it is. A retracting sun shield overhead helps to cut down on glare when needed. When rolling into a turn, the seating position behind the wing’s leading edge does present a limited view, but looking before turning quickly becomes habit. The front door windows can be opened in flight up to 120 knots; window cutouts and built-in cabin vents offer moderated airflow when an open window is too much. The Maule is a trim airplane: You’ll want to reach for the pitch trim wheel whenever you move the throttle. It also demands a heavy dose of right rudder on climb; maneuvering, you’ll want to lead the ailerons a little with rudder as well.

Cruising speed does take about a 10-knot hit with the long legs and fat tires hanging below. At 24″ manifold pressure and 2,400 rpm, we showed about 90 knots as we worked our way into a clear spot to climb up for stalls. Power on, clean, the stall broke at about 40 knots indicated with a mild left wing drop. With full flaps, the power-on stall still dropped to the left, but the airspeed indicator wasn’t much help at that point. Power off and clean, the roll to the left tamed a bit more. With flaps out and power off, it wouldn’t break. Between the vortex generators and a forward CG, there just wasn’t enough elevator to force the stall, and we settled into a fairly stable sink, just below 35 knots, interpreting between the airspeed indicator that was showing zero and the GPS groundspeed, as the winds aloft were negligible.

Approaches flown to two grass runways showed a comfortable approach speed of 50 knots with full flaps. On short final, slowing a bit and a little added power allowed a fairly steep approach angle. The sink rate became apparent once near treetop height, which is easily arrested with a judicious flare.

The big wheels absorb a lot of energy, and heavy application of the double-puck brakes had us stopped easily shy of 1,000 feet on wet grass, with an occasional minor slip of the tires. One must be mindful that the landing gear does hang pretty low, and the tires will meet earth a moment earlier than expected by the uninitiated. When flying into improved airports, two notches of flaps and a less elevator-like arrival yield approach angles comfortable to most general aviation pilots. On asphalt, those tires make for a fairly forgiving landing, even if the pilot has Airbus feet. Maule ground handling is the stuff of legend in hangar-flying circles, but the Maule makes no unreasonable demand of airman skill—the plane does what you ask. There is a lot of vertical tail surface, so weathervaning into a crosswind is a concern. The maximum demonstrated crosswind component is 10 knots, but that’s a demonstrated number, not a limitation. The max demonstrated crosswind takeoff and landings were done at zero flaps. Like with any taildragger, you’ll want to stay on top of things, though, and with a couple hours of meaningful instruction, any aviator should be able to handle landings in a variety of conditions. Operating the bushwheels on paved surfaces causes considerable tire wear, so it’s best to find grass when you can. At $3,590 a pair, Brent Maule says, “these wheels have a way of turning a $100 hamburger into a $250 hamburger.”

It’s hard to argue against the Maule’s bang for the buck. As far as competitors on the marketplace, a Carbon Cub offers amazing STOL performance but does so with half the seats. A Cessna 172 provides as many seats and better cruise speed but can’t touch the short field performance, and a new Skyhawk is the better part of $100,000 more than the MX-7-180B’s sticker price. As certified airplanes go, the Maule has a comfortable niche, and with a strengthening order book, the Maule family should be churning out these workhorses for years to come. PP

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Engine/HP: Lycoming O-360-C1F/180 hp

Propeller: Hartzell, 2-blade, metal, constant speed, 76″ diameter

Avionics: Analog Six-pack, JPI EDM-930

Top Cruise Speed: 120 kts

Stall, Landing Configuration: 35 kts

Max Range: 932 nm (30-minute reserve)

Max Takeoff Weight: 2,500 lbs.

Payload (full fuel): 425 lbs.

Useful Load: 935 lbs.

Takeoff/Landing Distance: 700 ft./900 ft. (50 ft. Obstacle)

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Engine/HP: Lycoming O-540-B4B5/235 hp

Propeller: Hartzell or McCauley, 2- or 3-blade, metal, constant speed, 78″- 81″ diameter

Avionics: Analog Six-pack, JPI EDM-930

Top Cruise Speed: 137 kts

Stall, Landing Configuration: 35 kts

Max Range: 800 nm (30-minute reserve)

Max Takeoff Weight: 2,500 lbs.

Payload (full fuel): 385 lbs.

Useful Load: 895 lbs.

Takeoff/Landing Distance: 600 ft./900 ft. (50 ft. Obstacle)

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Seats: 4-5

Main Construction: Steel tubular frame with fabric, metal wings

Engine/Hp: Lycoming O-540-B4B5/235 hp

Propeller: Hartzell or McCauley, 2- or 3-blade, 76″-81″ diameter

Avionics: Non-integrated analog six-pack, Garmin aera 660

Top Cruise Speed: 138 kts

Stall, Landing Configuration: 35 kts

Maximum Range:800 nm

Maximum TakeoffWeight: 2,500 lbs.

Payload: 490 lbs. (full fuel)

Useful Load: 895 lbs.

Takeoff/Landing Distance(50-ft. Obstacle): 600/900 ft.

Check out the M-7 and other fantastic single-engine airplanes in our latest Piston Singles Buyer’s Guide.

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There’s a fairly famous photo of a Maule taildragger lifting off and pointing uphill at about a 40-degree pitch attitude. That might be impressive all by itself, but the truly interesting part is that the aircraft is barely emerging from one of the Maule manufacturing buildings in Moultrie, Ga.

The maneuver is called a “jump takeoff,” and it’s a perfect depiction of what Maules can do that most other airplanes can’t. When I was delivering Maules from coast to coast back in the 1980s, I was determined to learn that trick. Dan Spader, Maule’s long-term demo pilot, agreed to show me the procedure, and we practiced about a dozen of the spectacular departures, though fortunately, none launching from inside a hangar. Timing is everything, and I never came close to Spader’s impeccable technique, but it was incredible fun and a great demonstration of the airplane’s truly amazing low-speed performance and handling.

Maules have always been impressive short-field airplanes, capable of STOL performance since long before someone coined the acronym. The first Maule was created by Belford D. Maule back in the middle of the last century, and the company is proud of the fact that their airplanes are still handmade in pretty much the same way they were back then. The company is still run by the Maule family, and they wouldn’t think of doing anything else.

I’ve been fortunate to fly pretty much every model the company has produced since the 1970s, and I ferried Maules for about 15 years in the ’70s and ’80s. It’s a different kind of airplane from the typical all-aluminum people movers made in Wichita, Vero Beach or Kerrville, and the composite models produced in Duluth.

It’s a retro design in all the best ways, which means, in this case, it’s a rag-and-tube airplane. Fabric covering is perhaps the oldest and least understood of aircraft construction materials. It was employed on the Wright Flyer, preferred in World War I because of its simple ease of repair and even used on military aircraft through much of World War II.

When properly applied and well doped, fabric can last almost indefinitely. It’s lighter and more flexible than metal, more tolerant of heat than many composites, drag coefficient doesn’t suffer notably with fabric covering, and it’s relatively impervious to rock damage. (I once knew a Bellanca Aircraft salesman who carried a two-inch-diameter steel ball in the baggage compartment of his Viking 300 demonstrator, another tube steel and fabric airplane—along with wood wings. Whenever he heard objections from prospective buyers on the Viking’s fabric covering, he’d pull out the shiny steel ball and ask the prospect what would happen if he slammed it against the side of an aluminum airplane with all his strength. The prospect would usually answer that there’d be a very large, very expensive dent. At that, Ed would stand back 10 feet from his Viking and throw the ball straight into the airplane’s tightly stretched Ceconite side panel. Of course, the ball would bounce off with no damage.)

The Maule M6 is powered by a 235 hp Lycoming IO-540 and cruises at 140 knots.

The airplane on these pages is an M6-235 with a bush package that includes 31-inch tires from Alaskan Bushwheels, new wheels and double puck brakes, and extended gear legs that increase prop clearance by four inches. This Maule M6 was purchased by Texans David and Cade Isham.

The Ishams have a 1,200-acre ranch north of Fort Worth near Decatur, Texas, where they run 400 head of cattle and operate a Western store called National Roper’s Supply. “We specialize in teaching people how to rope right here at the ranch,” Cade explains, “and in support of that mission, we sell just about everything you could possibly need for roping, plus a full line of equine accessories, riding gear and clothing.”

When they went looking for a short-field taildragger, they first considered a Carbon Cub. “The numbers are pretty amazing on the Carbon Cub,” comments Cade. “As an LSA, the airplane can get in and out of incredibly small spaces (it once made a takeoff at the annualValdez, Alaska, short-field competition in only 19 feet), plus now, it’s certified as a homebuilt experimental under the EX designation that allows it to fly at 1,865 pounds. CubCrafters brought one into our 1,000-foot ranch strip, and Dad flew it. You couldn’t help but be impressed with the performance, but we felt we needed the extra room for four seats or two plus camping gear, so we were more inclined toward another Maule.”

The maneuver is called a “jump takeoff,” and it’s a perfect description of what Maules can do that most other airplanes can’t.

The Ishams were already familiar with Maules. They owned an MXT-7-180, a nosewheel Maule with a 180 hp engine. Cade learned to fly in the mini-Maule and explains, “After our excellent experience with the little Maule, Dad and I were interested in checking a taildragger off our bucket list.”

Accordingly, the two pilots flew over to Maule’s Georgia factory to see what was available. “As it happened,” says son Cade, “Brent Maule had an M6 fuselage almost complete, and after some discussion, we decided to purchase the new airplane and have it built to our specifications, complete with the big tires.”

Maules of any description are always fun to fly, but the M6-235 was/is a particular joy. With 235 Lycoming horses out front and a fat Piper Cub USA-35 airfoil overhead, you have all the ingredients for a near-invincible bushbird.

In fact, some pilots feel the Maule wing may be a little too gentle, if that’s possible. Flaps extend to a full 48 degrees, and in combination with the high-lift Cub airfoil, stall is so slow (30 knots), you feel as if you could jump out and run alongside. Don’t try it, though.

The wing stalls with little aerodynamic warning, but that doesn’t matter much as the stall is so gentle, you could fly the airplane practically all the way to the ground with it nibbling on the edge, then give a quick shot of power to cushion the touchdown and stop in a few hundred feet.

Those huge tires make the job even easier, as they forgive a multitude of sins. Yes, the Maule is a conventional-gear airplane, so it does demand more attention than a nosedragger in crosswinds, but the 31-inch tires allow you to ease the airplane to the ground, plant it on the mains and lower the tailwheel to the earth.

There’s a pair of downsides to the big tires. The first is they weigh about 50 pounds apiece. If payload is a concern, you’ll be sacrificing an extra 100 pounds for the privilege of bouncing right across anything smaller than a Bull Moose. In the case of the Ishams’ aircraft, Cade says his M6 offers a useful load of about 875 pounds. Flying with 40 gallons of fuel in the 80-gallon tanks still provides him with a payload of 635 pounds and lets him cruise for an easy two-and-a-half hours plus reserve.

The second disadvantage of the humongous tires is the drag penalty. The Maule wing utilizes manual flaps that may be positioned at your choice of -7, 0, 24, 40 and 48 degrees.

You may have noticed the -7 degree flap setting. Maule discovered long ago that the airplane actually cruises three to five knots faster with the flaps slightly above trail. Position them at the -7 degree reflex position (that’s 7 degrees above the streamlined 0 flap position), and the Ishams’ Maule cruises at about 115 knots, 10 to 15 knots below normal book. No matter. Cade is convinced the safety margin landing on rough terrain makes it worth the loss.

Cade notes, “We’ve put about 80 hours on the M6 since last July, much of it flying into other folks’ ranches, landing on sand bars in the Red River and operating into locations we couldn’t even consider with a nosewheel airplane. The airplane has been easy to operate, reliable and surprisingly flexible.”

One trick the Ishams haven’t tried yet (and probably never will) is a water touchdown. There was an interesting video sequence on YouTube recently showing a bush pilot in Alaska dropping into an abbreviated sand bar with the extra- large bush tires. He touched down in the water in a full stall probably 50 to 100 feet short of the sand with big tires acting as pontoons, water-taxied up to the beach and lowered the tail to earth shortly after crossing onto the bar. Then, he chopped power and stopped in what looked to be 100 feet. As if to emphasize that he could do this every day, he spun the aircraft 180 degrees and took off in the opposite direction, letting the airplane accelerate on the water before lifting off. Don’t try this at home, on your vacation, at an air show or anywhere else unless you’re REALLY familiar with your airplane.

Another procedure Maules do in the same class as Super Cubs and Helios is the box canyon arrival and takeoff. I’ve never seen this performed in a real box canyon, but I once watched it flown at an air show in Las Vegas. Imagine you’re at the bottom of a box canyon and need to fly out. You use the maximum jump takeoff technique, then immediately begin a steep climbing turn when airspeed has passed Vso plus 10, about 40 to 45 knots. If you maintain your pitch and bank, don’t high-speed stall the airplane and all your biorhythms are on a high, you may be able to corkscrew up and out of the box canyon at a few hundred fpm. Obviously, this is a last-resort technique that even most experienced Maule pilots wouldn’t try unless winds were calm and temperature was temperate, but it sounds as if it would work with a Maule’s extreme high-lift wing and copious power.

Maules come in an almost bewildering variety of configurations with power choices ranging from 180 to 260 hp, fuel injected or carbureted, gear selection between floats, skis, tricycle or tailwheel, and seating up to six folks or one pilot plus an airplane full of anything legal.

It’s an airplane for practically all reasons that doesn’t care a whit if it’s boxy and outdated or constructed the way Maules have been built for the last half century. Some things never get old.

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Maule M6
Engine(s) Make & Model:	Lycoming IO-540-W1A5D
Horsepower:	235
Propeller:	Hartzell 2 bld/CS
Fuel Type:	100LL
Landing Gear Type:	Conv/Fxd
Max Takeoff Weight (lbs.):	2500
Empty Weight (lbs.):	1500
Useful Load—std. (lbs.):	1000
Usable fuel—std. (gals./lbs.):	40/240
Usable Fuel—LR (gals./lbs.):	80/480
Payload—full std. fuel (lbs.):	760
Wingspan:	33 ft. 11 in.
Overall Length:	23 ft. 6 in.
Height:	6 ft. 4 in.
Wing Area (sq. ft.):	165.6
Wing Loading (lbs./sq. ft.):	15.1
Power Loading (lbs./hp):	10.6
Seating Capacity:	4
Cabin Doors:	2
Cabin Width (in.):	42
Cabin Height (in.):	46
Flap Range (degrees):	-7 to 48
PERFORMANCE
Cruise Speed (kts.—75%):	140
Cruise Fuel Burn (gph/lbs.):	12.3
Best Rate Of Climb, SL (fpm):	1900
Service Ceiling (ft.):	20,000
Stall (Vso—kts.):	30
T/O over 50 ft. (ft.):	600
Ldg over 50 ft. (ft.):	500

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The post Maule appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

They were. It was probably 10 years later when I first got my hands on a Maule and began to explore its talents. I discovered that Maules truly are among the most talented of short-/soft-field airplanes, and the marquee has a deserved reputation as a utility machine par excellence.

Run by the Maule family (above) and founded by Belford D. Maule, Maule Air (www.mauleairinc.com) has been producing airplanes since 1941.

One of the first and most exciting things I learned was the technique for what has become known as a “jump takeoff.” Most any of the Maules could leap into the sky after an incredibly abbreviated takeoff run, but the M4s and M5s, with engines from 210 hp to 235 hp, always seemed the most enthusiastic. With the Maule M5-235C, for example, the procedure was fairly simple. It was great fun, but I never did it as well or as aggressively as my first teacher, Maule demo pilot Dan Spader. Later, Long Beach, Calif., Maule dealer Joe Geiger helped me refine the technique. Geiger was one of Maule’s top salesmen in the ’70s and ’80s, and he and Spader taught me the demo trick to make the Maule stand out from the pack.

With the brakes set, the procedure was to bring power to the wall, release the brakes, push the stick forward to bring the tailwheel off the ground and the airplane to a level attitude, count to four, pull in two notches of flaps and rotate hard. If you did it right, the result was a very short ground run followed by a dramatic liftoff, with the nose arcing through 40 degrees up and the tailwheel barely clearing the runway. Obviously, you had to know the airplane fairly well to bring it off, but with a little practice, you could dazzle the locals every time.

Though I never sold airplanes, I delivered a wide variety of Piper, Cessna, Beech, Mooney, Commander, Grumman American, Bellanca and other aircraft, plus probably a dozen or so new Maules from the factory in Moultrie, Ga., to Geiger’s West Coast dealership. The Maules certainly weren’t the fastest, but they were among the most fun, and they always garnered more than their fair share of attention. Flying cross-country, spanning the Lower 48, I was asked to demonstrate the jump takeoff trick over and over at practically every fuel stop along the route. In one instance, I spent most of a day at Geiger’s Hayward, Calif., office demonstrating the procedure to everyone from employees and salesmen to rampers and prospects.

It seems everyone knew that Maules were capable of amazing things, and most pilots were eager to experience the airplane’s phenomenal short-field performance firsthand. Belford D. Maule saddled his airplanes with fanciful names, such as Astro Rocket, Strata Rocket and Lunar Rocket, but after you saw what they could do, the names didn’t seem nearly so fanciful.

I had heard stories of pilots operating from the mountainous bush country of Alaska who could fly what was referred to as the “box canyon departure.” As the name implied, this was a procedure sometimes employed in a tight canyon where the only departure possible was a steep climbing turn. It demanded the jump takeoff described above followed by a high-angle, slow-speed, steep turn, arcing uphill while prescribing a narrow funnel in the sky. The primary risk was of stalling the airplane in the worst possible attitude, a steep, climbing, departure turn. The good news was that the Maule airfoil was so forgiving, it was easy to predict the exact moment when the wing would stop flying and begin falling.

Maules were STOL airplanes long before anyone thought up the acronym. Back in the ’60s, the standard Maules with 210 hp Continentals or 220 hp Franklins practically defined bush flying and, along with Super Cubs, were regarded as generic bush planes. That may not be surprising, considering that Maules share the Cub’s USA 35B modified wing section. (In fact, Jane’s All-The-World’s Aircraft suggests the original Maule M4 was “a four-seat extrapolation of the Piper Cub.”) The Maule’s large-span, wide-chord flaps were one key to the airplane’s low stall speed and short-takeoff capability. The flaps deflected to a full 48 degrees (on some models), creating huge amounts of drag and lift and reducing stall well below 40 knots.

Dirty stalls at altitude were so easy, anyone could master them in a few minutes. Hold the yoke full back in your lap with the power off, and the Maule would simply mush downhill with hardly a bobble and practically no wing drop. It’s hard to imagine anyone losing control of the airplane because of an incipient stall. During final approach and flare into any significant wind, you almost felt you could jump out and run alongside during a full-stall landing.

At the opposite end of the speed spectrum, cruise was better than you might expect. Despite the drag of double wing struts, usually uncovered wheels and a squared-off, boxy fuselage design that looked antediluvian in contrast to more modern airplanes, the Maules used a minus-7 degree reflex flap setting for cruise. This delivered an extra three to five knots in cruise. Factory spec for max cruise on the 180 hp Maules at about 7,500 feet is 126 knots.

Maule Air is known for manufacturing reliable, light, single-engine, STOL aircraft. The four-seat MXT-7 features vortex generators (above) on its wings to improve the aircraft’s STOL capabilities.

Since those early days, Maule has added horsepower and improved the breed without changing the basic formula that’s worked for nearly half a century. Maule has delivered a total of nearly 2,000 airplanes in a myriad of models, all based on the original design with variations in horsepower, wingspan, seating capacity and number of loading doors. The company’s top piston model now flies behind a 260 hp Lycoming mill, and there’s even a limited-production Rolls-Royce 420 shp turboprop version.

Predictably, Maules make popular and talented waterbirds on either amphibious or seaplane floats, and many of the M4s, M5s, M6s and M7s spend equal amounts of time on wheels, skis and floats. With 260 hp under the cowl, the piston Maules offer good performance on the water under a variety of conditions. Maule has certified an SMA diesel-powered model, and there’s even a Rolls-Royce-powered Maule. For obvious reasons, the 420 shp turbine Maule is especially popular as a seaplane; the extra horsepower helps the airplane overcome suction and leap off the water.

A few years back, I delivered a new M7-260 on amphibious floats from the Georgia factory to Glasgow, Scotland. The trip took at least a day longer than it should have, because for the first time, I was able to land on some of the beautiful, wild, remote lakes across Labrador, Canada, that I had admired on so many previous trips. I also got the floats wet in the glacier-fed, 42-mile-long Tunugviarflik Fjord while approaching Narsarsuaq, Greenland, a must-see from sea level if you’re flying an airplane capable of more than one water landing. [To read about flying in Greenland, see “Extreme Flying!” from Pilot Journal Nov/Dec 08.]

In contrast to all the upward variations of Maules, the company has also expanded the line downward and sideways. These days, you can buy Maules with as little as 180 hp, flying behind a nosewheel and constant-pitch prop. Thirty years ago, a nosewheel Maule would have seemed almost heretical. Today, the Maule family produces it as a viable option to some more modern GA machines.

In fact, that’s a market Maule would like to reach in addition to selling to the utiliplane crowd. The nosegear Maules look a little unusual resting horizontally on the ramp (other than the gear geometry, there are essentially no changes to the airplane), but they’re priced competitively with the two-seat Diamond and Liberty trainers. Maules offer near-STOL performance with their 180 hp engine and can serve in a variety of training roles, from basic to instrument tutor.

Though the MXT-7 is a nosewheel version of the standard Maule taildragger, stick-and-rudder skills are still important for safe flight. The aircraft can serve in a wide range of training roles for pilots aspiring to anything from a private license to advanced ratings.

I recently spent some time flying a new MXT-7-180 Star Rocket, a tricycle variant of the standard Maule with a 180 hp Lycoming O-360-C1F engine out front. This was my first opportunity to fly a Maule nosedragger, and the airplane was an eye-opener for its forgiving civility. If the tailwheel airplane sometimes was branded (incorrectly) as a squirrel on landing, the nosewheel Maule couldn’t be more benign. It would seem to lend itself directly to the flight-training mode, and that’s exactly where Maule hopes to find favor.

Early Maules were almost exclusively fabric-covered, but contemporary models have yielded to the trend toward composites. Modern Maules utilize all-metal wings, an aft fuselage with aluminum doors and cabin structure, and composite materials on the wingtips and cowling. The airplane’s double wing struts brace the underwing to the lower fuselage abeam the front seats.

Maules have never been noted for quick control response, but I was surprised by how easily the airplane responded during the air-to-air photo session that produced Jim Lawrence’s photos. The aileron/rudder interconnect helps offset the effects of adverse yaw, and the airplane feels comfortable in virtually any normal (and some abnormal) attitudes. Driving around in the inevitable endless circles for the camera was easy and fun.

Perhaps more people are catching on to the fact that Maules are even more than STOL hot rods and are giving the Maule a second look as a trainer aircraft. GAMA reports that in the first half of 2008, Maule sold 17 airplanes, and five of those were the 180 hp nosewheel variety.

SPECS: 2009 Maule MXT-7-180

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2009 MAULE MXT-7-180A
New price:	$173,900
Engine make/model:	Lycoming O-360
Horsepower:	180@SL
TBO (hrs.):	2000
Fuel type:	100LL
Propeller type/diameter:	2-blade, CS Hartzell
Landing gear type:	Tri./Fixed
Max ramp weight (lbs.):	2500
Gross weight (lbs.):	2500
Landing weight (lbs.):	1528
Useful load, std. (lbs.):	972
Payload, full std. fuel (lbs.):	534
Useable fuel (gals.):	73
Wingspan:	32 ft. 11 in.
Overall length:	23 ft. 6 in.
Height:	6 ft. 4 in.
Wing area (sq. ft.):	166
Wing loading (lbs./sq. ft.):	15.1
Power loading (lbs./hp):	13.9
Seating capacity:	2/4
Cabin doors:	2
Cabin width (in.):	42
PERFORMANCE
CRUISE SPEED (kts.):
75% power:	126
65% power:	115*
FUEL CONSUMPTION (gph):
75% power:	10.3
65% power:	9.0
Vso (kts.):	35
Best rate of climb, SL (fpm):	1200
Service ceiling (ft.):	15,000
Takeoff ground roll (ft.):	300
Takeoff over 50 ft. obstacle (ft.):	1100
Landing ground roll (ft.):	500
Landing over 50 ft. obstacle (ft.):	1300*
*Estimated Source: Maule Air Inc.

42/IAS

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