Greetings,

I've been keeping tabs on the Maulepilots forum for a while now, and excited to say I'm finally an owner! Last week I bought an M5-235C from another pilot that's also on the forum. I'm coming from a Scout that I owned for the last several years and but recently sold (thought I was moving to Korea!). This year my wife and I moved to the west coast, we were planning a trip to the east coast and this Maule popped up, and everything fell in place like it was meant to be. Figured I'd write up a little post about the experience and the trip. Here she is!



We made it into town last Sunday and were able to do the checkout on Monday. Insurance only needed five hours so we were able to get it done in a day. Nothing too crazy in the transition but it's definitely a lot touchier than the Scout. Was hoping to head west starting Tuesday morning but inbound weather said otherwise. Instead, we decided to make a day of it and build some more time.



Rain was heavy on Wednesday with several isolated thunderstorms but Thursday made for a smooth departure. We got out around 8am headed for Dallas. About nine hours later, we made it! After the first hour we were fighting headwinds and chop. Bumpier lower and headwinds higher- there really wasn't any winning. My first landing had crosswinds reported up to 16kts, I don't think I got the full extent of that but still gave me something to think about. Final stop was planned to be an airport called Lakeview but they didn't accept overnighters so we just bumped over to Denton.

NC mountains on the way out-



The wife enjoying a second row of seating



Day two- Denton to Las Vegas. I was planning about 8.5hrs flight time and we ended up pretty close to that. The morning started out great, we got down low and saw the sights and enjoyed being in rural Texas. Then we were still in Texas. Finally, we made it out of Texas. As the day got warmer thermals starting to kick in along with an increase in elevation. Headwinds were still relevant. First fuel stop was planned to be near Clovis, NM. When we got there one of the two runways didn't exist so I had to take another crosswind option. And their fuel pumps had no power. But after some time and with help we finally got power to the pumps and were able to fuel up/head out. Last leg clipped the Grand Canyon airspace. We made it in to Las Vegas around five and got to spend a night on the strip. Hopefully next time we won't be so tired from a day of flying!



Texas tumbleweed-


A funny little ladder dolly-

Another siesta-



Last leg was the easy day. Planned for about 3.5hrs, but we were able to transit some restricted airspace and shave off about 45min. Smooth sailing the whole way with a tailwind! Easy. We crossed the southern tip of the Sierra Nevada range and saw some sort of legacy formation flights when passing over Lemoore. F18 and something...



Finally some more green-

Home, for now-


Overall I got about 30hrs in the six days from purchase. It's been a really fun plane to learn and I'm loving the utility. I can't wait to settle into it. Looking forward to sharing my experiences on here, and hopefully meeting some of you guys!

-Whittaker

Thanks for sharing that trip with us. I love long distance low and slow adventure trips and yours definitely qualifies. Nice looking Maule with its gear, tires, excellent panel and custom paint. Also good looking wife who will fly with you! Your a fortunate man!

So very cool!!

Welcome to the club! Great trip report on a trip that makes good use of the capabilities of the Maule. Good load hauling, decent speed, great climb and altitude capability, short field performance and just plain fun!

Kirk

Congrats on your new purchase and welcome to the group. Thanks for the trip report.
Have fun in the new bird.

Great trip report!

If you're ever back in West Texas, let us know.
Couple local Maules that will use any excuse in the world to fly around.

whittakerw, there is quite some drag produced by the naked unfaired landing gear legs. In my tests, up to 6mph however not so much if using big tyres.

Welcome to the forum and Maule ownership! Nice airplane.

wtxdragger wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 29, 2022 7:07 pm

Great trip report!

If you're ever back in West Texas, let us know.
Couple local Maules that will use any excuse in the world to fly around.

I thought about y'all while passing through! Next time hopefully we can make a time of it.

maules.com wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 30, 2022 10:49 am

whittakerw, there is quite some drag produced by the naked unfaired landing gear legs. In my tests, up to 6mph however not so much if using big tyres.

Nice to know, thanks for sharing. Worth putting on fairings with the bigger tires? And is there a kit that you know of?

andy wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 30, 2022 12:35 pm

Welcome to the forum and Maule ownership! Nice airplane.

Thanks Andy! Sounds like you have seen this one before. Hopefully I'll have it back in NC one day

Yes. I've seen it many times. Good airplane. I didn't know it was being sold. I like the unfaired gear legs and decided to leave mine that way. The big tires create so much drag that putting fairings on the gear legs won't increase the cruise speed noticeably.

Probably not as big an advantage with the big tyre. I did my testing on 8.50s.
I don't know of a kit. Those who have done it have made their own fairings. The originals can't be adapted though the gear to fuselage fairings can be adapted.