New Maule owner/cross country flight
Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2022 6:58 pm
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
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