Fellows (and ladies)-

Jeremy and I had a lengthy discussion about a week ago concerning Maule insurance and the factors surrounding the high premiums. One of the things that we both agreed heavily on was the fact that good Maule instructors are becoming hard to find and the minimum requirements for a sign off are often times very inadequate. By good Maule instructors we mean that they have at least 100 hours in a Maule and are very thorough with their checkouts. For example 8 - 10 hours of dual instruction with a minimum of 100 landings in various wind and runway conditions prior to signing off a new Maule pilot.

Soooo in an effort to try an help us all, we discussed the creation of an instructor list as well as a Maule transition / recurrency training program. Eventually we will try to create a searchable database from the list, but we can only get out of it what you all help us put into it.

Please do not take this lightly...it can benefit us all when it comes to safety and insurance rates.

I will start the list with a good Maule instructor that I know of.

Nashville, TN
- Sam Swift (615) 604-8557

Springfield Flying Service
Chris Miller
http://www.letsgofly.com/
10767 Airport Rd.
Columbia, Ca. 95310
209-532-4103
(O22)


Chris has a Stearman that he gives dual in and has been instructing tailwheel pilots for years. Husky's, Maules, Luscombe, you name it. Give him a few hours and you will not be sorry. Be ready for a workout, he is not the kind to ride along while you teach yourself, that's for sure.

Come on fellow pilots, if you hav'nt groundlooped yet who taught you to fly your Maule taildragger? This list will be valuable to all.

maules.com wrote:Come on fellow pilots, if you hav'nt groundlooped yet who taught you to fly your Maule taildragger? This list will be valuable to all.

The man I bought my M4 from flew with me maybe an hour including three landings. That was the only instruction time I had in the maule. I never groundlooped a maule or any other airplane for that fact and I had less than fifty hours tailwheel time when I bought my maule. I do not consider myself an above average pilot, either. Now I did have a few close calls but I never broke anything except one tire where I landed the maule with a flat and ended up in the grass beside the runway.
I think the maule, or at least the M4 was an easier airplane to ground handle than the C-170 and citabria I trained in.

Rick Geiger of Cutbank Montana is a Maule instructor.
He is also hosting the Maule flyin this year at Valier.
His link is on this front page.

Rick's link www.montanabyair.com it is in the events pages of this site

David Shapiro of Bridger Aviation at Three Forks Montana is a very good instructor. I believe he has around 3,000 hours in Maules. He is CFII and also an A/P and I/A. I was required to have 25 hours of dual for insurance...and we used every bit of that time for very thorough training. He learned the Maule Training from Susan Maule, who is an airline captain and daughter of Ray Maule. He also helped me with the prepurchase inspection and ferried the airplane.

Curtis Aviation did my Maule training and still no ground loop after more than 300 hours. Curtis Aviation, Camden Airport NSW, just south of Sydney, come on down.

I have another endorsement for David Shapiro in Three Forks, MT (9S5) I base my M7 there and David has done all of my annuals and misc maintenance since January 2005 when I purchased the Maule new. David owns two Maules of his own, one of which he is building from scratch (an M5 wreck he purchased) and he is currently in the process of recovering his M7. I am always amazed at his knowledge of what makes Maules tick. I have flown with him a few times and he is clearly a great Maule pilot and a fine instructor.

These are the guys who taught me. Carric Scott (Scotty). Has been flying for over 50 years. Still flies a Citation regularly. Thousands of hours in all kinds of TW aircraft. Works out of KTTD Troutdale, Oregon 503.539.1123 Number 2 Dick Baily very good TW CFI. Dick is about 50 years old. Works out of KTTD Troutdale, Oregon 503.703.1663 Hope this helps...Rob

I am a little surprised I haven't seen Raymond Maule listed here. Ray has more hours in Maules than you can imagine and he will be glad to check out the prospective Maule owner/pilot. You will get a good 10 hour workout and he won't sign you off until he has full confidence in your ability to fly the Maule. My insurance took note of the fact Ray did my training and was kind with the premium. At least I think they were kind. Just call Ray at Maule Flight and arrange to stay a week in Moultrie. He will get you fixed right up!

RL, Sr

I took my tailwheel with Ray also. He is a little informal about the scheduled time you are to fly. (He may be at Maule Flite or the factory) and you have to find him. He certainly knows the capabilities of the plane and how to get the most out of it. The best part is flying into the small grass field at his house or his friends even smaller one with the trees at each end. When he is done you will not lack confidnce. The only problem is he tends to doze on downwind in the afternoon. A great experience. (Bring feed for his ducks)

Michael Dickinson of Moultrie,GA would be a good choice as well. He can be located at MGR almost anytime. He has been flying Maules since he was old enough to see over the dash and working on them just about as long. MGR telephone number is (229) 890-9464 his mobile number is (229) 891-8378.

PS: He has the following ratings:
Commercial Single Engine Land and Sea, Multi Engine, Instrument

donknee
Quote:
David Shapiro of Bridger Aviation at Three Forks Montana is a very good instructor.

Website,

http://www.bridgerav.com/

Captain Johnie Lee Wade, 30,000 total,3000+ dual given, couple a hundred in my own Maule, CFIIMEI, located at 00R Livingston, Texas High Lonesome Art Studio. Call me at 936 967 3279 or 936 223 9867.