Hello Maule forum. Over the past few months I've been reading through many of your posts and learning tons. My mission involves flying in and out of a fairly short grass strip, 850ft, on a regular basis and occasional 600nm trips to visit my parents. The 850 ft strip has some pretty good size trees (75-100 ft tall) approx. 450 ft from the beginning of the grass. To those of you who fly out of short fields, does this even sound doable after becoming very comfortable with the airplane?

I think I'm leaning towards finding a maule with the longer wing (I realize there are a couple of variations) to help with the STOL performance and 235hp to help bump up the cruise speed. This is just my initial thought, not set in stone. Ultimately I would like to end up with extended gear and large tires as well (probably not going to help with cruise speeds).

I was wondering if any of you could weigh in on the differences in performance between an M5 with the 210 HP motor, an MX7-180 and an M7-235. I'm planning on finding the constant speed prop. Additionally, how does the 220 HP Franklin compare to the 210 in terms of real-world performance?

I live in the Memphis, TN area. I would be grateful to see a Maule in person if any of you are based somewhere near. Thanks in advance.

The 235hp won't help cruise, but it sure will make those trees look shorter

Will depend on how it's loaded - I've gotten up and down in 150' pretty easy when light with some wind and I've seen closer to 800' at gross with higher DA in my M4-210.

Mine is a M5 210 with the long prop. The long prop will make your scenario work....but still, cut the trees!

Yep, you can do it, most of the time. Those trees give you about a 10 degree (+-) angle. Remember that a standard glide path is 3 degrees. Some airplanes are approved for steep approaches which are around 6 to 7 degrees. The Maule will do better most days. It's not uncommon to fly the Maule on the dark side (back side of the power/lift) curve but on that windy, gusty day you will not be comfortable slowing down quite so much. Now that's just talking about the landing.

The 235 will climb like a homesick angel and the 260 even better but load it up and you loose some of that. Throw in shifting cross winds and you might not be so sure any more.

Your runway length is ok but it's time to take an apple pie over to the neighbors and talk about his trees no matter what you fly out of there.

Your runway length is ok but it's time to take an apple pie over to the neighbors and talk about his trees no matter what you fly out of there.[/quote]

Now that is a good idea

VA Maule wrote:The 235hp won't help cruise, but it sure will make those trees look shorter

I thought one of the advantages of the 235 was a little better on the cruise speed, am I looking at this wrong?

51598Rob wrote:Mine is a M5 210 with the long prop. The long prop will make your scenario work....but still, cut the trees!

So what are some real world STOL numbers for your set-up if lightly loaded, no wind?

Justinotto wrote:

51598Rob wrote:Mine is a M5 210 with the long prop. The long prop will make your scenario work....but still, cut the trees!

So what are some real world STOL numbers for your set-up if lightly loaded, no wind?

Forgot to ask, does anyone have thoughts on the Franklin 220? Does it perform very similarly to the 220? I've read the franklin doesn't like to be at idle on final, any truth to that?

Justinotto wrote:I thought one of the advantages of the 235 was a little better on the cruise speed, am I looking at this wrong?

I'm sure those extra ponies will get you some additional knots, but at the expense of fuel consumption.

Spring Gear Specs

You don't have to use the extra ponies and burn the extra fuel but I was always told "if it has a redline, put a needle on it".

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Justinotto wrote:I've read the franklin doesn't like to be at idle on final, any truth to that?

Not in my case. I think I've read the same archived posts from other forums you have, and my belief is that those engines weren't set up properly, even though the claim is that they were. I'm very happy with my M4 220 after putting about 160 hours on it in the first year. The last time I took my son for a flight (he's almost 7), we had about 15 gallons on board, 4160msl, maybe 40°, and we turned crosswind at about 1100' agl by the time we reached the end of the 5400' runway

1:1 Scale wrote:

Justinotto wrote:I've read the franklin doesn't like to be at idle on final, any truth to that?

Not in my case. I think I've read the same archived posts from other forums you have, and my belief is that those engines weren't set up properly, even though the claim is that they were. I'm very happy with my M4 220 after putting about 160 hours on it in the first year. The last time I took my son for a flight (he's almost 7), we had about 15 gallons on board, 4160msl, maybe 40°, and we turned crosswind at about 1100' agl by the time we reached the end of the 5400' runway

That sounds pretty rewarding...have you had good luck finding an A&P familiar with the Franklin engine? Are parts readily available. I'm just not very familiar with them.

My first plane was a Stinson with a 150 Franklin. My A&P has at least 4 other Stinson's with Franklin's in his care, so it's not an issue for me. We replaced one jug on the Stinson in the time I owned it, and that wasn't a problem.

You could possibly join the Stinson yahoo group and see if there are any Stinson/Franklin friendly A&P's in your area- there are plenty of Stinson's out there