Maule in South Africa

chris erasmus · Post by **chris erasmus** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 3:11 am

it is official, we are now 5 flying Maules in South Africa, busy planning our next off airport excursion.
2 x M7 235B

1 x M5 210C

1 x M4 220

1 x MX 7 180

Beamerpilot · Post by **Beamerpilot** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 6:00 am

Interesting, we have 5 within a 50 Km radius...

chris erasmus · Post by **chris erasmus** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 6:19 am

Hello Beamer pilot, you are indeed lucky. in South Africa we have a total of 29 maules of various age and models. of the 29 only 17 are still on the register, of the 17 on the register only 8 are actually flying, and of the 8, 3 are for sale.
In South Africa Maule has an undeserved reputation for being difficult to fly and pilots shy away from them, Yet there are a number of C 180 and C 185's flying and I consider those 2 planes as a handful, and that's from first hand experience.
its amazing what rumors can do.

Andy Young · Post by **Andy Young** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 6:34 am

We have five (or maybe more) at my home airport (which is not a particularly big one).

As far as being difficult to fly, one of the things I keep hearing is that they are "short-coupled". They certainly look that way, with the fat mid-section, and the big tail, but another Maule pilot and I did some measuring last night, and confirmed that the distance between the main gear and the tailwheel is pretty much the same as it is on a Super Cub.

chris erasmus · Post by **chris erasmus** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 6:44 am

i had to listen to the short coupled story a number of times and usually from pilots who has never flown a taildragger, never mind a Maule. I have no idea what that means, I just fly the damn thing. lol

Beamerpilot · Post by **Beamerpilot** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 9:22 am

Andy Young wrote:We have five (or maybe more) at my home airport (which is not a particularly big one).

As far as being difficult to fly, one of the things I keep hearing is that they are "short-coupled". They certainly look that way, with the fat mid-section, and the big tail, but another Maule pilot and I did some measuring last night, and confirmed that the distance between the main gear and the tailwheel is pretty much the same as it is on a Super Cub.

Thanks Andy, I will definitely use your info at our next club meeting. Two of us there often get the same comments.

Beamerpilot · Post by **Beamerpilot** » Wed Oct 08, 2014 9:23 am

BTW I flew a Globe Swift many years ago, as I recall THAT was short coupled!!!

YELLOWMAULE · Post by **YELLOWMAULE** » Fri Oct 10, 2014 11:01 am

Chris, that was funny!
We have seven based at our strip here. We are the largest "airpark" in AK according to some with 135 planes based here. Three of these are -4's which considering they only made about 160 or so, that's a surprise. I have no idea how many in a 50m radius but there's a few.
Short coupled. Yeah and the wings fall off and so on and so on. We're all entitled to our opinion. The people who dislike Maules have little if any time in them. But that's OK, they keep the price down I suppose.
I find it funny that when a bunch of us get together somewhere, my Cub buddies drop off their fuel bladders, and misc camping gear for me to bring along because they can't get it all in their planes. Funny how the Cubs always call the Maule guys for help but not so much the other way around.
BTW, the Swift is twitchy but the worst TW in my experience is the C190-195. It'll try to come around on you at a fast walk.

chris erasmus · Post by **chris erasmus** » Fri Oct 10, 2014 11:23 am

Hello yellowmaule I can sometimes just laugh when I hear all the stories told about Maules and how twitchy they are. It is true, if you fly a maule you have to have your head out of your arse, but no more than any other tw.
I did my original tw covert ion in 1978 on a C 180. To this day I am scared shitless of that plane. I would rather land a maule in a 30 kt crosswind than fly that cessna on a calm day.
I have done some time on a cub, sweet plane but brings a new dimension to the term travel light .

Steelroamer · Post by **Steelroamer** » Fri Oct 10, 2014 11:36 am

chris erasmus wrote:i had to listen to the short coupled story a number of times and usually from pilots who has never flown a taildragger, never mind a Maule. I have no idea what that means, I just fly the damn thing. lol

"I just fly the damn thing".......love it!! LOL

Jayson v Schalkwyk · Post by **Jayson v Schalkwyk** » Fri Feb 26, 2016 4:39 am

You forgot to add the M6-235C

Maule in South Africa

Maule in South Africa

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