Did anyone notice Maule has changed to an outside vendor for POH operating manuals, and electronic Parts Manuals?

Looks like the Mod list, Service Letters and Bulletins are still on the Maule website.

Thanks for the heads-up on this. My first reaction is that it moves Maule owners one step farther away from good information. It used to be that I could call parts and get drawings that were missing from my parts DVD. ATP uses their own software to provide the parts data so that may not be as easy now. Some of the A&Ps at work used ATP in the past and liked it but there are a lot of add-on charges. Oh, you want SBs as well as ADs? That will be an additional $100/year subscription. Who knows! Maybe it will be better.

I just had a conversation with someone at Maule about this last week. The higher ups decided that was the direction that it was going to go in and they just did it. I was told that ordering all those thing from the outside source gets a subscription that notifies you if something changes and/or is added like a service bulletin or AD. I am not a fan of them out sourcing this. Just a way to get farther away from you customers....

How do other people feel about this? Maybe if enough voices are heard things will change....

Could there be a section on this forum for the keeping of manuals, parts lists, drawings, etc? Something similar to the tech library concept at shortwingpipers. No idea if there would be any copyright issues.

I'll put my grumpy 2 cents in. I don't like it. It's not smart business. The further Maule gets from there loyal customers and the feed back loop they get from talking to those customers, the closer they get to being gone.

As long as the material isn't copyrighted there's no reason that we couldn't share manuals, parts lists and drawings on the forum merrymunks. I'll coordinate with Christine to see how she wants to set up a tech library on the forum. If there's a copyright, Maule would probably hold it and they would have to agree to let us post the material.

Dale Smith and Hal-Yes have it right about outsourcing information like this will definitely distance us from them ( maybe even alienate us somewhat) If I'am remembering correctly all service bulletins and AD's were listed under model specific links on the Maule factory website. This seemed to work just fine without having to go elsewhere . To have to pay for manufacturer's support that should be part of the obligations for selling a product, remember AD's and service bulletins are published and put out to correct defects that were built into aircraft or develop over time due to it not being engineered or built quite as good as it aught to have been like recall notices on automobiles. In fact I just received a factory recall notice on a 2008 Cadillac ( 12 years old & long out of warranty) I can't bare to part with, so my point is it's a way for owners to stay informed of issues that arise. I feel it's an obligation of the sale of the product initially.

We are the best sales pitch people Maule Aircraft have here with this forum, so if we're not saying positive things about support we get from the factory it's likely to diss sway new potential new customers and in today's age of information anyone thinking of buying most anything looks it up on the internet to check it out and the more it costs the more research they do and new airplanes ain't cheap.

I was told that if you have an urgent need for a Maule manual, you should call the parts department directly.

I remember when ATP came around. Took over manuals for many major manufacturers. Then they got outrageous on pricing. Almost everyone in the industry hated them. That was years ago. I doubt that much has changed.

I also think it’s a shame.

Not that $200 a year is going to make a huge difference to my overall annual running costs; it’s just that the free downloads of manuals and outstanding customer service which the extended family of Maule owners receives from the factory and through this forum are a huge part of why we own Maule airplanes.

Edit (8/9/20):
I’ve just relented and signed up with ATP for the electronic parts list. It seemed worth the price of 8 gallons of gas (in Europe ) to have an up to date parts list on my iPad or iPhone.

Maybe it’s just me, but the ATP app is barely usable - nowhere near as user friendly as my old web-based parts DVD.. There are no links to the various chapters from the main index page, and if there’s a search facility it doesn’t seem to work.

Exactly! I love Maule, the airplane the people and the support. Half the time I call Maule I get the CEO on the phone. By putting someone else between themselves and the customers they risk losing what has made the brand “Maule”.

When i bought my first Maule early this year I was so excited about the accessibility of information from the factory. I downloaded and printed everything I could get my hands on. I used their information to scrub the logbook of my prospective purchase. When I had questions about a service letter or bulletin I called Maule and got instant help. When I heard ATP had the pubs, I called them. I talked to two different people and they didn’t know crap about Maule and when asked couldn’t even tell me what state it was based in.

I am not sure we can turn back time. I am sure there is a reason Maule chose this path, but I am not a fan.

My wife called to get a trucker hat for Father’s Day. She ended up with Brent and he sent her a hat that he had sitting on a shelf. He fixed the problem...and it was just a hat....

Just my two cents

Tim

So where are we on this? Guess the right thing to do is to honor the factory's decision and buy what I need from ATP and if they had not been there for free for so long it would be easier. Wouldn't even paying Maule because there is expense involved.

All that said I need a picture of front cover and revision page for latest maintenance manuals for MX6-235 and MX7-180C if anyone would care to help.

Talk to Maule Parts first, Gary.

Will do. What really gets me that I have had the manual around here since buying the airplane but now can't lay my hands on it. Need pic of cover and revision page to include with field approval request. Know I will find it just as soon as I buy one. It was always so easy to click online and read from the ones there so didn't take of the paper copy as well as I should have.

I would have to agree with everything that has been said about the switch to ATP parts manuals, but in my experience, the Maule parts department deserves kuddos for service. I wouldn't leave a message, or send an email, but when I've talked to a real person I've gotten great service. I recently installed a GTN650xi, and the threaded stubs protruding from the rudder had us stumped about the VOR/LOC/glideslope antenna. After talking to Casey, Duane, Brent Maule, and David, we figured out what we had and needed to do, and Maule parts was able to come up with an obsolete whisker antenna that put the NAV back in my GPS/NAV/Comm box without taking the rudder fabric off. Recently I was trying to find a heated pitot tube, and the best new price was Spruce at $3195 (I still don't believe it!!, AN5212-12, 12 as in 12v, see for yourself) I found them used for $500, but as a last attempt at a new probe I called Maule. They didn't have one, but found me a new one for a third the Spruce price. They haven't always been cheapest, but they have always tried hard to get me the parts I need. They deserve a call the next time you need parts. Just don't leave a message or email, in my experience.