THE MAULE FAMILY APPROACHABLE AIRCRAFT

Choose your mount —the Maules do it all.

- JASON MCDOWELL

One of the very first steps in an aircraft purchase involves determining what capabilities we’d like our airplane to have, and it’s laughably easy to check the boxes as we go down the list. Cross-country range? We’ll take it. Loadcarryingability? Absolutely. Short-field performance? Sign us up. A five-digit price tag? Yes, please. An airframe built in the 1990s? Sounds great.

Before long, our wish list becomes as overloaded as a college student’s plate at an all-you-can-eat buffet, and we eventually realize that compromises must be made. STOL aircraft rarely provide long-distance speed and range, for example, and certificated types less than 30 years old are typically fairly expensive.

The Maule family of aircraft, on the other hand, seems to provide most of these strengths with few compromises. Takeoff rolls of 300 to 500 feet are routine, and yet many provide cruise speed and range that approach even some types with retractable gear. Four adults and full tanks can be carried aloft at the same time. For just over $100,000, it’s possible to buy an example that’s newer than the first Apple iPods.

Surely, I thought, there must be a catch. So, I took a dive into the world of Maules to investigate further and evaluate their suitability as an approachable aircraft.

Design

When company founder B.D. Maule designed the M-4 in the 1950s, he emphasized a few key values, including utility, durability and short-field capability. The initial examples rolled out of the factory in the early 1960s, and this basic formula has remained largely unchanged.