28 Mar 2024, 13:52 [ UTC - 5; DST ]
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Post subject: Re: Why do people sneer at Maules? Posted: 20 Aug 2017, 21:20 |
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Joined: 07/04/11 Posts: 1712 Post Likes: +242 Company: W. John Gadd, Esq. Location: Florida
Aircraft: C55 Baron
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Username Protected wrote: Lots of eye rolling and upturned noses...what's the story? Why all the haters? Whatever they say about a Maul shouldn't bother a blow and suck driver in the least. Just kidding. I think it has to do with less than stellar build quality coupled with abysmal handling traits. It did look cool stopping for beer in Cannnball run though.
It sure did.
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Post subject: Re: Why do people sneer at Maules? Posted: 22 Aug 2017, 09:17 |
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Joined: 11/03/08 Posts: 14526 Post Likes: +22857 Location: Peachtree City GA / Stoke-On-Trent UK
Aircraft: A33
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Anyone who likes the idea of a maule but hates the handling, needs to go for a ride in a bearhawk. It's all the things you like about the maule (stol, big barn doors, carries a load) and fixes all the stuff about the maule that you hate.
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Post subject: Re: Why do people sneer at Maules? Posted: 22 Aug 2017, 15:59 |
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Joined: 11/17/12 Posts: 589 Post Likes: +340 Location: Greensboro, NC
Aircraft: C170B, BE35, CRJ
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I did some of my primary training in a 1997 MX7-180C. I'm pretty dense and bulky and 6'4" tall, and my instructor (who owned the airplane) was not quite as dense as me, but equally sized. I hated the airplane at first, but it grew on me after a while. They are pretty heavy airplanes, so the 180HP version was a bit of a turd. My friend's M4-220C is a much better performer.
The airplane didn't fly too bad, but was cramped, and they're about as easy to ingress/egress as a Super Cub. They are more squirrelly than people anticipate them being, and the MX7 was the worse of the two for crosswind handling with the long wing. I'm sure the inertia and the reduced vertical tail volume coefficient were contributing factors.
Build quality wasn't the worst I've seen, but the engineering of the wings was a little interesting. They are built like a fabric covered wing that was then metalized rather than a native metal wing. Even though I wouldn't exactly hunt out a Franklin-powered airplane, an M4 would be the only one I'd consider of the bunch based on my experiences with them.
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Post subject: Re: Why do people sneer at Maules? Posted: 23 Aug 2017, 07:42 |
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Joined: 05/11/10 Posts: 12364 Post Likes: +11348 Location: Indiana
Aircraft: Cessna 185, RV-7
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Username Protected wrote: Anyone who likes the idea of a maule but hates the handling, needs to go for a ride in a bearhawk. It's all the things you like about the maule (stol, big barn doors, carries a load) and fixes all the stuff about the maule that you hate. Sure thing. The Bearhawk may be all the things everyone says. But there are very few flying, which says to me they're either expensive or difficult to build. Attachment: image.png
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Post subject: Re: Why do people sneer at Maules? Posted: 24 Aug 2017, 13:36 |
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Joined: 08/24/13 Posts: 805 Post Likes: +561 Company: Retired Location: Farmersville, TX
Aircraft: 2007 RANS S-6ES
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Username Protected wrote: Anyone who likes the idea of a maule but hates the handling, needs to go for a ride in a bearhawk. It's all the things you like about the maule (stol, big barn doors, carries a load) and fixes all the stuff about the maule that you hate. Sure thing. The Bearhawk may be all the things everyone says. But there are very few flying, which says to me they're either expensive or difficult to build.
You're judging how many are flying by the number listed for sale? I would certainly agree that the Bearhawk fleet is far smaller than the Maule fleet. But I think a lot of the reason you don't find many for sale is that the builder/owners just don't sell them very often.
I've been building my Bearhawk Patrol (2-place tandem version) for about 1.5 years now, and following the Bearhawk forums for about 2.5 years. During that time, I can think of only a small handful of Bearhawks that were sold for reasons other than the builder/pilot passing away. One of those was a "lost medical" issue that was not going to ever get any better. Another was a guy who bought a Bearhawk to fly while he was building his own, then sold it once the build was complete. Another was a guy who built a Bearhawk 4-place, then a 2-place Patrol, then sold the 4-place to finance the build of a Bearhawk LSA.
There are 117 entries in the FAA registration database that have the "Bearhawk" name in the "Model" field, plus another 23 Bearhawk Patrols, and 8 Bearhawk LSAs. Probably a few more are flying whose owners registered them as something else. And I know of several people in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand who have built Bearhawks.
All of the Bearhawk models are NOT what most people would consider a "quick build". Building from scratch probably takes between 2500 and 5000 hours, depending on skill level and desire to build a "show plane" versus a "work plane." The "Quick Build" kid probably reduces that time by about 1000-1500 hours. So it's not a casual project, but when it's finally done, they are pretty incredible aircraft.
_________________ Jim Parker 2007 Rans S-6ES
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Post subject: Re: Why do people sneer at Maules? Posted: 25 Aug 2017, 09:17 |
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Joined: 11/03/08 Posts: 14526 Post Likes: +22857 Location: Peachtree City GA / Stoke-On-Trent UK
Aircraft: A33
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Username Protected wrote: For a kit that's been sold for roughly 20 years, I'd say 149 registrants in the database is very few.
Whether you agree with that or not, the fact remains: you can't just go out and buy one. that's true, there aren't that many of them. But it hasn't been a "kit" for all that time, many of those were plans built before the kits
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Post subject: Re: Why do people sneer at Maules? Posted: 25 Aug 2017, 09:47 |
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Joined: 05/06/14 Posts: 6540 Post Likes: +7391 Company: The French Tradition Location: KCRQ - Carlsbad - KTOA
Aircraft: 89 A36 TN, 78 Tiger
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Maule has a bad reputation because some pilots do not want to spend the time it takes to understand and master a tail wheel. This is not a 182. It is a jeep with wheels. I love those planes, and if I lived in the right state, I would own one for sure. Different mission then a Bo. It is the perfect answer to the pilots that complain about FBO's fees... With this plane, you do not need FBO, in fact, you don't need no stickin runway....
_________________ Bonanza 89 A36 Turbo Norm Grumman Tiger 78
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Post subject: Re: Why do people sneer at Maules? Posted: 25 Aug 2017, 11:12 |
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Joined: 08/03/08 Posts: 16179 Post Likes: +8782 Location: 2W5
Aircraft: A36
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Username Protected wrote: For a kit that's been sold for roughly 20 years, I'd say 149 registrants in the database is very few.
Whether you agree with that or not, the fact remains: you can't just go out and buy one. More importantly, you can't just go and sell one if it doesn't fulfill your expectations or your needs change. You can always sell a Maule. There is just additional risk involved in buying an unusual experimental plane.
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Post subject: Re: Why do people sneer at Maules? Posted: 25 Aug 2017, 11:18 |
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Joined: 11/03/08 Posts: 14526 Post Likes: +22857 Location: Peachtree City GA / Stoke-On-Trent UK
Aircraft: A33
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Username Protected wrote: More importantly, you can't just go and sell one if it doesn't fulfill your expectations or your needs change. You can always sell a Maule. There is just additional risk involved in buying an unusual experimental plane. you have that backwards. Lots of people look sideways at a maule for whataver reason, but when a bearhawk does come on the market it gets snapped up immediately
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Post subject: Re: Why do people sneer at Maules? Posted: 25 Aug 2017, 11:40 |
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Joined: 07/21/08 Posts: 5429 Post Likes: +6114 Location: Decatur, TX (XA99)
Aircraft: 1979 Bonanza A36
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Username Protected wrote: More importantly, you can't just go and sell one if it doesn't fulfill your expectations or your needs change. You can always sell a Maule. There is just additional risk involved in buying an unusual experimental plane. you have that backwards. Lots of people look sideways at a maule for whataver reason, but when a bearhawk does come on the market it gets snapped up immediately
I went by their booth at OSH and was very disappointed. No one from Bearhawk seemed interested in talking to me. The owner of the only Patrol there was helpful, but I wanted more info on cost, availability, ect. That seemed to be a recurring theme at almost every booth except for... you guessed it, Cirrus. The Patrol is an amazing plane on paper. I would love to fly one and see if it lives up to the hype. I only know of one that might be for sale, and that is questionable.
_________________ I'm just here for the free snacks
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