Maule has been building tailwheel STOL airplanes so long, one can’t help wondering if the first ones were open-cockpit. In production since certification of the original M-4 in 1962, it’s nearly impossible to find a backcountry airport or airstrip that doesn’t have at least one Maule parked on it.
Remaining very much a family business—president Brent Maule is the grandson of founder B.D. Maule—the company gradually expanded its line to include nosewheel models and engines that range from 180 to 260 HP while sticking with a steel-tube and Ceconite fuselage, but going to all-metal wings. There are only two versions of the fuselage, the current four-place-plus-baggage fuselage of the MX-7 and MXT-7 models and the slightly taller and deeper fuselage that has room for a fifth seat in the baggage area of the M-7, MT-7 and M-9 models.