Maule Air M-5-180C
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The M-5-180C is the 180 hp Lycoming-powered Maule, the lowest-powered member of the M-5 Lunar Rocket family. It is a four-seat fabric taildragger with big flaps, and it does the Maule trick of getting off in a few hundred feet with four seats.
With 180 hp it is the least capable M-5 and works hard with four aboard on a warm day, but it is also the cheapest to buy and to run, and the Lycoming O-360 is among the most reliable and best-supported engines in general aviation — a considerable advantage over the Franklin-engined earlier Maules. Build quality is functional rather than refined and the cabin is narrow for four. Fabric is the recurring cost. Maule remains in business, which helps parts support considerably.
Variants of the Maule M-5
- M-5-180C · 1974 · 57 active · this page
- M-5-210C · 1974 · 94 active
- M-5-235C · 1974 · 181 active
Also consider
- Beechcraft A23Score 26.2/50 · 4 seats · 120 kt
- Commander (Aero Commander / Rockwell) 100-180Partial 14.6/30 · 4 seats · 120 kt
- Piper PA-28-161Score 35.3/50 · 4 seats · 117 kt
Compare with…
Put Maule Air M-5-180C side by side with up to three other models.
- Maule Air M-5-180C
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Watch this model
One email a day if anything changes: new ADs and NTSB records.
What it is
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | taildragger |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Lycoming O-360-A1D |
| Horsepower | 180 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1974 |
| Production end | 1983 |
| Endorsements required | tailwheel |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 118 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 550 nm |
| Service ceiling | 18,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 850 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 40 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 650 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 800 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 950 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 710 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 2,300 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,350 lb |
| Usable fuel | 40 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 10.1 gal/h |
Estimated cost to own
An estimate, not a quote. Change the inputs to match how you would fly it. Defaults are for a single-engine piston, 3–4 seats.
| Fuel (burn × price) | hourly | $75/h | $7,484/yr |
| Engine reserve (overhaul ÷ TBO) | hourly | $1,950/yr | |
| Maintenance reserve | hourly | $2,000/yr | |
| Insurance | fixed | $2,000/yr | |
| Annual inspection | fixed | $1,800/yr | |
| Hangar | fixed | $6,000/yr | |
| Rental rate, wet | for comparison |
How these estimates are built. Fuel = this model's typical burn x the national average price from AirNav's Fuel Price Report (100LL $7.41, Jet A $7.66 per gallon, 5 Oct 2026; your airport may differ by $2 or more). Engine reserve = typical overhaul cost / TBO for this engine. The remaining lines are class-level defaults, not quotes for this aircraft: annual inspection is the base inspection fee (findings are counted in the per-hour maintenance line); insurance assumes an instrument-rated owner with time in type and a $1M liability limit - less experienced pilots commonly pay 1.5-2x; hangar and tie-down are national mid-tier figures, with rural and metro options; the rental rate is a 2026 flight-school rate for a comparable aircraft, including fuel. Twin and turboprop maintenance defaults are estimates, not published figures. Sources: AirNav, BWI Aviation Insurance (2019-2026), Flying (May 2026), Savvy Aviation, American Flight Schools, published airport rate sheets. Every default is editable - change any number to match your situation. Depreciation, taxes, financing and major upgrades are not included. Depreciation is not included. An estimate, not a quote.
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $100,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $130,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 2,000 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $32,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $46,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 86 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 57 |
| Median year built | 1984.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 2 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 35.09 · thin base (low)1 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 35.09 · thin base (low)2 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 8 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 14.04 · thin base (low)3 |
| Airworthiness directives | 1 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | low |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 57 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 57 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 57 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 3-4 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 7.7 of 103 |
| Support | 2.4 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 1.3 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | Partial: 11.4 out of 30 (safety not scored, too few records)6 |
- Accident record: class median 32.28 · 204 models in class.
- Severity: class median 12.5.
- Access: class median 775.
- Support: class median 148.
- Liquidity: class median 19.9.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories. When accident record and severity cannot be scored because the model has too few records, the other three give a partial score out of 30, labelled as such; it is never set against a full score.
Data as of: FAA registry Sep 28 · NTSB Oct 2 · ADs Oct 6 · scores Sep 30