Maule’s M-9 is based on the M-7 airframe and is powered by SMA’s SR305 230-HP aero diesel.

Anyone who’s been around airplanes for, say, 10 minutes, has probably seen the famous picture of B.D. Maule demonstrating the STOL performance of his airplane by launching one out of a hangar like a mortar round out of a tube. He only did it a couple of times but the photo has been so widely circulated—there’s even a Sam Lyons print—that you’d think hangar takeoffs are a regular occurrence around Moultrie, Georgia, where Maules are made.

They aren’t. But the factory pilots don’t think twice about using the parking ramp in front of the plant as a runway, as Ray Maule recently did in demonstrating the company’s just completed SMA-diesel powered…