Not long after Maule founder B.D. Maule moved the company to Moultrie, Georgia, he made a number of takeoffs from inside two of the company’s hangars. He was able to break ground inside and had to stay low until flying through the door. While the hangars are more than 200 feet long, it was impressive advertising.
We’ve seen a lot of claims by manufacturers that their airplanes were super-duper STOL machines—and we have long wondered what it all means. When we looked for an official definition of Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL), the best we could find was an old Department of Defense and NATO guideline that called for such airplanes to be able to takeoff and land over a 50-foot obstacle within a total distance of 1500 feet. Although it’s not stated, we assume that’s at sea level. In reality, 1500 feet over obstructions is pretty darn short.