Fokker F28 Fellowship
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The Fokker F28 Fellowship is a short range jet airliner designed and built by Dutch aircraft manufacturer, Fokker.
Design and development
Announced by Fokker in April 1962, production was a collaboration between a number of European companies, namely Fokker, MBB of Germany, Fokker-VFW (also of Germany), and Short Brothers of United Kingdom. There was also government money invested in the project, with the Dutch government providing 50% of Fokker's stake and the German government having 60% of the 35% German stake. In terms of responsibility for production, Fokker designed and built the nose section, centre fuselage and inner wing; MBB/Fokker-VFW constructed the forward fuselage, rear fuselage and tail assembly; and Shorts designed and built the outer wings.
Final assembly of the Fokker F28 was at Schiphol Airport in Netherlands.
Operational history
The F28-1000 prototype, registered PH-JHG, first flew on May 9 1967. Certification was achieved on February 24, 1969. The first order was from German airline LTU, but the first revenue-earning flight was by Braathens on March 28 1969 who operated five F28s. The aircraft layout, with t-tail and two Rolls-Royce Spey 550 engines mounted on the rear fuselage made it similar to its contemporaries, the BAC 1-11 and DC-9.
The F28 with an extended fuselage was named F28-2000, which could seat up to 79 passengers instead of the 65 seats on the F28-1000. The prototype for this model was a converted F28-1000 prototype, and first flew on April 28, 1971. The models F28-6000 and F28-5000 were modified F28-2000 and F28-1000 respectively, with the inclusion of slats, with a larger wingspan, more powerful and silent engines as the main features. The F28-6000 and F28-5000 were not a commercial success; only two F28-6000 and no F28-5000 were built. After being used by Fokker for a time the F28-6000 were sold to Air Mauretanie, but not before they were converted to F28-2000s.
The most successful F28 was the F28-4000, which debuted on October 20, 1976 with the world's largest Fokker operator,Linjeflyg. This version was powered by quieter Spey 555-15H engines, and had an increased seating capacity ( up to 85 passengers), a larger wingspan with reinforced wings, a new cockpit and a new interior. The F28-3000, the runner-up for the F28-1000, featured the same improvements as the F28-4000.
By the time production ended in 1987, 241 airframes were built.
Variants
- F.28 Mk 1000 -
- F.28 Mk 1000C - All-cargo, passenger/cargo version.
- F.28 Mk 2000 -
- F.28 Mk 3000 -
- F.28 Mk 4000 -
- F.28 Mk 5000 -
- F.28 Mk 6000 -
- F.28 Mk 6600 - Proposed version. Not built.
Accidents and incidents
As with most aircraft types, the Fokker F28 has an average number of accidents or incidents:
- Braathens Flight 239 - December 23, 1972, (Asker, suburb to Oslo, Norway): 40 fatalities. First fatal crash with a Fokker Fellowship.
- Turkish Airlines - January 26, 1974, (Izmir,Turkey): 66 fatalities. the aircraft crashed down 100m away from the airfield during takeoff.
- Turkish Airlines - January 30, 1975, (Marmara sea,near to Istanbul,Turkey):41 fatalities. During landing felt down to Marmara Sea.
- Turkish Airlines - December 23, 1979, (Ankara,Turkey): 39 fatalities. Because of turbulence.
- NLM Cityhopper Flight 431 - October 6, 1981 (Moerdijk, North Brabant, Netherlands): 17 fatalities, the aircraft flew into a tornado.
- Garuda Indonesia Domestic Flight - March 20, 1982, runway overrun at Tanjung Karang-Branti Airport in bad weather, 27 fatalities.
- Air Ontario Flight 1363 - March 10, 1989 (Dryden, Ontario, Canada): 24 fatalities.
- USAir Flight 405 - March 22, 1992 (Queens, New York, United States): 27 fatalities.
- Biman Bangladesh Flight 609 - December 22, 1997 (Sylhet, Bangladesh): No fatalities, CFIT onto a rice field approx 1 mile from runway. Aviation-Safety.net report
- Biman Bangladesh parked at Zia International Airport - April 22, 2003 Aviation-Safety.net report
- Biman Bangladesh Flight 601 - October 8, 2004 (Sylhet, Bangladesh): No fatalities, overran runway on landing. Pictures at AirDisaster.com - Aviation-Safety.net report
More complete list of incidents at AirDisaster.com
Operators
In August 2006 a total of 92 Fokker F28 aircraft (all variants) remain in airline service. Major operators include: Garuda Indonesia (62 in total), AirQuarius Aviation (10), Libyan Arab Airlines (5), Gatari Air Service (5), Icaro Air (5) and Merpati Nusantara Airlines (23). Some 22 airlines operate smaller numbers of the type. [1]
Military Operators
Argentina
Ivory Coast
Colombia
Ecuador
Gabon
Ghana
Indonesia
Malaysia
Netherlands: (Dutch Royal Flight)
Peru
Philippines: (Domestic Presidential Flights).The aircraft was named "Kalayaan"
Tanzania
Togo
Specifications
| -1000 | -2000 | -3000 | -4000 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length: | 89 ft 11 in (27.40 m) | 97 ft 2 in (29.61 m) | 89 ft 11 in (27.40 m) | 97 ft 2 in (29.61 m) |
| Seating capacity: | 65 | 79 | 65 | 85 |
| Wingspan: | 77 ft 4 in (23.58 m) | 82 ft 3 in (25.07 m) | ||
| Wing area: | 822.4 ft² (76.40 m²) | 850.0 ft²; (78.97 m²) | ||
| Max takeoff weight: | 65,000 lb (29,500 kg) | 73,000 lb (33,100 kg) | ||
| Max cruising speed: | 528 mph (849 km/h) | 523 mph (843 km/h) | ||
| Range: | 2,000 km | 1,350 km | 1,704 mi (2,743 km) | 1,180 mi (1,900 km) |
| Service ceiling: | 35,000 ft (10,700 m) | |||
| Engines: | 2× Rolls-Royce RB183 "Spey" Mk555 turbofan engines | |||
References
- ^ Flight International, 3-9 October 2006
See also
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era