| F28 Fellowship | |
|---|---|
| F28-1000 | |
| Role | Airliner |
| National origin | Netherlands |
| Manufacturer | Fokker |
| First flight | May 9, 1967 |
| Introduction | March 28, 1969 with Braathens |
| Status | Active service |
| Primary user | AirQuarius Aviation Libyan Arab Airlines Gatari Air Service |
| Produced | 1967-1987 |
| Number built | 241 |
| Developed into | Fokker 70 Fokker 100 |
The Fokker F28 Fellowship is a short range jet airliner designed and built by defunct Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker.
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Announced by Fokker in April 1962, production was a collaboration between a number of European companies, namely Fokker, MBB of West Germany, Fokker-VFW (also of Germany), and Short Brothers of the United Kingdom. There was also government money invested in the project, with the Dutch government providing 50% of Fokker's stake and the West German government having 60% of the 35% German stake.
Projected at first to transport 50 passengers to 1,650 km (1,025 mi), the plane was later designed to have 60-65 seats. On the design sheet, the F28 was originally to mount Bristol Siddeley BS.75 turbofans, but the prototype flew with the lighter Rolls-Royce "Spey Junior", a simplified version of the Rolls-Royce Spey.
The F28 was similar in design to the BAC 1-11 and DC-9, as it had a T-tail and the engines at the rear of the fuselage. The aircraft had wings with a slight crescent angle of sweep with ailerons at the tip, simple flaps, and five-section liftdumper only operated after landing to dump the lift. The leading edge was fixed and was anti-iced by bleed air from the engines. The tail cone could split and be hydraulically opened to the sides to act as a variable air brake - also used on the contemporaneous Blackburn Buccaneer. This design was also copied and used on the HS-146, which became the BAe-146. It had a retractable tricycle landing gear.
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 the Netherlands.[1]
The F28-1000 prototype, registered PH-JHG, first flew on May 9, 1967 (exactly one month later than the famous Boeing 737). German 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.[1]
The F28 with an extended fuselage was named F28-2000 and 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 slats, greater wingspan, and 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 Mauritanie, but not before they were converted to F28-2000s.[1]
The most successful F28 was the F28-4000, which debuted on October 20, 1976 with one of the world's largest Fokker operators, 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 "wide-look" interior featuring enclosed overhead lockers and a less 'tubular' look. The F28-3000, the successor to the F28-1000, featured the same improvements as the F28-4000.
F28s of Ansett Transport Industries' Western Australian intrastate airline, MacRobertson Miller Airlines of Western Australia, flew the longest non-stop F28 route in the world, from Perth to Kununurra, in Western Australia - a distance of about 2,240 km (1,392 mi). MMA'a F28s also had the highest utilisation rates at the time, flying over 8 hours per day.
By the time production ended in 1987, 241 airframes had been built.[1]
Data from[1]
An "Incident" is defined by the United States NTSB as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft that affects or that could affect the safety of operations.
An "Accident" is defined by the United States NTSB as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft where there is serious personal bodily injury or death, and damage to the aircraft and/or property.
The following is a list of Fokker F28 accidents and incidents:
According to [1], the Fokker F28 has an average fatal accident rate of 1.67 per million flights (which notably is one of the highest of all commercial jet aircraft and surpassed only by the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 types - excluding the following types which are no longer in commercial service and which may have had relatively good or bad safety statistics): 1. de Havilland Comet 2. Convair CV880/990 3. Sud Aviation Caravelle 4. Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde 5. Dassault Aviation Mercure 6. Hawker Siddeley Trident 7. Vickers VC-10. Of the above seven models, the Dassault Mercure had an impressive safety history with zero (0) accidents in 440,000 flights/360,000 flight hours carrying 44,000,000 passengers, while the de Havilland Comet was initially one of the most dangerous aircraft in the sky.
A more complete list of accidents and incidents can be found at the following websites: [2] [3] [4] [5] Also see: Aviation accidents and incidents
In August 2006 a total of 92 Fokker F28 aircraft (all variants) remained in airline service. Major operators included: Garuda Indonesia (62 in total, the largest F-28 fleet in the world), MacRobertson Miller Airlines, Ansett Group Australia (more than 15), Toumaï Air Tchad (1), AirQuarius Aviation (3), SkyLink Arabia (1), Satena (1), Gatari Air Service (5), Montenegro Airlines (5), LADE (1),Aerolineas Argentinas operated 3 1000 series and one 4000 series, all scrapped by the end of the nineties, Pelita Air (5), AirQuarius Aviation (4) and Merpati Nusantara Airlines (1). Some 22 airlines operated smaller numbers of the type.[2]
Data from[1]
| -1000 | -2000 | -3000 | -4000 | -6000 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length: | 89 ft 11 in (27.41 m) | 97 ft 2 in (29.62 m) | 89 ft 11 in (27.40 m (89.9 ft) 2 in (29.61 m) | 97 ft 2 in (29.62 m) | |
| Seating capacity: | 65 | 79 | 65 | 85 | 79 |
| Wingspan: | 77 ft 4 in (23.57 m) | 82 ft 3 in (25.07 m) | |||
| Wing area: | 822.4 sq ft (76.40 m2) | 850.0 sq ft (78.97 m2) | |||
| Max takeoff weight: | 65,000 lb (29,000 kg) | 73,000 lb (33,000 kg) | |||
| Max cruising speed: | 528 mph (849 km/h) | 523 mph (843 km/h) | |||
| Range: | 2,000 km | 1,350 km (840 mi) (2,743 km) | 1,180 mi (1,900 km) | 1025 nm | |
| Service ceiling: | 35,000 ft (11,000 m) | ||||
| Engines: | 2× Rolls-Royce RB183-2 "Spey" Mk555-15 | 2× Rolls-Royce RB183-2 "Spey" Mk555-15P turbofan engines | |||
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