Development

The Fokker F-50 is the successor to the Fokker F-27. The F-27 'friendship' was a passenger aircraft, designed by Fokkers' main designer Cees van Meerten as a replacement of the Douglas DC-3. The prototype (PH-NIV) made it's first flight on November 24 1955. It was capable of transporting 28 passengers, but since it was found to be tail-heavy, the actual production model was extended by 1 meter. In this version 32 passengers can be seated. The F-27 is considered the most successful West-European turboprop airliner, since 786 of them have been sold in total.

Fokker was hoping that they would be able to keep producing the F-27 until the end of the 20th century with step by step upgrades to keep the F-27 modern until the production line stops. In the beginning of the eighties, Fokker studied a version with new engines to replace the Rolls Royce Dart that used to power the F-27. As it turned out, a version with just a new engine wasn't interesting enough for the airline companies of the time.

If Fokker was to implement the latest technologies and be able to compete with other airliners, a completely new airplane was called for. Fokker started designing and building this new airplane, the Fokker F-50, in a project called P335.

Characteristics

The Fokker F-50 looks almost identical to the F-27 at first glance. However, there are a number of significant differences. A few of those are:

- The F-27 was 23.8 (length) x 29 (span) meters, whereas the F50 is 25.25 x 29 meters.
- The landing gear is different
- Windows are no longer oval.
- The nacelles are longer
- Six-bladed props instead of four-bladed ones

Fokker has also provided a number of technical means to reduce cabin noise, making it more quiet than the F-27:

- A six-bladed (instead of four on the F-27) prop with a smaller circumference, reducing the distance between the tips of the blades and the fuselage. The load per blade was also reduced.

- A very precise Phase-synchronisation system was introduced so that the left and the right propellers partially cancel out eachothers noise.

- The appliance of vibration-dampers on the fuselage, tuned to exactly 102 Hz (the frequency of the blade-passage).

- A double-wall construction which also dampens the sound

- A silent airconditioning system.

The F-50 had it's first flight in December of 1985. It's capable of transporting up to 58 passengers, has an empty weigth of 18.700 kg, and has 2 Pratt & Whitney 127 B turboprops of 2500 hp which enable it to fly at a cruise speed of mach 0.39 (472 km/h) at a max cruise ceiling of FL250 (25.000 feet).

The F-50 and F-60 in the Royal Netherlands Air Force (Koninklijke Luchtmacht or KLu)

The KLu has two F-50's and flew another 4 F-60's. The KLu uses the F-50 for transport of passengers and used the F-60 for transport of troops and equipment, and also for paradroppings and Medevac (transport of injured people). Because the F-60's were used for operational tasks they were painted in a grey camo-livery.

In 2005 two of the F-60's were converted to F-50 maritime MK.2 patrol aircraft since thTe P-3 Orion of the Royal Navy (Koninklijke Marine) was being phased out. They served an MPA task until 2007 for what was then called the Netherlands Antilles. At the end of 2007 this task was taken over by a Canadian company using two Dash 8 airplanes.

The Fokker F-50 serves in the 334 squadron at Eindhoven AFB. The F-60's were also regimented in this squadron, however in 2010 they were sold to Peru. Both F-50's are still in service.