About the Fokker 50
In 1983 Fokker announced the development of a much improved successor of the Friendship, the Fokker 50. Fokker had to do this because of the advance of new competitors like the Aérospatiale/Alenia ATR-42 and the De Havilland Canada Dash 8.
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The Fokker 50 kept the fuselage of the F27-500. The Rolls Royce Darts were replaced by Pratt & Whitney Canada PW125 turboprops, driving a new propeller with six blades instead of four. Other improvements were a new digital cockpit, small winglets ('Focklets') and more but smaller cabin windows.
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The first flight was on 28 December 1985 and regional Lufthansa partner DLT received the first aircraft in August 1987.
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Fokker also developed the stretched Fokker 60 Utility of which four examples were built on behalf of the Royal Netherlands Air Force. The last Fokker 50 was delivered in May 1997 to Ethiopian Airlines. A total of 205 Fokker 50s has been built.
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Fokker also offered Maritime versions of the Fokker 50. Stork Aerospace, the remains of the old Fokker factory, still offers conversions of used passenger aircraft to maritime patrol aircraft.
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One fo the bigger users of the Fokker 50 is
VLM (Vlaamse Luchtvaartmaatschappij) from Belgium.
Fokker 50 Specifications
Length: 82ft 10in (25.25m).
Wing span: 95ft 2in (29.00m).
Height: 27ft 4in (8.32m).
Empty weight: 27,602lb (12,520kg).
Max takeoff weight 45,900lb (20,820kg).
Max cruising speed 287kt (532km/h).
Range: 1,097nm (2,033km).
Engines:
Two 2500shp (1864kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PW125B turboprops or two 2750shp (2050kW) PW127Bs.
Capacity: 50-58 passengers.
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