Fokker-27: A long crash history

Is the F-27 Fokker twin propeller commuter airplane a "flying coffin?" The STAR culled a list of Fokker mishaps, some of them fatal, from the Internet.

The website http://home.concepts-ict.nl/~mmgmdrunen/f27accidents00-now.htm lists Fokker mishaps from 1960 to 2002. Excerpts from the website’s databank:

2002

• Nov. 2: EuroCeltic Airways’ F-27 crashed in Ireland’s airport while landing in strong winds on a wet runway. The three people on the plane were unhurt, but the plane landed with its forward fuselage in the sea.

• Jan. 22: An F-27 of Transporte Aereo Militar of Bolivia crashed in Guayamerin after one of the plane’s engines failed seven minutes away from the airport. The pilot performed a single-engine landing, overran the runway and fell in a ditch. The nose gear collapsed and the main landing gear was separated from the wing. The right wing broke off. It was built in 1980.

2001

• May 17: Five people on Fureza Aera Argentina’s F-27 died after the airplane crashed shortly after takeoff in Mendoza, Argentina. The pilot made a descending right turn and crashed into a field 300 meters from the runway. Unconfirmed reports stated that the plane’s number two engine had failed. This Fokker was built in 1969.

• March 26: Three persons on board a Merpati Nusantara airline F-27 died while on a training flight when their Fokker crashed in Surabaya-Juanda, Indonesia. The pilot had been practicing the "touch and go" maneuver. On the 8th touch and go, the aircraft banked to the right and crashed. The Fokker was built in 1981.

2000

• May 5: Seven people died when the Ghana Airlines F-27 they were riding crash-landed nose first in pouring rain at the Ghana airport. The Fokker’s nose-first impact caused the aircraft to break in two. The aircraft was built in 1976.

1997

• April 14: Three people died when Taag Angola Airlines F-27 crashed in Brazzaville, Congo.

• Jan. 17: An F-27 Fokker belly-landed during a training flight. It had been built in 1976.

1995

• Nov. 8: 48 passengers and five crew members on board Lineas Aereas del Estado died when the F-27 they were on crashed into a mountain in Argentina in poor weather with rain and turbulence and strong winds. The Fokker was manufactured in 1981.

• July 1: Two crew aboard an East West Airlines F-27 died while on a training flight. After touchdown, the left main landing gear of the Fokker collapsed, the plane’s left wing hit the ground and caused the aircraft to go off the runway. The aircraft was manufactured in 1980.

1994

• Dec. 22: An F-27 of the Lloyd Aero Boliviano overshot the runway just before the V1 component in plane’s number one engine "auto-feathered." The plane’s momentum was stopped when it ran into a copse of trees. The four crew and 36 passengers on the plane were unharmed. The Fokker was built in 1979.