F-27
 

Saw a nice shiny red F-27 in Mawanza a couple of days ago, Kenyan registered, I think but I missed the call sign any info on it?

Wonder if it's one of the ex Luft Afrique -100s that ended up in Kenya?

could it have been this one here?

F-27
 

Yes sir certainly looks like the very one
Thanks

Looks like one of the ex Luft Afrique -100s. Not really suited to hot and high African conditions if it is, with those RDA-6 engines.

it was parked at nairobi, wilson for a couple of weeks getting its paint job and the interior reworked. i was wondering where it disappeared to!

F-27
 

Thought it looked like a new paint job, very pretty, anyhow I looked up the reg and it is 600, built in 1985.

it operates as a cargo flight between airports in east africa.

Saw it just few days back in DAR, usually it's in cargo apron at JKIA too

As far as I remember Luft only had one -100 which is now parked at Kinshasa Ndolo airport (9Q-CLN) the others were -300M's I think.

Both used the RDa-6 engines, as I recall. The one referred to here has the RDa-7 engines, so far better for the conditions. Still relies on water meth injection to take any kind of load though.

There is one F27 at Lubumbashi Airport and another one at Moroni Comores,both are junks now !

SRT your memory serves you well they both have the same small ****ty -6 engine -
ZENJ - the one in Lubumbashi is a 600 series (ex Chadian Air Force) which did a gear up on the ramp I understand -
The 100 in Kinshasa is searching for a new home..........
Still unsure why these guys went for a fuel guzzler 600 instead of a Convair 580 which uses 30% less fuel, carries 40% more and flies 30% faster AND costs about the same to buy!

Scared myself shytless flying them, Mr Mobutu. That kind of thing tends to leave scars on one's psyche....:}

Today at HTDA !

http://imageshack.us/a/img341/9688/f27f.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

So it has the tropical kit, that's nice for the first officer.

Edit:

In case anyone hadn't noticed, that's showing off. It's saying that I know an awful lot about F27s and have many thousands of hours flying them both up near the South Pole and down near the North Pole. So be careful out there because perhaps, if the registration was a fraud, it could be an F27/700? Or could it really be with a tropical kit?

Dakar
 

Nicest one seen is in Dakar Senegal. Probably a F27-400, Defender, with Wing Tanks

That particular aircraft is based out of JKIA and is owned by a cargo operator. The serial number is 10681 and is one of the last off the line and the newest one still flying. I am a good friend of the crew flying it and they have a Mod on the engines making them 552 engines and not the standard 532 engines. That means they don't need water meth which has been deactivated even out of Nairobi at 5500 feet fully loaded. The guys are running a really good operation flying cargo doing 50 plus hours a month in east Africa.

The aircraft was recently purchased from a Europen operator and ferried earlier this year to Nairobi. If anyone wants more information on the aircraft or pictures I can easily get them for you.

whats the tropical kit ?

I have flown F27 more than any other propeller aircraft and was happy to fly the F50 , having been trained by Fokker Chief Test Pilot in Maastricht.

It was great to see all the bad things about F27 were taken care of on F50 and it was great flying a modern Fokker.

Whenever I see an F27 I feel great and happy , what an aircraft !

F27s are now an isolated phenomenon, just like the bar.
The Tropical Kit is an extra conditioning pack, deriving its air flow from the additional scoop on the rear starboard side. There's a dirty great inlet pipe that runs up the right hand rear of the FO's seat with a nozzle which he can position so as to pump cold air onto the back of his neck while the captain swelters.

No, that aircraft does not have a tropical kit!!!

I flew the Friendship for 10 years. It was great, solid and faithful.
The tropical kit is an additional heat exchanger for the aircon system.

Cavortingcheetah - The Tropical kit sounds more like a torture kit - if your the Captain expect daily dosses of heat exhaustion and dehydration or if your still awaiting your chance to shine, constant flu and eventual pneumonia. I expect this instrument of medievil creation was limited to passenger versions only and like most freighters have since been removed along with any other weighty pilot comforter such as A/C and Heating when they ceased to function some time back when Reagan was still President...:eek:

If the red peril in the picture has a cargo door on the port forward fuselage then the presumption is that it's a 600? That is a tropical kit scoop on the rear starboard fuselage. The effect was to pump additional cold air into the cockpit through the nozzle behind and to the right of the FO's seat. The cooling air flow was pretty much restricted to the first officer.
Incidentally, if that cargo door is ever improperly latched in the up position with the cross pole provided and decides to close, you will not jump out of the way in time and you will probably be cut in half.

The aircraft you are talking about is a F27 MK500 converted to cargo with the large cargo door and tropical kit removed because there is no need for pilot comfort!!!

F-27
 

I wonder if the ex Tchadian 600 is the same one that sat on the infield of Ndjamena for about seven years missing an engine before being resurrected by a couple of South African guys and flown out in about 2006/7, saw the same pilot in Ndj shortly after flying a G1, said the ferry of the F27 was a truly frightening experience.

Yesir this is the same F27-600 serial number 10430 Ex Air Tchad which sat in the sun from Dec 97 until Aug 02 in Ddjamena before it was ferried to Rand airport and overhauled by Fields Airmotive before heading north again to DRC where it was operated by Malu Aviation for Transair Cargo flying passengers until being bought by Air Kasai and then eventually to another in Lubumbashi where it met it ultimate demise....I believe the captain in still there flying a G1 amongst other things...:mad: