View Full Version : Airwork/NZ Post to retire F27 fleet
palauisland
15th Jul 2012, 22:02
The days of Fokker Friendships flying in NZ skies are about to be over with the three remaining aircraft being withdrawn over the next 18 months. Will be interesting to see what aircraft replace them.
training wheels
16th Jul 2012, 01:49
I guess no more visits to Surabaya for simulator proficiency checks then ... ?
distracted cockroach
16th Jul 2012, 10:42
Um, the F27 guys have been going to Dinard, in France for at least the last year. I think the old sim in Surabaya was not reliable enough.
NAO being retired because the D check was going to cost more than the aircraft is worth.
As for replacement...time will tell.
27/09
16th Jul 2012, 11:14
As for replacement...time will tell.
ATR 72 freighter?
haughtney1
16th Jul 2012, 17:56
Coal sales will now plummet....
scroogee
17th Jul 2012, 02:07
Plummet? No just dip a little, still plenty of Convairs in NZ...
slackie
17th Jul 2012, 05:37
Earplug sales may suffer too! You can hear those Darts start from the Tower! Mind you the B77W seems to have a particularly noisey start too??
Will be a shame to see the F27 go... and also a shame that it only really flies at night 'cos I love the phraseologhy "follow the Fokker":E
haughtney1
17th Jul 2012, 06:08
Wash thy mouth out Slackie..that them GE90's be the sound of chaos and mayhem about to begin...;)
Aerologic Boeing 777 with GE 90 insane starting sound!!! - YouTube
Not like those whineeeeeeey darts :8
diddly squat
17th Jul 2012, 12:52
Who is this AeroLogic mob?
Tarq57
18th Jul 2012, 02:18
I"m fond of the Fokker. Flown in them quite a bit, especially the ones that were used for the Calibration flight. Solid, honest aircraft.
JohnMcGhie
18th Jul 2012, 02:36
Many a time I sat in a DC-3, droning from Mangere to Whangarei to Kaikohe to Kaitaia... Always interesting (once quite exciting, when we hit windshear near Whangarei and got thrown to a bank angle of around 80 degrees...).
The old war birds were eventually replaced by these swish new modern F27s, all spindly undercarriage and shattering turbines (if you had your nose pressed to the fence, and small boys always did...)
They flew Mangere to Kaitaia direct! Much faster. Not as much fun...
They were the NEW ones, dammit.
Must be getting old...
diddly squat
AeroLogic is jointly owned by DHL and Lufthansa Cargo.
They operate 8 x B777F's and recently carried 8 non company passengers spread over a number of flights to Hong Kong from Leipzig.
Old 'Un
20th Jul 2012, 08:18
Ah, the Screaming Pencil about to pass into the history books in NZ. I remember seeing ZK-BXA all clean and fresh AND NEW when it arrived. Was peripherally involved with the commissioning of one of CalFlight's two, and spent a few minutes in the RHS of one on a regional service one day when I was the only SLF. (It helped that I knew the captain well.)
Thanks for the memories, Fokker, it's been an interesting ride. (And I mean that in the nicest possible way!)
Le Vieux
mattyj
29th Oct 2013, 05:15
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=86L9e1IIIQw
If you can be bothered watching it all there's a couple of shots of ZK-NAN doing its thing low level over the westies!
falconx
29th Oct 2013, 07:32
"Caution the little fokker ahead"
Fris B. Fairing
29th Oct 2013, 10:02
there's a couple of shots of ZK-NAN
starting at time 11:57
Eastwest Loco
31st Oct 2013, 14:41
When I worked for East West even though we are 12 miles from the airport on a day off , on a still morning I could hear the overnight F27 start up and if all was well would go back to sleep.
The guys on duty at the 'drome couldn't figure out how I knew the skipper had hot started and I was on the phone checking what had to be done.
Hot starts seemed to be the province of new commands or anyone flying EWT.
That lack of increase in revs and the flames out the exhaust often spelled finding an engineer. Most times the restart attempt was fine, but starting off a dodgy battery cart was often the catalyst.
I do miss the 20 tonne Dutch dog whistles.
They were a solid, reliable and pleasant aeroplane.
I think Echo Whiskey Papa is still operating in Australia for the CSIRO with all manner of mapping gear onboard.
Hope so.
Best all
EWL
DeltaT
31st Oct 2013, 21:00
No F27s left in Australia I'm afraid, only the F50.
The one you talk of was sold to Executive Airlines Australia in Melbourne who scrapped it a few years later. :sad:
VH-EWP was deregistered at Opa Locka in Florida in March 2011 with the intention of being scrapped. VH-FCA the first ANSW F27-500 also ended up at Opa Locka to be scrapped but it ended up going to Honduras.
taufupok
4th Nov 2013, 00:51
Sigh! Not much use for those " recall/memory " items that I had drilled into my head aeons ago:
Fire Warning Bell!
Silence that damned thing!
Auto Sync...............off
H/P cock.................feather
Feathering button....press
Firex......................SHOT one......nzzzzzzzzzzz, sorry I forgot! Did'n't I say AEONS ago!
TIMA9X
9th Nov 2013, 03:54
No F27s left in Australia I'm afraid, only the F50
Oh yes, I remember that start up sound @ KSA..... it came back to haunt me daily when I was living in the UK, those were the days...
Vycf4odW1_Y
Traffic_Is_Er_Was
11th Nov 2013, 20:13
Refer to post from 2009
http://www.pprune.org/pacific-general-aviation-questions/365148-east-west-loco-one-you.html
Engineer_aus
12th Nov 2013, 05:47
VH-JCC is still at Tamworth.
The NZ guys need to keep one going for all the vintage air shows they have over there.
Propstop
12th Nov 2013, 09:01
Ah, rigging and maintaining a Dart was a black art, but very satisfying when the ground run verified the adjustment.
I have fond memories of the Eenie Weenie fleet at Sydney, they were our nightshift jobs. EWP was one of the new 500 series with the upgraded cockpit and looked so modern in those days!!!
Jet A1 had a particular smell when burnt in a Dart, even if one was so deaf to miss the whistling tea kettle, the nose would tell you it was a Dart.
It is amazing how the years soften the memories!!!