The Fokker 70 is a narrow-body, twin-engined, medium-range, turbofan airliner produced by
Fokker as a smaller version of the Fokker 100 jetliner. Both the F70 and F100 were preceded
by the first jet aircraft manufactured by Fokker, the Fokker F28 Fellowship. Since its
first flight in 1993, 47 aircraft, plus one prototype, have been manufactured and most
are still in active service with airlines around the world, especially European airlines.
Design and development The Fokker company of the Netherlands started
to develop the airliner in November 1992 with an aim to replace its aging Fokker F28 airliner,
with a more modern and fuel efficient aircraft. The Fokker 70's first flight occurred on April
4, 1993, at the company's base at Woensdrecht in southern Netherlands, and had a duration
of three hours. Following its first flight, the Fokker 70 was flown to Granada and Spain,
where many hours were realised in order to obtain the certification at the end of 1994.
The first production aircraft first flew in July 1994. Certification was granted on October
14, 1994, while the first delivery of a Fokker 70 to a customer, Ford Motor Company, occurred
later in the same month. The launch customer of this aircraft by an airline was the now-defunct
Indonesian airline, Sempati Air. The development of the Fokker 70 was based
on the requirements of some airlines, for which the Fokker 50 or ATR 42 were too small
and the Boeing 737 or MD-80 too large. The development consisted in cutting various sections
of the fuselage of the Fokker 100, removing 4.62 metres of the plane's total length but
keeping the wings and tail. With these specifications, total capacity is 80 passengers, 70 in the
U.S., due more to meet "scope clause" requirements than any Federal Aviation Administration certification.
The Fokker 70 is powered by two Rolls-Royce Tay 620 turbofans placed at the back of the
fuselage, with 61.6 kN of thrust. The weight varies from 22,673 kilograms when empty to
41,730 kilograms at maximum takeoff weight. An airbrake on the 70's tail section – similar
to that found on the BAe 146 – allows it to conform with the 5.5° glide slope at London
City Airport. Its avionics suite is similar to the Fokker 100.
Most Fokker 70 aircraft were delivered for service in Europe, but in 1995 two aircraft
were delivered to Mesa Air subsidiary Desert Sun Airlines and were operated as America
West Express flights as part of an effort to try to introduce the Fokker 70 to the United
States. Although the earlier Fokker 100 did moderately well in the United States with
orders from American Airlines and USAir, only two aircraft were delivered for service in
the United States. Fokker's March 1996 bankruptcy ended any hopes of further production for
the U.S. market; the two America West Express aircraft became an expensive subfleet and
were sent to Europe in 1997, ending the very short tenure of Fokker 70 operation in the
United States. The last Fokker 70 was delivered in April
1997, when the production line closed following Fokker's bankruptcy the previous year. Over
the 70's short production life, 47 were built. Although official production of the Fokker
70 is completed, Rekkof has, since 1999, tried to negotiate the re-opening of both the Fokker
100 and Fokker 70 lines. Current Operators
As of December 2012, all 47 aircraft are still in operational use with the following airlines:
KLM Cityhopper Tyrolean Airways
Alliance Airlines Fokker Services
Kenya Air Force Presidential Jet Government of the Netherlands
Insel Air Specifications
Data from airliners.net, aer.ita.br, flyfokker.com, flugzeuginfo.net
General characteristics Crew: two
Capacity: 85 seat pitch)
79 seat pitch) 72 and 81 cm seat pitches)
Length: 30.91 m Wingspan: 28.08 m
Width: 3.30 m Height: 8.5 m
Empty weight: 22.673 kg Powerplant: 2 × Rolls-Royce Tay 620, 61.6
kN thrust each Performance
Cruising speed: 845 km/h Range: 3.410 km
Service ceiling: 11.000 m Accidents and incidents
On 5 January 2004 at 08:17 local time, an Austrian Airlines Fokker 70 crash-landed in
a snow-covered field near Munich International Airport. The aircraft had been operating Flight
111 from Vienna to Munich with 28 passengers and four crew on board, when its engines failed
during landing descent due to icing. The aircraft was severely damaged, however only three passengers
suffered minor injuries. See also
Related development Fokker F28
Fokker 100 Aircraft of comparable role, configuration
and era Antonov An-148
BAe 146 Bombardier CRJ700/900
Embraer E-170/175 Fairchild Dornier 728 family
Related lists List of civil aircraft
References
External links Fokker Services homepage
Rekkof Project airliners.net "The Fokker 70"