A Little Fokker

Fratton Fred

I've got to travel to eastern europe in a few weeks and I have several choices, but one of them is flying from London City Via Schipol on a Fokker 50. another is flying direct with BA on a 767.

The Fokker route is about two hours longer but cheaper so I might be able to justify it to my boss.

What do you reckon, are these small turbo props worth the extra hassle for just to get the experience?

Davidth88

to be frank.... no

I have flown on ATP ( Luton-kerry )

SF340 (LGW-ORK)

Various others around France etc.

Noisy and VERY slow... I remember the LGW-ORK one specifically , we were up for over an hour and the pilot came on , saying we were doing well and it was only 50 mins till we landed !!

Anyway if you are ' spotting ' then fine ( AMS is a fun place)

Biro

I like turbo-props. All jets are the same more or less, boring to be in.
Haven't been in an F50, never took the chance when EI were running them.
I like flying with Aer Arann though. Problem is the seats are smaller, and it is louder, although I haven't been in the 500 series. Might be a bit much for a long trip, but if it were for up to an hour and a half or so I'd do it! Maybe not on your trip. 2 hours longer? How long in total so?

Fratton Fred

actually, I've been checking options and although i'd quite like to have a bash in a turbo prop (The last one i went on was in Trinidad, that was some experience) the thoughts of adding 2 hours to a 3 hour flight doesn't appeal.

Cheers anyway.

Alun

I've been on Fokker 50's dozens of times in the Netherlands, but only on short hops from Eindhoven - Schiphol, and I'd say that was long enough. I can't imagine being on one for 5 hours :eek:

Fratton Fred

Alun wrote: »

I've been on Fokker 50's dozens of times in the Netherlands, but only on short hops from Eindhoven - Schiphol, and I'd say that was long enough. I can't imagine being on one for 5 hours :eek:

It was only London City on schiphol, about 90 minutes i think. the second leg was on a 737 but it added an extra two hours to the overall journey because of a one hour wait between flights.

Corega

We used to fly on the old EI Fokker's on trips over to Edinburgh, way back when. The flights were a lot slower by modern comparisons, but at least you could occupy yourself by trying to open those fu<king peanuts.

For nostalgia sake though I'd love to fly on one of these again, there's something reassuring about the drone of a turboprop.

dogmatix

I flew on an aging Ryanair Viscount to Liverpool many, many years ago. I really enjoyed it. Turboprops are noisier then jets but there is something "less fussy/formal" about them that I like. On very short routes I don't think there is much to seperate them from jets speedwise.

FlutterinBantam

You never flew on a Ryanair Viscount my friend.. HS748 maybe but not a Viscount.

How many engines??

FlutterinBantam

Corega wrote: »

We used to fly on the old EI Fokker's on trips over to Edinburgh, way back when. The flights were a lot slower by modern comparisons, but at least you could occupy yourself by trying to open those fu<king peanuts.

For nostalgia sake though I'd love to fly on one of these again, there's something reassuring about the drone of a turboprop.

Flight times on that route would not be a lot slower by modern comparisons,faster if anything.

Davidth88

FlutterinBantam You beat me to it........


I didn't know Ryanair flew anything but Bac111 , then 737 . But a quick look at Wikipedia tells me they flew 748s and bandits . ( Embraer Bandeirante )

However Dogmatix , you are right , there is something almost romantic about the turboprops, could be the larger windows or something. I remember the LGW-ORG flight our luggage was in a cargo net behind us !

dogmatix

Davidth88 wrote: »

FlutterinBantam You beat me to it........


I didn't know Ryanair flew anything but Bac111 , then 737 . But a quick look at Wikipedia tells me they flew 748s and bandits . ( Embraer Bandeirante )

However Dogmatix , you are right , there is something almost romantic about the turboprops, could be the larger windows or something. I remember the LGW-ORG flight our luggage was in a cargo net behind us !

Seriously guys - it was a Viscount! It had four small turboprops. It was July 1990, I went out to Liverpool on a 1-11 and came back on the Viscount. It was a lovely little aircraft with 2+2 seating.

I do accept Ryanair never officially operated Viscounts but I suspect they may have chartered this plane on the one off - perhaps the 1-11 was out of service for the return leg?

Incidentally for all you plane spotters, on that occassion I also spotted a Short Belfast parked at Liverpool airport, I think it was being operated by a commercial freight company. You did'nt see many Belfasts, even in 1990.

Foggy43

In 1989 I flew LTN to SNN on a Ryanair, Rombac 111-500 and returned on a Ryanair, ATR-42. The first flying I ever did.
The first and last turboprop flying I have done to date.

The KLM F50's are still flying in and out of LHR. I remeber in the 1990's when BA were making 100's of millions the BAA wanted to restrict aircraft sizes operating at LHR. The smallest allowed would be the Airbus A320. That changed quickly. Small and more frequent became the order.

I was living in Luton when the Vickers Viscount was been operated by Ryanair. The only complaint I heard was that it rain in the aircraft sometimes. Good old condensation.

FlutterinBantam

Foggy43 wrote: »

In 1989 I flew LTN to SNN on a Ryanair, Rombac 111-500 and returned on a Ryanair, ATR-42. The first flying I ever did.
The first and last turboprop flying I have done to date.

The KLM F50's are still flying in and out of LHR. I remeber in the 1990's when BA were making 100's of millions the BAA wanted to restrict aircraft sizes operating at LHR. The smallest allowed would be the Airbus A320. That changed quickly. Small and more frequent became the order.

I was living in Luton when the Vickers Viscount was been operated by Ryanair. The only complaint I heard was that it rain in the aircraft sometimes. Good old condensation.

Ryanair never operated Viscounts,may have had some ad hoc hire ins etc but to my knowledge never operated them regularly.

Foggy43

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Ryanair never operated Viscounts,may have had some ad hoc hire ins etc but to my knowledge never operated them regularly.

I think you are absolutely right. It was Virgin that operated the Vickers Viscount on the DUB LTN route. Even found a picture of it. Well down the page. I got to get back to the pictures of the Aer Turas DC8....oh....and the Tradewinds 707....20 years ago I worked those airplanes in STN. I am sure that Aer Turas now has CFM engines.

http://www.dublinbus.cc/wity21989.htm May take a while to download if you are dial up.

alpha2zulu

Just as a reference point, the turbo-props of today are a long way from the rattle and roll of a viscount,bandit etc. Having flown in Aer Arann's new 72-500's the noise level is not any more noticeable than sitting down the back of a 738 for example.
And yes while the journey time can be a few minutes longer , this is offset by the fact that many of the routes flown by turboprops would be uneconmic in a regional jet.

Davidth88

I also spotted a Short Belfast parked at Liverpool airport, I think it was being operated by a commercial freight company. You did'nt see many Belfasts, even in 1990.

There were only a few built the RAF sold them to Heavylift Cargo back in late 70's . I think this was a cutback they later regretted , they stretched the C130 ( lots of work for Marshalls in Cambridge ) , but ended up using the Belfasts on leases, or relying on the USAF to transport anything really large .

I remember the Virgin Viscounts , and the tradewinds 707's at STN

Foggy when were you working at STN ? do you remember the days when the only flights were the Scandinavian charters on Sundays ? ( Stirling 727 and Lnjiflyg (Spelling ) F28s , and Carevelles )

Foggy43

1988-90. Qualitair Aviation Ltd. I believe I got out just in time. The diamond hanger and 747 majors didn't quite work out. BA had some of their 747-100/200s on majors there because there was no where else to go.

Did occasionally work the Air UK F27's. Air UK Leisure had 2 B737-300's. Aer Lingus had one flight a day to Dublin. That was about it. Since the new Terminal was built, the Stansted Express opened it has all changed. The government have just announced STN is to be expanded.

I wonder who repairs the bullet holes on the Nile Safari 707's freighters now. They came in frequently for skin repairs. Yes! They were bullet holes. I remember those 707's, 727's, DC8 freighters and the smell of horse pee.

Davidth88

Ok , that was a bit after my spotting time.

I was seriously spotting from 1975->1988/9 ish. Used to call into STN on the way up to Mildenhall on the weekends.

I remember watching the BA 747's doing practise approches there. Were you there when the 727 was hijacked and arrived there then ? Most of the hijackers then asked for Political Asylum ( and mad GB gave it to them I believe )

STN was a real backwater in those days.... anyway we are a mile off topic

Fratton Fred

Davidth88 wrote: »

Ok , that was a bit after my spotting time.

I was seriously spotting from 1975->1988/9 ish. Used to call into STN on the way up to Mildenhall on the weekends.

I remember watching the BA 747's doing practise approches there. Were you there when the 727 was hijacked and arrived there then ? Most of the hijackers then asked for Political Asylum ( and mad GB gave it to them I believe )

STN was a real backwater in those days.... anyway we are a mile off topic

third busiest UK airport now. I can see BAA trying to keep hold of it, keep that for the cheap and cheerful stuff and Heathrow for the serious stuff. With gatwick being sold, I don't see why BAA should have to give it up. Gatwick has been the only airport to really compete with Heathrow in the south of England anyway, even more so if that gets its second runway (busiest single runway operation in the world btw).

Davidth88

LGW is a bit of a joke.

They built the second terminal over the only place you could build a second runway.......

I remember the B-Cal 111's, Dan-Air Comets and the Laker DC10's there :-)

Really showing my age now !

I have to laugh at the new proposal by Boris to build an airport on the Thames estruary , I remember Maplin Sands back in the 70s !

deaddonkey

dammit i love the fokker 50s

in about 1996 I got a jumpseat ride flying into Leeds/bradford on an aer lingus fokker 50, it was my birthday, i asked if i could see the cockpit and they let me, i asked questions and they showed me around, then the pilot asked me if i wanted to come back for landing.
So the 10 year old me got strapped into the jumpseat with a headset, it was so. much. fun.

Foggy43

Davidth88 wrote: »

Ok , that was a bit after my spotting time.

I was seriously spotting from 1975->1988/9 ish. Used to call into STN on the way up to Mildenhall on the weekends.

I remember watching the BA 747's doing practise approches there. Were you there when the 727 was hijacked and arrived there then ? Most of the hijackers then asked for Political Asylum ( and mad GB gave it to them I believe )

STN was a real backwater in those days.... anyway we are a mile off topic

Continuing off topic..........the hijack was in 2000. As you are probably aware one of the hijackers was arrested in Terminal 5, LHR a few months ago. Police were wondering what he was doing there. They arrested him and to their shock found he worked there. He was a cleaner with a company BA employed to clean BA's flight crew briefing. Full security clearance!