Fairchild F-27

Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild-Hiller FH-227
Type:	2-engine airliner
Design country:	Netherlands , United States ,
Manufacturer:	Fokker , Fairchild
First flight:	April 12, 1958 (USA)
Commissioning:	1958
Production time:	1958 to 1969
Number of pieces:	128 F-27, 79 FH-227

Rest of a Fairchild F-27

The Fairchild F-27 is a commercial aircraft built from 1958 to 1969 by the American manufacturer Fairchild . It is essentially an identical license production of the F27 Friendship from Fokker for the North American market. The independently developed variant Fairchild Hiller FH-227 has an elongated fuselage.

Fairchild F-27

In order to meet the needs of American regional airlines for an economical propeller turbine aircraft , Fokker looked around for a suitable partner for the construction and sale of the Fokker F-27 Friendship . Fokker and Fairchild signed an agreement in April 1956 that authorized the American company to manufacture the Friendship under license. In addition, Fairchild was entrusted with the general distribution for the American continent. The first aircraft manufactured in the USA (N1027) took off on April 12, 1958 in Hagerstown ( Maryland ) on its maiden flight, followed by the first production aircraft (also N1027) on May 23, 1958. In the meantime, on May 9, 1958, it was parked Prototype (C / N 01) destroyed after a test flight when the landing gear collapsed due to a compressed air leak. The first production version that could carry 44 passengers was called the Fairchild F-27. The American type-certificate was issued on July 16, 1958, and West Coast Airlines began regular operations with the type on September 21, 1958. Other first customers were Northern Consolidated Airlines , Quebecair and Piedmont Airlines , the latter gradually replacing their obsolete, piston engine-powered Martin 4-0-4 by the F-27 from October 1958 .

The successor to the F-27 basic version was the F-27A, which was identical to the F-27 Mk.200. The F-27B equipped with a cargo door and roller floor was also known as the Cargonaut and corresponded to the F-27 Mk.300. Fairchild closed the Friendship production line in 1960 after initial airline demand was met. However, it was reopened in 1961, initially to produce the F-27F as a business jet . This model, which was approved on February 24, 1961, was powered by the more powerful Dart 529-FE of 1610 kW. The American airlines showed no particular interest in a cargo version planned in 1963 with the designation F-27G. The F-27J, approved for air traffic on August 3, 1965, was again a purely passenger aircraft equipped with Dart 532-7 propeller turbines. The successor model F-27M, first registered on June 12, 1969, is an improved version of the F-27J with more powerful Dart 532-7N and larger-diameter propellers for the operation of hot and high-altitude airfields . A total of ten F-27Js were delivered to Allegheny Airlines from October 1965 , Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano received the two only F-27Ms - completed in 1968 - in August and October 1969. With these machines, the production of the F-27s took place at Fairchild after construction of 128 copies completed. The models F-27, F-27A and F-27B could carry 40 to 44 passengers and the passenger capacity of the successor models F-27J and F-27M could be increased to 48 to 52 passengers.

A FH-227D from the Fuerza Aérea Uruguaya . The machine had an accident in the Andes in 1972 .

Fairchild-Hiller FH-227

In 1964, Fairchild took over the aircraft manufacturer Hiller Aircraft Company and now traded as Fairchild-Hiller . At that time, the F-27 was already being stretched to make this pattern more attractive for the US market. Due to the positive response, almost two years before the Fokker, the company developed a version of the F-27A that was 1.83 m longer than that, called the FH-227. The first of two prototypes began flight testing at Fairchild on February 2, 1966. Mohawk Airlines received the first ten FH-227s , which later replaced them with the same number of FH-227Bs with a reinforced structure and higher take-off weight . In the standard version, 52 passengers could be carried, with close seating up to 56 passengers. The range with maximum payload was 1055 km. Some machines of the basic model FH-227 were converted to FH-227C, which retained essential features of the FH-227B. In the FH-227E powerful were engines of type Darts 532-7L for installation. The FH-227B retrofitted to the same type of engine received the new designation FH-227D. The FH-227A, projected in 1967, was supposed to have a fuselage stretched by 0.91 m and be powered by Dart-542 engines, but this version was not built. Production of the FH-227 ended on December 3, 1968 with the completion of 79 aircraft.

This type of aircraft gained fame through the crash of Fuerza-Aérea-Uruguaya flight 571 , also known as the “miracle of the Andes”.

Incidents

Fairchild F-27

• On May 7, 1964, a passenger aboard a Pacific Air Lines Fairchild F-27 ( aircraft registration number N2770R ) killed the pilot and deliberately crashed the machine near San Ramon, California . All 44 people on board were killed (see also Pacific Air Lines flight 773 ) .

• On November 15, 1964, a Bonanza Air Lines Fairchild F-27A (N745L) was flown into a mountain about 15 km north of Las Vegas. In this CFIT ( Controlled Flight into Terrain ), all 29 occupants, 3 crew members and 26 passengers, were killed. Coming from Phoenix , the plane hit a mountain peak less than 5 minutes from the destination airfield during a snow storm.

• On April 16, 1965, on a training flight with a Fairchild F-27F of Bonanza Air Lines (N757L) at Las Vegas Airport, the landing flaps retracted asymmetrically due to a technical defect. When taking off, the aircraft turned to the left, made a ringelpiez and was irreparably damaged. The two pilots, the only occupants, survived the accident injured.

• On March 29, 1979, a Quebecair Fairchild F-27 (CF-QBL) with 21 passengers and three crew members crashed as a result of an engine explosion shortly after take-off in Québec . The crew and 14 passengers were killed in the crash (see also Quebecair flight 255 ) .

• On December 9, 1982, an Aeronor Chile (CC-CJE) Fairchild F-27 crashed two kilometers from the runway at La Florida Airport ( Chile ). After an engine damage was to a stall come. All 46 people on board died (42 passengers and 4 crew members).

Fairchild FH-227

• On October 25, 1968, the crew fell short of Fairchild FH-227 of Northeast Airlines (USA) ( N380NE ) approaching Lebanon (New Hampshire) , the safety altitude and flew into a mountain. 32 of the 42 occupants died in the accident.

• On November 19, 1969, the pilots of a Fairchild FH-227 of the Mohawk Airlines fell below the safety altitude on the approach to Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Warren County (New York) . The machine hit Pilot Knob Mountain east of Lake George . All 14 inmates were killed.

• On March 3, 1972, the crew of a Fairchild Hiller FH-227 reported the Mohawk Airlines (N7818M) during the approach to the Albany International Airport is a problem with the leaf position ( pitch ) of the left variable-pitch propeller . They also failed to bring the propeller into the sail position . The machine collided with a building about six kilometers from the runway threshold. Of the 48 occupants, 16 lost their lives, and one person was killed on the ground (see also Mohawk Airlines flight 405 ) .

• On October 13, 1972, a military Fairchild FH-227D of the Fuerza Aérea Uruguaya , which was flying a VIP flight with a rugby team from Uruguay, which should lead from Montevideo to Santiago de Chile , in the Argentine Andes on the border with Chile flown against a mountain. The machine and its 45 occupants were considered missing before the crash site was discovered after 72 days and 16 survivors could be rescued. In the extreme cold, the survivors were forced to feed on the meat of the bodies of the passengers killed in the crash, preserved by snow and ice (see also Fuerza-Aérea-Uruguaya flight 571 ) .

• On June 6, 1990, a Fairchild FH-227B of the Brazilian airline Transportes Aéreos da Bacia Amazônica , which had taken off from Belém airport , was flown into the area shortly before landing at Altamira airport . In the accident, 22 of 42 people were killed on board. It turned out that the captain was only sleeping 4½ hours the night before the flight because he had used his actual rest time to work in his apartment (see TABA flight 800 ) .

Technical specifications

FH-227E

Parameter	Data
crew	2 + 2
Passengers	52-56
length	25.50 m
span	29.00 m
height	8.41 m
Max. Takeoff mass	20,639 kg
payload	5,080 kg
drive	2 Rolls-Royce Dart 532-7L propeller turbines, 1,716 kW
Top speed	435 km / h
Service ceiling	9,300 m
Range	2,660 km

literature

• John WR Taylor (Ed.): Jane's All The World's Aircraft - 1965-66 , Sampson Low, Marston & Company Ltd., London, 1965, pp. 223 f.
• Kenneth Munson: Commercial Airplanes since 1946 (Airplanes of the World in Colors) , Orell Füssli, 1976, ISBN 3 280 00823 9 , p. 109 f.
• Karlheinz Kens: Aircraft types - type book of international aviation , 4th edition, Carl Lange Verlag, Duisburg, 1963, p. 289 f.

Web links

Commons : Fairchild F-27  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hans-Jürgen Becker: F27 Friendship. NARA Verlag, Martinsried 1988, ISBN 3-925671-02-1 , p. 44.
2. ^ Accident report Fairchild F-27 N2770R , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on July 26, 2020.
3. ^ Accident report Fairchild F-27 N745L , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on July 26, 2020.
4. ^ Accident report Fairchild F-27 N757L , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on July 26, 2020.
5. ↑ Accident report Fairchild F-27 CF-QBL , Aviation Safety Network (English)
6. ^ Accident report Fairchild F-27 CC-CJE , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on June 1, 2020.
7. ^ Accident report FH-227, N380NE Aviation Safety Network , accessed on April 12, 2019.
8. ↑ Flight accident data and report for flight MO411, FH-227, N7811M in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
9. ↑ Accident report FH-227 N7818M , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 31, 2020.