Fokkernews March 2025 (issue 87)

General news

The Republic of Singapore Air Force is looking for a replacement for their F50 fleet, in particular the five units that are used in the Maritime Patrol Aircraft role. Candidates are the CASA C-295MPA and Boeing P-8 Poseidon. Furthermore the Air Force has four F50s in the transport role. No time frame has been disclosed for the fleet renewal.

Fokker F27, Fokker 50 & Fokker 60

c/n type new registration registration comment
10295 400 5Y-SEP Safari Express Cargo. Seen at Rand, South Africa 16 February 2025 for engine change and other maintenance.
10511 600 5-2603 Islamic Republic of Iran Navy. This 50-year old Friendship is still going strong! In 2021 it received a major overhaul and recently also an updated, modern livery. Seen taxiing 25 February 2025 at Bandar Abbas Naval Air Base.
10620 200MAR 10620 Philippines Air Force. Seen active 11 February 2025 on Mactan Cebu airport.
10669 500 10669 Philippines Air Force. Seen in service at Mactan Cebu airport on 10 February 2025.
20115 50 (OB-369) OB-2043-P ATSA. After being retired, this F50 was sold and transformed into a restaurant in Huancabamba, Peru, some 500 km northeast of Lima. It now carries a fake registration.
20180 50E 5Y-IZZ Advantage Air. On 25 January 2025 the aircraft experienced a bird strike with a marabou and landed safely at Rumbek, South Sudan. Except the bird there were no casualties. On the left-hand side the leading edge, tank and wing were severely damaged. The F50 was written off.
20298 50 EP-TFT Ex Taftan Air. After very long storage (some 18 years), this F50 was ferried on 2 November 2024 from Zahedan to Tehran-Imam Khomeini airport for overhaul. As reported last month, Mahan Air is the new owner and probably also the next operator.
20303 50 VH-FKV Air Panama. It now appears that many sources misidentified two ex-Alliance F50s after they were acquired by Air Panama back in 2022. Since its delivery in November 2022 VH-FKV is in storage at Panama City airport in the basic Alliance colors, still with its Australian registration painted on. It was seen there on 5 February 2025.
20306 50 HP-1899PST Air Panama. The other ex-Alliance F50 involved in misidentification was former VH-FKW. It was re-registered HP-1899PST in November 2022 and continues to be current with Air Panama.
20313 50 9S-**** 5U-NAA Busy Bee Congo bought this F50 in September 2024 from defunct Niger Airlines and ferried it from Ndjamena via Yaoundé to Nairobi-Wilson 22-23 March 2025 for overhaul.

Fokker F28, Fokker 70 & Fokker 100

c/n type new registration registration comment
11137 3000 5H-CCM Tanzania Government. Now preserved in the National Museum and House of Culture in Dar es Salaam.
11153 3000 1250 Philippines Air Force. Seen in service on 5 February 2025 at Manila-Ninoy Aquino airport.
11204 4000 TT-EAS Toumaï Air Tchad. Seen 22 February 2025 at Ndjamena, fully intact but covered with dust.
11350 100 4O-AOT Montenegro Airlines. The F100, or what is left of it, has been bought by a business man for his new venture, a restaurant at a location still unknown.
11559 70 5Y-MMB Salaam Air. The runway excursion on Nairobi-Wilson airport on 26 March 2024 was due to the pilots misjudging radius needed for a 180 degrees turn after landing; this was the conclusion of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Department final report.

A new livery for an old Friendship: Iranian Navy 5-2603 (10511) recently was painted in a modern dark blue and white livery. (Persian.aero, still from video; Bandar Abbas, 25 February 2025)

 

As of 2023 former ATSA F50 OB-2043P (20115) has been transformed into a restaurant named ‘Fokker Freundt’. The F50 still has its cockpit intact, but no longer has engines nor landing gear. It got the fake registration OB-369. It is in an all-over red color that strongly contrasts with the green jungle of Huancabamba, Peru, some 500 km northeast of Lima. (Silvia Villavicencio; Huancabamba, August 2024). Funny enough, the engine cowlings now serve as toilets (Milagros Veramendi Luna; Huancabamba, October 2024)

 

The damaged wing of Advantage Air 5Y-IZZ (20180) after the bird hit. (unknown photographer, via Davey van Broek; Rumbek, 25 January 2025)

 

Ex-Sky Aviation F50 PK-ECD (20271) that is preserved at Depati Amir airport with fake ‘Menumbing Air' titles and fake registration PK-MBG was the center of a simulated aircraft crash as an exercise for various emergency services. The aircraft is covered with dirt and foam, but otherwise looks intact. (BaBel News; Pangkal Pinang, 24 October 2024)

 

The rebuilding process of ex-Canadian Regional F28 C-GTIZ (11099) has reached the next stage as it externally looks quite complete now (compared with photo in Fokkernews 66). (Alex Praglowski; Innisfail 2 March 2025)

 

Contrary to what the picture from last September suggested (see Fokkernews 81), the Tanzanian Government Fellowship 5H-CCM (11137) was reassembled and is now preserved in the National Museum. It was the country’s first presidential jet. (Pierre Beniston; Dar es Salaam, 12 March 2025)

 

Some sources suppose that the Toumaï Air Tchad F28-4000 TT-EAS (11204) was broken up, but this picture proves the opposite. The aircraft is dusty, but looks surprisingly intact. (Mylos Besseling; Ndjamena, 22 February 2025)

 

Since our previous picture (see Fokkernews 31) this former Merpati F28 PK-GKV (11211) was repainted and now carries large ‘Masis’ titles. The aircraft is still in the Kyai Langeng Ecopark in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. (SukaPiknik Indonesia, still from video; Magelang, 25 December 2023)

 

One and a half year after its last flight Jetair Caribbean F70 PJ-JAC (11582) has sadly reached the final stage of scrapping. (Larry Every; Curaçao, 20 March 2025)

 

Since Argentinian airline CATA Linéa Aérea ceased operations in 2006, their Fairchild F-27J LV-RLB (42) has been in storage without engines at Moron airport, until recently in the red and grey CATA livery. Last year it was photographed in a new blue color scheme based on the national flag and with Linéa Aérea CELTA titles in the same font as the original CATA lettering. Its location is visible on Google Earth (-34.663166, -58.644836). (Lars Smithuis; Moron, 14 April 2024)

 

Credits

All photographers named above, Air-Britian, Aviation Herald, Aviator.aero, Bearcat, CH-Aviation, Davey van Broeck, Frank Ellemers, Jan Homma, Peter Longley, Luchtvaartnieuws, Ron Mak, Piloot en Vliegtuig, Jacques Vooren, Henk Wadman, Willem Westerhof.

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