More than 35 years after the last F28 Fellowship rolled out of the Fokker factory in Amsterdam, very few Fellowships in the world are still airworthy. In the early years of the 21^st century, most airlines had phased out their F28s and only a handful are still in service with military or governmental operators. This means that flying a F28 is almost impossible nowadays. Yet, two young Dutch aviation enthusiasts succeeded in making a flight in a military-registered Fellowship in Argentina in April 2024. Here is their story:

By Lars Smithuis and Marieke Hoiting

With more and more classic aircraft being ticked off in our flight log, there was one little Fokker still on our wish list for some years. We have flown the Fokker 50 twice now with Air Antwerp and BRA, the Fokker 70 with KLM and most recently Fokker 100 with Carpatair. We even flew the Fokker S.11 Instructor twice. You can tell, we like our Fokkers. We learned that the Argentine Air Force still operated two Fokker F28-1000C in their fleet, and that these planes, which were recently overhauled, are also used by LADE, Lineas Aereas del Estado, the state airline operated by the Air Force for civilian flights into remote, economically nonviable destinations.

The challenge of booking tickets

The LADE website is not a usual airline website, but with friendly chat conversations we learned that the F28 flight schedule is known no more than two months in advance and that F28s at that time only operated a single route out of Buenos Aires, and only on Mondays or Thursdays, actually not even all Mondays and Thursdays. This made planning quite a challenge. For a big trip like this, we usually like to plan at least six months ahead. The F28 flight would be the main goal for this trip, but we also wanted to visit the FIDAE show in Santiago, Chile in early April. However, we could not plan anything until we secured tickets with LADE. So, wait and see.

After several months’ waiting, we contacted LADE again in January 2024. It then appeared that the F28 flight schedule would be published in the last week of February; reassuringly, there was still the single F28 route out of Buenos Aires. On 15 February the kind lady of LADE sent us the April schedule: five flights were in the schedule and with an eye on FIDAE we decided to make a reservation for Monday 15 April. Flights would become bookable on Friday around midnight and indeed, they were. At the cost of lots of adrenalin we finally managed to book the tickets. Seat reservation and check-in would only be possible at the counter, but for now, we could move on with planning the rest of our trip to South America. The F28 route was from Buenos Aires to Bariloche, close to the Chilean border, with two intermediate stops, in Mar del Plata and Bahía Blanca. We booked tickets to Bahía Blanca for multiple reasons: first, the turnaround at Bariloche would be very short, which would mean that we needed to hurry to get back on the aircraft. Secondly, if we left the plane at Bahía Blanca, we could see it departing and arriving back again, so we could see our plane also in action from the outside, which would not be the case in Bariloche. And lastly, in Bahía Blanca is a naval aviation museum which also houses a Fokker F28, so that would be nice to visit during our layover.

The flight (part 1): Fokker F28 Fellowship Feast

After having visited Colombia, Peru and Chile, we arrived in Buenos Aires one day before what  was to become the absolute highlight of our Latin America trip. We used this day for visiting the Museo Nacional de Aeronautica in Morón that has a great collection of Argentinian aircraft. In their collection is an Air Force Fokker F27 Friendship as well as retired Government Fellowship T-03 (c/n 11028), which was our first close encounter with this type.

Former presidential F28 Fellowship F28-1000 in the museum in Morón. T-03 (11028) carries the name of Lieutenant-General Juan D. Perón, who was president of Argentina twice, 1946-1955 and 1973-1974.

Next day we dropped our rental car at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery airport and headed to the terminal for checking in. Online check-in is not available, so we made sure we were first in line at the check-in desk. As LADE is a military organization, the check-in is done by military staff. They appreciated our efforts and gave us the seats of first choice; they even made sure that we had the entire row for ourselves. Then, we got a piece of paper looking like a cash receipt, which actually was our boarding pass. We were told not to go through security, but to report back to their desk in about 45 minutes, as this flight was to be handled as a private flight. First we had breakfast and then reported at the desk, where the military check-in agent collected all ID cards and our passports. Next, when all passengers were present, we walked to the staff security area. Here we got our passports back and boarded a bus to take us to the aircraft. The bus took us to the stand where “1^o de Mayo”, the grey Fokker F28-1000C Fellowship TC-52 (c/n 11074) of the First Air Brigade was patiently waiting for us in the rain. Upon boarding one should notice the welcome floormat showing the name Fokker and the aircraft registration; what a cool feature! The flight and cabin crews welcomed us on board and we took our seats. We noticed that the number of cabin crew was fairly large (five attendants) relative to the number of passengers. We were impressed by the professionalism and friendliness of all military crew. When boarding was completed, the door was shut, the F28 was pushed back in no-time and the Rolls Royce Spey engines started to play their music. The check-in and boarding routine with LADE was really smooth.

The weather was still poor at Aeroparque as the engines spooled up and the Fellowship thundered down runway 13. Slowly, we rotated and with some nice fog blankets over the wings entered the clouds. We did not climb high enough to actually go over the thick cloud layer, so we had to enjoy ourselves with looking at the engine and wing. Which was not a problem, given that this was truly flying in a time machine. We also took our time to chat with the cabin crew and handed out some Dutch stroopwafels (a famous sweet cookie) and a framed cartoon print of TC-52 to them. All in all, we had a great time.

It was less than an hour flying before we descended to Mar del Plata. As the Fokker F28 had soft inflated tires, the landing was quite smooth and deceleration was gentle as the Fellowship does not have thrust reversers. We landed on runway 13 and had to taxi back before reaching the terminal for a really short turnaround. It took less than 30 minutes before all new passengers were on board, the door was shut and the engines started to spool up again. Impressive. 

Simple, but effective. LADE printed the boarding passes on a ticket looking like a cash receipt.

The floormat at the entrance of TC-52 (11074) welcomes the passengers in style.

Cockpit view of TC-52 while the captain is checking his mobile phone before the flight.

The forward cabin of TC-52 with the Fuerza Aeréa Argentina seal in gold. 

The aft cabin showing LADE's eagle on the headrests.

The flight (part 2): from Mar del Plata to Bahía Blanca

We taxied out again towards runway 13 and with no time wasted the grey Fellowship was back in the grey skies. This time, I (Lars) noticed that there was some ice accumulation on the engine inlet cowling and the engine cone. I had never seen this before, so I decided to film it. Exactly then, the deicing system started doing its job and in less than a second, all ice was dissolved. Very spectacular to see, you should definitely check the video. We were a couple of minutes into the flight and enjoying every second of it, when one of the cabin attendants invited us over to the flight deck for meeting the pilots. We walked along and behind the curtain the cockpit door was opened for us. We introduced ourselves and the crew was excited to have us in their office. The cockpit was old but simple. A thing that immediately stood out were the throttle levers, one pair for each pilot. The pilots were also happy with the cartoon so we took a photo of it in the flight deck mid-flight.

Since it became time for our descent to Bahía Blanca, we returned to our seats with the biggest smile on our faces. Landing was smooth, just as the previous one. During taxiing we checked the airbase for naval aircraft, but did not spot any. Later it appeared from our photos that there were two Super Etendards in a hangar. After the Fokker was parked and the engines were shut down, we said goodbye to the crew for now, and made our way to the terminal, while we could see the Fokker being prepared for its final leg to Bariloche. 

The militaty crew flying Fellowship TC-52 from Mar del Plata to Bahía Blanca.

The flight: break in Bahía Blanca

After we noticed the F28 taking off, we took a taxi to the Museo de la Aviación Naval Argentina. This museum is usually open during weekends only, but by prior arrangement they made an exception for us and had the base security informed of our visit. Indeed we had no problem entering the base. The taxi driver delivered us right in front of the museum, where three military officials in full uniform were waiting to welcome us. We were a bit overwhelmed when one of them escorted us through the rain straight to the Fokker that was the main goal of our visit. It is a F28-3000MC, serial 0742 with code number 5-T-21 (c/n 11150), named “Canal Beagle”. This F28 is preserved here since 2016 as an outdoors exhibit, still in IP (Important Persons) configuration. There are stairs next to the aircraft, which was unlocked especially for us. We were allowed to see the interior, the cockpit and even the insignia placed behind the cockpit commemorating its service in the Navy. With help of a translation app we learned several stories about the missions flown by this plane during the Malvinas war. Inside the museum we also found a model of the aircraft carrier “ARA 25 de Mayo”, the pride of the Argentinian Navy from 1969-1999 and before that “Karel Doorman” of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The museum ‘shop’ was also opened, and as one did not accept card payments, we bought a Fokker F28 patch using euros. Our guide called a taxi back to the civil part of the airport and we said goodbye to all people in the museum. This visit was special, truly special.

One of the three Fellowships operated by the Armada Argentina (Argentinian Navy) is preserved for posterity in the Naval aviation museum in Bahía Blanca. It is F28-3000MC 0742 / 5-T-21 (11150) named "Canal Beagle".

The cabin of 0742 still houses the comfortable seats for high-ranking navy staff. Note the little wooden bar between the two compartments.

The flight (part 3): from Bahía Blanca to Mar del Plata

Back at the airport, we checked in for the flight back to Buenos Aires, again with a stop at Mar del Plata. We were quite early and that gave us the opportunity to choose good seats again. The flight was a lot more crowded, which meant that we had seats 10E and 10F. Still, happy with that. Funny enough this time our boarding passes were printed on A4 format paper. We took a seat in the small terminal restaurant for a nice warm cup of tea. What a day it had been so far!

When the security check for our flight opened we moved upstairs to the windows overlooking the apron for filming our F28 taxiing to the stand. The Spey engines are so loud, they were very well heard through the glass. What a machine! Few passengers disembarked and soon it was time for us to board our third Fellowship flight. Together with five other passengers we walked across the apron towards the waiting plane. The crew welcomed us back on board, and as soon as everyone was on board the engines started up again. It was a short taxi to runway 17L and this time the crew took their time for the engines to spool up before releasing the brakes. What a powerful take-off this was. We had a quick glimpse at the museum before we entered the clouds again. Before landing at Mar del Plata it became obvious that the cloud base had significantly decreased and the ground came into view mere seconds before the F28 touched the runway. Some passengers gave a small round of applause, so not regular travelers 😄. All in all, just another great flight. 

Arrival of TC-52 in Bahía Blanca from Bariloche in pooring rain.

The flight (part 4): the best is yet to come

We had printed a flight certificate to commemorate this special day and would like the cockpit crew to sign it. So, during the turnaround at Mar del Plata I entered the flight deck once more. The pilots were happy to sign the certificate for us, and we chatted a bit about our trip and our passion for the F28 in particular. I (Lars) baldly asked if it would be possible to place our GoPro camera in the cockpit during take-off. The first officer (who was the captain on our previous two flights) agreed and I grabbed the camera from my seat at row 10. When I explained to the first officer how the camera works, the captain asked me if I wanted to stay in the cockpit myself. Well, he did not have to ask twice! I quickly went back to Marieke, grabbing two other cameras and (after lovingly wishing her a good flight) made my way to the cockpit. As the cockpit was fully occupied by two pilots and the mandatory third pilot/flight engineer, my place was behind the jump seat. Then, everything happened very quickly. The passenger door was locked and immediately we got clearance to start up the engines. The Speys do start up so much faster than the modern turbofan engines I work with, so in no time both engines were running, and the marshaller guided us away from our parking stand towards the taxiway. It was a short taxi to the active runway, where we had to backtrack a little. During backtracking the crew tested the flight controls and we were all set to go.

We made a turn at runway 13 and the captain immediately fired up the throttles. I could not be happier and more overwhelmed as we thundered down the runway. Then, we rotated and left the ground behind us. Positive rate, the gear came up and we were actually flying. The 50+ year old aircraft was still in such a good shape. We entered the clouds and I expected another flight without outside views, but this time we climbed above the clouds and the sun came out. Life does not often get much better than this. The flight was calm and I had a good time with the crew. Of course, they were doing their job and were busy flying the plane, but in the meantime we could chat a little every now and then. They were happy to show all features of the Fellowship. Despite it was sunny there was no ground view, which was a pity as we flew at fairly low altitude directly over Buenos Aires. Still, I could see our position on the Garmin avionics display; not an original feature of the F28 but a good reason to do this again. When it was time for landing we made a steep right turn for final approach to Aeroparque runway 13 (again). We descended through the clouds and Palermo neighborhood came into view. The airport came closer and closer as the captain deployed the speed brakes, the two splitting flaps at the tail of the Fokker. We crossed the threshold and gently buttered the bread. When the F28 had slowed down enough we took an exit to the left and made our way to a parking stand. As the ground crew had not yet fully prepared the stand, we had to wait a bit before the marshaller guided us in. Before deboarding I genuinely thanked the flight crew and asked for one last favor: a group photo of the crew and us. They all happily agreed and luckily the rain was not so bad anymore, so we had enough time to take our photos and say goodbye to the crew.

Wing view of TC-52. Above the clouds the sun is shining.

The flight crew was happy to pose with us for a group photo after arrival at Aeroparque.

Finally, we say sincerely thanks to our incredible flight crew for this amazing experience. We would not have dared to dream of anything like this. Thank you guys, you are the best. For more photos and videos, please read our blog on our website, and feel free to subscribe to our YouTube channel and Instagram!