Fokker F28 Fellowship F.28 Mk 6000

The F.28 Mk 6000 was the version of the Fellowship family with which Fokker set out to take its regional twinjet onto even shorter runways. It started from the long fuselage of the Mk 2000, the same one later used by the Mk 4000, and added a larger-span wing fitted with leading-edge slats (movable surfaces that increase lift at low speed), together with more powerful and quieter engines. Period literature, written while the programme was in the hands of Fokker-VFW, already announced that a version "with a modified wing, with slats and larger wingspan" was in development, alongside another with an enlarged cargo door.

Its short-fuselage sister, the Mk 5000, was meant to combine the Mk 1000/3000 fuselage with the same slatted wing and the more powerful Rolls-Royce RB183 Mk555-15H; it was expected to perform very well on short runways thanks to its extra power, but the project was abandoned without a single example being built. The Mk 6000, by contrast, did fly and was certified.

Prototype and certification. To develop the slatted wing Fokker did not build a new aircraft: in 1973 it converted the first F28 prototype, PH-JHG (construction number 11001), into a Mk 6000. This was the aircraft that had opened the programme with its maiden flight from Schiphol on 9 May 1967, and whose registration honoured chief designer Johan Hendrik Greidanus. The Mk 6000 first flew on 27 September 1973 and received its certificate of airworthiness in the Netherlands on 30 October 1975. With the long fuselage it could seat up to 79 passengers, the same capacity as the Mk 2000. Later on PH-JHG continued to serve Fokker as a test aircraft, painted in a new colour scheme to trial the avionics of the forthcoming Fokker 100.

Two production aircraft without a buyer. The version found no customers. Fokker built two production examples, completed by 1976, but neither was sold as a Mk 6000, and both the Mk 6000 and the Mk 5000 ended up as commercial failures; the project was abandoned. The first of the pair, construction number 11092, was retained by Fokker as PH-SIX and leased to NLM Cityhopper with its slats still fitted. According to Fokker's own records, this aircraft served with Linjeflyg (Sweden), Libyan Arab Airlines (Libya), Iran Asseman Airlines (Iran) and NLM Cityhopper before going to Air Mauritanie.

The conversion. Before selling them, Fokker stripped the two aircraft of their defining feature: the wing reverted to a fixed leading edge. Sources disagree on the resulting designation. The English Wikipedia says they were converted to F28-2000 standard, while the history of Air Mauritanie and the record of its accident identify them as F28-4000s. Two Fokker F28-4000s joined the Air Mauritanie fleet in November 1983 and made up the airline's entire fleet in March 1985; the F28 article places the two Mk 6000s there, and Fokker's records confirm that 11092 became Air Mauritanie's 5T-CLF.

Air Mauritanie and Flight 625. On 1 July 1994, operating Flight 625 from Nouakchott to Tidjikja, the former PH-SIX attempted to land in a sandstorm after several approaches; the heavy landing collapsed the nose undercarriage, and the aircraft slid off the runway, struck a rocky outcrop and caught fire. All four crew and 76 of the 89 passengers were killed; only 13 passengers survived, all seriously injured. It remains the deadliest accident involving a Fokker F28 and the deadliest air crash in Mauritania. Another of the airline's F28s, 5T-CLG, was the subject of a hijacking at Nouakchott on 9 August 1996, with no casualties. That same year Air Mauritanie ordered two ATR 42s to replace its F28s, delivered in June and September 1996, although in April 2000 its fleet still comprised a single F28-4000.

Assessment. With two production aircraft and one converted prototype, the Mk 6000 is one of the rarest versions of the Fellowship. Its slatted wing never reached series production: the Mk 3000 and Mk 4000, which did sell in numbers, adopted the larger span and improved engines, but without the slats.