Fokker F27 Friendship

The Fokker F27 Friendship has all but left passenger service, and its record is that of regional flying in the 1960s to 1990s. Up to 7 October 2026 it has 130 fatal events in our data. 78 count, in about 15 million passenger flights; 59 of those happened before 1990, and the last was in 2006. Most were approaches into high ground with few navigation aids, the main hazard of that era, rather than faults in the aircraft. As a classic turboprop it is compared with types such as the An-24.

What the F27 is and where it still flies

The F27 is a pressurised high-wing turboprop with two Rolls-Royce Dart engines and typically about 48 seats. It first flew in 1955 and entered service in 1958. Fokker built it in the Netherlands in versions from the F27-100 to the -600, and Fairchild built it under licence in the United States as the F-27 and the stretched FH-227. About 790 were made. The Fokker 50 replaced it.

It flew short routes for dozens of airlines, among them PIA, Indian Airlines, Burma Airways, Philippine Airlines, Air New Zealand and the US regionals Mohawk, Piedmont and Ozark. About 10 remain in service, mostly freighters and military transports in Africa and Asia. You are very unlikely to board one as a passenger.

Flights into terrain

Thirty-three of the 78 counted accidents were flights into terrain, often on approaches flown without radar or precision guidance. In 1964 a Bonanza Air Lines F-27 hit rising ground near Las Vegas after the captain misread a new approach chart (29 dead). In 1968 a Northeast Airlines FH-227 cut short its approach and hit Moose Mountain in New Hampshire (32 of 42). LADE, the Argentine state airline, lost two F27s to mountains, near Bariloche in 1975 (52) and near Córdoba in 1995 (53).

The best-known case is the Uruguayan Air Force FH-227D chartered by a rugby team. On 13 October 1972 the crew believed they had crossed the Andes and started down too early, hitting a mountain. 29 of 45 died, 13 of them during more than two months on the glacier before rescue.

Operators in Myanmar and Pakistan lost the most: eight counted accidents with Burma Airways and its successor Myanma Airways, and six with PIA.

Accidents the aircraft played a part in

• 2 December 1968, Wien Consolidated, Alaska: in severe turbulence that had not been forecast, the right wing failed where fatigue cracks had weakened it. All 39 died.
• 29 March 1979, Quebecair, Quebec City: an engine burst just after lift-off and debris stopped the gear from retracting. The aircraft could not climb and crashed; 17 of 24 died.
• 3 March 1972, Mohawk, Albany: a propeller fault meant the crew could not feather the left propeller, and the FH-227 sank onto a house short of the runway. 16 of 48 died.

Engine failures on take-off also figure in the last counted accident. On 10 July 2006 a PIA F27 lost its right engine after leaving Multan, the result of faulty overhaul work. The crew left the gear down and let the speed decay, and it stalled. All 45 died.

Weather caused others. On 23 July 1973 Ozark 809 was forced down by a thunderstorm downdraft on the approach to St. Louis; 38 of 44 died.

What is left out

Nine acts of violence are listed but not counted. The deadliest is a Sudan Airways F27 shot down by rebels with a shoulder-launched missile near Malakal in 1986 (60 dead). In 1964 a passenger on Pacific Air Lines 773 shot both pilots and the aircraft dived into a hillside (44). Forty-three cargo, military, training, ferry, test and other crashes are also left out; our methodology explains why.

How to tell if you are on one

Flight trackers show F27 for all versions. A high wing, two slim engine nacelles and four-blade propellers set it apart from the Fokker 50, which has six blades.