Fokker F27 “Friendship” for Microsoft FlightSimulator 2004

Fokker F27 “Friendship” for Microsoft FlightSimulator 2004.

Version 1.2

Thank you for downloading this package.

First of all a brief history of the type:

HISTORY:

The F27 was built by the manufacturer Fokker, which was well known for its pre-WW2 designs and also during WW1 for its excellent fighters. After WW2 the factory was restarted and after a series of design studies the F27 was built. Originally the type was intended to be a replacement of the immortal Douglas DC-3.

A few innovations were implemented into the design. First of all the engine type was chosen to be a turboprop, which is really a jet engine that has a propeller attached to it. Rolls Royce had built the Dart engine that was already in service on several English designs and had already somewhat proven itself. The reason for choosing a turboprop over the piston engine was its improved reliability and better thrust-to-weight-ratio.

Another innovation was the extensive use of bonded parts in the main structure of the aircraft. Yes basically the aircraft is glued together! Born out of necessity economical wise (it was cheaper to glue together several thin parts than to machine one big part of aluminium), this method has some serious advantages in that the structure is stronger and more durable than the traditional riveted structures.

Also, for many non-structural parts light-weight composite materials were chosen (think of wing-fuselage fairings and wing leading edges). All this made a service life of 90.000 flight hours or cycles possible!! The nickname “Friendship” was come up with following a competition under the employees of Fokker. (The F28 got the name “Fellowship”).

The F27 prototype.

All in all a rather innovative design which had its ups and downs as far as sales figures go.

Including the Fairchild built aircraft the counter stopped at 786, making it the best sold civil turboprop in the western world. The type has been built from 1955 until 1986 during which time a lot of improvements were made such as different types of doors for cargo or paratroop dropping, lengthening the fuselage and installing more powerful engines, to name but a few.

The Netherlands Airforce F27 Display was famous in the airshow circuit, they almost looped the aircraft. I have read reports where the display team was grounded due to “dangerous” flying. Image courtesy Airliners.net.

The versatility of the F27 is well known. It has seen use amongst others as passenger transportation, maritime surveillance and enforcement, cargo haul, paratrooper, ECM and fire bomber aircraft. The fact that even today some 200 F27’s are still in every day service, often under demanding conditions in countries where maintenance is poor and runways unpaved, is a tribute to the fact that the choices made at the time were the correct ones. In the mid eighties, the need arose for a major update of the F27 with the arrival of some strong competitors for manufacturers such as ATR and Canadair. This resulted in the Fokker 50, from the outside it looks quite similar to the F27, but it is really a completely different aircraft. It has modern (quiet) engines, hydraulic systems as opposed to pneumatics and the avionics are state of the art even today some 10 years after the last Fokker 50 was built with the demise of Fokker which closed its doors in 1996. Bankruptcy was inevitable due to economical circumstances and mismanagement.

THE MODEL:

For every incarnation of Flight Simulator there was always a decent F27 available on the internet. However when FS2002 arrived, the supply ran out. Especially since the sim had so much potential and a 3d design program was included with FS2002 (Gmax), I decided to just do it myself. I had access to real life F27’s and knew my way around computers, so how hard could it be???

Well, nearly 3 years later I have come up with a model that looks half decent and is ready for release.

Gmax is a powerful program, but there is absolutely nothing straight forward about it. So I had to learn from scratch. Unfortunately Microsoft decided not to include a decent tutorial with the package so a lot of investigation was at hand. Luckily there are some guru’s out there that offer a lot of help via several forums on the internet. Without their help, I believe I would have abandoned the project long ago.

In the mean time FS2004 came around, luckily the models are mostly interchangeable, requiring only some minor modifications.

As it is now the model includes a rather rudimentary Virtual Cockpit, which still needs some work but it is quite possible to perform an entire flight for the VC only. As a matter of fact that’s all I do these days because the experience is so much better from the VC.

The cabin is what it is, nothing fancy there. Of course that could also be fixed but I felt it more important to release the aircraft in this lifetime...

Also the exterior model may lack in some aspects, but I am happy with it the way it is. If you should feel there are some things that need changing, just drop me an email and maybe I will look into it. One thing I hope to fix in the future are the cabin windows, they are not exactly correctly positioned and there are no holes for them in the fuselage. This is a modelling decision that was made because the fuselage distorted big time in Gmax when I tried to cut the window holes.

The flight dynamics are those that came with the panel package, because some gauges rely on the flight dynamics for correct functioning. However, they have been updated by Brian Horsey to fit my model better.

As is the case with most aircraft, the F27 has evolved through several different models (marks) during its lifetime.

These are the different Marks included in the package:

The Mark 100:

The original F27, with a combi door in the front that slides upwards and Rolls Royce Dart 6 engines. From the outside this is visible by the rounded blades on the propellers.

The Mark 200:

Basically the same aircraft, but with the more powerful Rolls Royce Dart 7 engines fitted. This is visible by the rectangular shape of the propeller blades.

The Mark 400.

This model has Dart 7 engines and a large cargo door in the front. The model shown here also has pylon tanks fitted which in real life can hold some 900 litres of fuel each. This is not simulated in FS.

The maritime.

The maritime patrol version has a search radar fitted below the fuselage and most of the times extra tanks in the centerwing and pylon tanks for the long range that is needed for this type of operation. There was also a Maritime Enforcer version which had armament fitted to stubwings on the fuselage and extra pylons on the wing.

INSTALLATION:

Refer to the READMEFIRST file for the installation procedure.

SOUND:

By default the sound is aliased to the King Air 350. However, feel free to browse through the major flight sim download sites and do a search for “dart” engine sounds for FS2004. There are several decent sound set available and installing them is a breeze.

USAGE:

The panel documentation is a MUST read, in order to operate the aircraft properly. Otherwise you will not be able to start the engines for instance.

The Virtual Cockpit has some specific items.

The aileron trim knob is a 3-way switch, sprung loaded to centre.
The autopilot master switch on the pedestal is only there to switch off the autopilot easily while in the VC. Maybe its use is debateable, but I liked it if only it were for eye candy J .
The pointer selector switches (for NAV 1, ADF 1 and NAV 2 and ADF 2) that are found on the 2d panel are also present in the VC. To see them you need to lower your eye point (SHIFT/BackSpace), because they are covered by the glareshield when looking forward. Hitting SPACE quickly resets the viewpoint.
The High Pressure Cocks can be moved by either left- or right clicking the mouse, respectively advancing or retarding the lever.
The 2d panel must have loaded prior to switching to VC. Otherwise some functions may not work.

TCAS:

I have made the package ready for the TCAS gauge made by Lee Hetherington. This can be found at the major flightsim download sites under the name of ilh_tcas_v4.zip. This gauge is highly recommended especially if you have a lot of AI traffic, it really adds to the experience.

For the gauge to appear in the F27, you need to edit the Panel.cfg file. This can be found in the Panel folder of the aircraft and can be opened with Notepad. (example path where the aircraft can be found: D:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\Aircraft\Fokker F27\panel)

If you have opened it, scroll to this line:

//gauge28=ILH_TCAS!IVSI,409,592,91,92

gauge28=F.27!Vertical_Speed_Indicator, 409,597,89,88

and make it:

gauge28=ILH_TCAS!IVSI,409,592,91,92

//gauge28=F.27!Vertical_Speed_Indicator, 409,597,89,88

Further down you will find this line:

//Gauge78=ILH_TCAS!Logic, 0, 0, 1, 1,

You need to remove the //:

Gauge78=ILH_TCAS!Logic, 0, 0, 1, 1,

Even further down under the header [vcockpit01] you will find this line:

//gauge05=ILH_TCAS!IVSI,290,177,91,93

gauge05=F.27!Vertical_Speed_Indicator, 290,184,89 ,88

Again change it into:

gauge05=ILH_TCAS!IVSI,290,177,91,93

//gauge05=F.27!Vertical_Speed_Indicator, 290,184,89 ,88

Save and exit the panel.cfg and fire up FlightSim to enjoy TCAS!!

It is most important that you read the manual that is included in this TCAS gauge, so that you know how to use it.

CREDITS:

I would have never gotten this far without the help of a lot of people. A lot of credit goes to:

Fraser mc Kay for his excellent panel and gauges and letting me use it.
Brian Horsey for the Flight Dynamics and his permission to use it.
Fr. Bill, Felix, Lionheart, N4Gix, Dennis S, Milton Shupe, Tom Gibson and all the people from FFDS for all their patience in answering my questions (and those of others) and so making this project possible.
FSEdge for his help in texturemapping the fuselage and teaching me how to do this.
Pilot figures made by Milton Shupe.

DISCLAIMER

These files are used at your own risk. They should not harm your computer in any way, but one never knows.

It has been tested on a wide variety of different systems with no problems encountered.

There is absolutely NO warranty or guarantee of any kind, expressed or implied, for any problems arising from the use of these files. This includes, but is not limited to, any hardware and/or software problems. All use of these files and its related files is at the user’s own risk.

Copyright and Distribution

--------------------------

This package is released as Freeware. Copyright Willem Bruijns.  As freeware you are permitted to distribute this archive subject to the following conditions,

- The archive must be distributed without modification to the

contents of the archive. Redistributing this archive with any files

added, removed or modified is prohibited. Repaints are to be released

as "texture only" files.

- The inclusion of any individual file from this archive in another

archive without the prior permission of the author is prohibited.

This means, for example, that you may not upload an archive that uses

our visual or flight models with your own aircraft or include it in a

package containing a panel or aircraft sounds without first obtaining

the authors' permission.

- No charge may be made for this archive other than that to cover the

cost of its distribution. If a fee is charged it must be made clear

to the purchaser that the archive is freeware and that the fee is to

cover the distributor's costs of providing the archive.

- The authors' rights and wishes concerning this archive must be

respected.

Contact:

E-mail : kanogek@hotmail.com