Specifications In MMA Service: August 1969 - December 1999 (10 aircraft in total) Wingspan: 82ft 3 1/4in, 25.09m Length (Mk 1000): 97ft 1 3/4in, 29.61m Height: 27ft 9 1/2in, 8.47m Cruising Speed: 420knots, 479mph, 780kmph Seating Capacity: 2 pilots, 2-3 Flight Attendants 75 passengers Engines: 2 Rolls Royce Spey turbojets producing 9850lb/4450kg thrust each

Even more so than when the F.27 Friendship replaced the DC-3, the arrival of the pure-jet-powered Fokker F.28 Fellowship catapulted MMA into the modern airline age. From 240kts in the Friendship to 420 knots in the Fellowship, MMA's pilots were thrust into the world of the swept-wing, the jet engine and high speed flight. The jet required a wholly different technique to fly, especially near the ground. With its higher landing speed and heavier weight, flying it was more demanding than ever, especially in bad weather. As it seems with all commercial flying, the company put the aircraft on the longest routes possible, putting the pilots under extreme pressure to extract every last minute out of the aircraft without breaking the rules. It operated on sectors of longer than 1000nm, no mean feat for the F.28 in the trying Australian conditions of high temperatures and frequent thunderstorms, compounded with the possibility of low cloud or fog at the destination. So, the F.28 was viewed as Fokker's dream machine: power and beauty, the ultimate culmination for the long and distinguished careers of many of the original MMA pilots who had seen the birth and maturation of the modern airline operation. Reg covers the thrill of flying his 8,500 hours in the F.28 in captivating detail in "I Flew For MMA".