First registered to the Department of Transport on 9 December 1976, Fokker F28-1000 Fellowship VH-ATE (c/n 11082) was purchased at a cost of $5,212,000 and specially fitted for airways survey

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The photo above shows VH-ATE at DoT's Melbourne/Essendon base in 1980. The image below, also at Essendon, was taken about the same time and both show the aircraft wearing the DoT logo.

The fine shot below shows VH-ATE in flight in 1982 wearing the Department of Aviation colour scheme of the mid-1980s. Note the Civil Air Ensign on the fin and forward fuselage.

The first of the three F.28s to be disposed of, VH-ATE was sold to Ansett Airlines of Australia which reserved the registration VH-FKK. This registration was, however, not taken up as the aircraft was on-sold to Time Air of Canada before entering Ansett service. The aircraft was re-registered C-GTAH in March 1988.

The proceeds of the sale of VH-ATE were used to fund the acqusition by the Department of H.S.125 VH-JFT.

Click here to see a pre-delivery photo of VH-ATE as PH-EXN

(Photo: Top-CAHS collection 180M-82 / Bottom-SAAM collection)

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