Fokker — 70 Air Niugini

The Boeing 737 was too big. The Dash 8 turboprop was too slow. The answer came from the Netherlands: the .

The Rolls-Royce Tays are mounted at the rear. If you sit in rows 5-9, you will hear everything . The start-up sounds like a dragon waking up. On takeoff, the power is visceral. There is no quiet CFM hum here; there is a throaty roar that lets you know you are flying a jet built for business, not comfort. Fokker 70 Air Niugini

Air Niugini’s livery—a striking bird of paradise in red, yellow, and black—looks particularly fetching on the sleek fuselage of the Fokker 70. It is one of the most photogenic regional jets still flying today. The Boeing 737 was too big

Through the cockpit window, Michael saw the lights of Rabaul, strung along the edge of the bay. But between them and the runway stood the formidable obstacle of the Vulcan Crater range, its ancient cone a black silhouette against the twilight. They were descending too fast, too steep. The Rolls-Royce Tays are mounted at the rear

Then, a miracle. A fire truck, positioned for the emergency, turned on its high-intensity strobes, illuminating the last 500 feet of the runway. Michael aimed the nose for the blue lights.

If you are a plane spotter or aviation enthusiast, you owe it to yourself to fly this route. The Fokker 70 is a disappearing species. In Europe, they have been replaced by Embraer E-Jets. In the US, they never really existed.

Silence filled the cockpit, broken only by the whine of the spooling-down engines.