CASA C-212 Aviocar C-212-200 (serie 200)

The 200 series, introduced in 1979, is what turned the Aviocar into an export product. The change was fundamental: Honeywell TPE331-10R-511C or -512C engines of 670 kW — the 900 shp of the brochures — in place of the 715 hp of the 100 series, and with them a maximum take-off weight that went from 6500 to 7700 kg. The prototype, registered ECT-103 with construction number 138, flew on 31 March 1978.

Almost everything that made the aircraft famous was built on that airframe. The 200M military version — T.12D in Spain, Tp 89 in Sweden — won the type's largest export contract in 1983: forty aircraft for the Royal Saudi Air Force. From it came in turn the specialised maritime surveillance and anti-submarine versions, with the bulky nose radome of the AN/APS-128 search radar covering 270 degrees that identifies the Spanish search-and-rescue machines and the Patrullero aircraft of Argentina, Mexico, Sweden, Sudan and Venezuela.

The 200 series also has an unusual second civil life: the combination of a large cabin, fast climb and rear ramp has made it one of the favourite aircraft of sport parachuting, a niche in which it is still working decades after leaving the factory.