C-212 Aviocar
ICAO C212A boxy Spanish light transport that goes into strips nothing else will use. Live C-212 Aviocar positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No C-212 Aviocar is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- Airbus Defence and Space
- Role
- Light tactical transport
- Class
- L2T — Landplane, 2 turboprop engines
- Crew
- 2
- First flight
- 26 March 1971
- In service
- 1974
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the C-212 Aviocar
The Aviocar is deliberately crude in the best sense: a square fuselage, a high straight wing, fixed undercarriage and a rear ramp, all built to get a couple of tonnes into a short unpaved strip and out again. CASA designed it to replace the Ju 52s and DC-3s the Spanish air force was still flying in the late 1960s.
It sold widely to air forces that needed exactly that, and Indonesia builds it under licence as the NC-212. Maritime patrol, paratroop training, photographic survey and light transport versions all exist.
Indonesian and Spanish aircraft are the most likely to appear here, alongside a scattering of Latin American operators.
Callsign prefixes
- AME
- Spanish Air and Space Force
- TNI
- Indonesian Air Force
How to recognise it
- —A very square, slab-sided fuselage with a high straight wing and a rear ramp.
- —Fixed undercarriage in prominent fuselage sponsons — it does not retract.
- —Small: about half the length of a C-295, with a squared-off nose.
Common questions
+ Is the C-212 still in production?
Yes, in Indonesia. PT Dirgantara builds it as the NC-212i under licence; Spanish production ended, with Airbus concentrating on the larger C-295.
+ Why does the Aviocar have fixed landing gear?
Simplicity and robustness on rough strips. Retracting gear would add weight and complexity to an aircraft slow enough that the drag penalty barely matters.
+ What is the C-212 used for?
Light tactical transport, paratroop training, maritime patrol and survey. Several air forces use it as their only fixed-wing transport.