Portuguese Air Force CASA C295-MPA at Wellington

Further to my last post about the fog at Wellington, I was pleasantly surprised to see this Portuguese Air Force CASA C295-MPA Persuader, registration 16712, parked up on the RNZAF apron!

As far as I can tell, prior to New Zealand, this aircraft has been at the recent Singapore Air Show. As for why it is here? Who knows, but it would not surprise me to find the RNZAF looking at options for new airlift capability [though I wouldn't have though the C295 a replacement for the mighty C130 Hercules]. Probably not true, but if it does happen, you heard it here first! :-) ha ha

For more photos [ie: without the fog!], see this post on the MRC Aviation blog.