On the night of Sunday, 3 March, an HH-139B helicopter from the 83rd SAR Centre (Search and Rescue) of the 15th Wing of the Air Force, stationed in Cervia, took off on a mission to search for a glider that had lost all contact in the Como area.
The crew on alert, having received the mission order from the Operations Room of the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) of the Aerospace Operations Command in Poggio Renatico (FE), rapidly proceeded to the affected area, concentrating the search in the Val Cavargna region, using Night Vision Goggles (NVG, night vision goggles) and advanced search systems.
Thanks to the latest generation system Artemis it was then possible to geolocate the missing person's phone, which was still on. The aircraft's infrared camera (FLIR Wescam, Forward Looking Infrared) then precisely identified the detected point.
Once the glider was located on the ground shortly before midnight, a short distance from the Swiss border, the crew signalled the position to the RCC, which immediately activated ground search teams from the Fire Brigade. They reached the area, finding the wreckage and the pilot's body, enabling its subsequent recovery by 118.
Throughout the mission, the Italian RCC has been in close contact with its Swiss counterpart.
The 15th Wing guarantees, 24 hours a day, every single day of the year, the search and rescue of aircrews in difficulty, and also contributes to public utility activities such as searching for missing persons at sea or in the mountains, emergency medical transport of patients in imminent danger of death and the rescue of seriously traumatised persons, also operating in complex weather conditions, day and night. Since its establishment to date, the 15th Wing's crews have rescued thousands of people in life-threatening situations, while in the summer they also carry out Fire Fighting Activities (AIB) as part of the assets provided by the Defence for this campaign. From the 15th Wing in Cervia, in addition to the 82nd SAR Centre in Trapani, also the 80th SAR Centre in Decimomannu (Cagliari), the 85th SAR Centre in Pratica di Mare (Rome), the 84th SAR Centre in Gioia del Colle (Bari) and the 83rd SAR Group, located in Cervia (Ravenna), depend on the entire national territory. The Air Force's flight departments are able to ensure the transport of patients, organs, medical teams and ambulances, even in complex weather conditions. Hundreds of flight hours are flown each year for this type of intervention, not only by the helicopters of the 15th Wing in Cervia, but also by the aircraft of the 31st Wing in Ciampino, the 14th Wing in Pratica di Mare and the 46th Air Brigade in Pisa.
