The delegation from Rome, led by General Agrusti, examined in-depth the situations and activities relating to flight safety at the Sicilian airport. From 28 to 30 May 2018, the 41st Wing and the Italian Air Force (AM) Airport of Sigonella were visited by a team from the AM Flight Safety (SV) Inspectorate led by Brigadier General Antonio Agrusti, Inspector General.
The presence at Sigonella was also contextualised by that of the Inspector of Naval Aviation, Air Brigadier General Amedeo Magnani, to whom the Wing reports hierarchically, and two former Inspectors now on the retired list, Generals Luca Valeriani and Germano Quattrociocchi.
The delegation coming from Rome was received by the Commander of the 41st Stormo and Sigonella Airport, Pilot Colonel Francesco Frare.
On the first day of work, following an introductory briefing to learn about all the organisations, the activities carried out and the main ongoing issues, a fact-finding visit to the infrastructure of the Sicilian Airport was carried out.
In the following days, under the coordination of the local Flight Safety Office, the entire activity was aimed at disseminating and raising awareness on issues related to Flight Safety, through which it was possible to achieve higher safety standards for flight and ground operations, and to harmonise flight activities in the area of responsibility, which also includes the civil airports of Catania-Fontanarossa and Comiso. All of this was in order to examine in greater depth the various issues linked to safety and prevention aspects in flight activity. Part of the team also took part in an operational flight activity on board the P-72A aircraft.
Alongside the visit, the Delegation chaired the 5th Accident Prevention Course for 2018, delivered to around fifty participants including pilot, specialist and flight crew personnel from the 41st Wing, the 61st RPAS Flight Group, the 11th Aircraft Maintenance Department and NATO-AGS, all units located at the Sigonella air base.
The 41st Stormo at Sigonella is equipped with “P-72A” aircraft, with which it carries out its primary mission consisting of countering the naval threat and providing a long-range search and rescue service at sea, keeping potentially hostile naval units under surveillance to protect the main maritime routes. Furthermore, it ensures the control of merchant traffic as part of operations against international terrorism and support for activities aimed at controlling illegal immigration flows from the southern quadrants of the Mediterranean, guaranteeing the coverage of large areas of sea, with the possible localization of refugees at sea and the alerting of responsible bodies, including a first Search and Rescue (SAR) response in the event of a maritime accident or shipwreck.
The Sigonella Airport Command, which reports hierarchically to the Air Force Support and Special Forces Command in Rome, is tasked with providing technical, logistic, administrative and operational support to the 41st Antisom Stormo – equipped with P-72A aircraft, the 61st Flight Group – equipped with Predator-type RPAs, and to the units deployed and in transit at the air base of the same name, whilst simultaneously ensuring the services required for the safe and effective conduct of flight operations. As part of its services to the community, it provides flight line support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for military and state flights, as well as for medical flights for the transport of organs and patients in urgent and imminent danger of life. Furthermore, it is responsible for the provision of air traffic services within the control zone (CTR) known as Catania, which encompasses the skies over eastern Sicily and the adjacent seas, including the airports of Sigonella, Catania-Fontanarossa and Comiso.
