Press release no. 35/2022 Urgent Medical Transport: Two Consecutive Missions Completed by a C-130 of the 46th Air Brigade of Pisa On Saturday 27 August, a C-130J carried out two urgent transports for two people in life-threatening danger, from Naples to Venice and from Cagliari to Milan. Yesterday, Saturday 27 August, a crew from the 46th Air Brigade in Pisa was called upon to carry out two consecutive medical evacuations for people in imminent danger of losing their lives. The first transport, for a man in his forties in need of urgent life-saving surgery, took place from Naples to Venice, where the Italian Air Force’s C-130 landed at 16:30, where the patient was transferred to an ambulance and remained under the constant care of a medical team. From there, the man was rushed to the Padua University Hospital to undergo a delicate operation. Immediately after the first mission was completed, the crew and the aircraft were assigned a new ‘task’, as it is known in technical jargon, to transport another patient in a serious condition. The aircraft then took off for Sardinia, where it landed at around 19:30 at Decimomannu military airport. There, it picked up a 51-year-old man whose life was in imminent danger; once again, he was on board an ambulance and under constant medical supervision. The aircraft then took off for Milan Linate, where it landed at 22:30. From there, the patient was swiftly transferred to Niguarda Hospital for the necessary treatment. Following the completion of the two missions, the C-130 finally returned to its base, the military airport in Pisa. For both flights, requested respectively by the Prefectures of Naples and Cagliari from the Air Force Command’s Situation Room in Rome, management and coordination were handled by the Operations Centre of the Aerospace Operations Command based in Poggio Renatico (FE), which mobilised the 46th Air Brigade, one of the Italian Air Force’s flying units responsible for transporting personnel and equipment wherever required. Italian Air Force crews and transport aircraft are on standby day and night, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, to provide – where requested and deemed necessary for urgent reasons – medical evacuation for people in imminent danger of death, as well as the transport of organs or medical teams. Hundreds of flight hours are logged each year for this type of operation by aircraft from the 31st Wing at Ciampino, the 14th Wing at Pratica di Mare and the 46th Air Brigade at Pisa. For this type of rescue mission, where there are specific operational requirements, helicopters from the 15th Wing are also deployed.