The urgent medical flight, requested by the Prefecture of Catania, was carried out with a Falcon 50 of the 31st Wing.

A four-month-old baby, admitted to ‘Vittorio Emanuele’ Polyclinic, Catania and in need of urgent specialist care, he was urgently transported this afternoon to Ciampino Airport (Rome) aboard a Falcon 50 of the Air Force, for subsequent admission to Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic of Rome.

Pan air ambulance crew and aircraft from the 31st Wing were used In Ciampino, one of the Air Force's flight departments which ensures aircraft and crews are ready to take off at short notice for these kinds of missions, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The urgent flight, requested by Catania Prefecture, it was immediately arranged and coordinated by Summit Situation Room of the Air Force Command, the Operations Room of the Italian Air Force, which, among its duties, is also tasked with activating and managing urgent medical transports, ordering the take-off of the aircraft that the Armed Force keeps on standby, 24 hours a day, at various bases, for this kind of necessity. 

Crews and transport aircraft of the Air Force are operational every single day of the year, 24 hours a day, to ensure, where required and deemed necessary due to urgency, the medical transport of individuals in imminent danger of death, organs or medical teams, or as in this case, individuals needing to be transferred to specialised treatment centres within the national territory. Hundreds of flight hours are carried out every year for this type of intervention, in support of citizens, by aircraft from the 31st Wing of Ciampino, the 14th Wing of Pratica di Mare, and the 46th Air Brigade of Pisa. Where there are specific operational needs, the Air Force also employs helicopters from the 15th Wing of Cervia.