A 69-year-old man who suffered a serious cardiac problem and was in life-threatening danger was transported this afternoon by an Italian Air Force Falcon 50 from Pescara to Venice, before being urgently transferred to the Padua hospital complex for a heart transplant or artificial heart implantation.

The air ambulance flight, requested by the Prefecture of Pescara, where the seventy-year-old was being treated at the city hospital, was carried out by a crew and an aircraft from the 31st Wing of Ciampino, one of the Air Force's flying units that ensures aircraft and crews are ready to take off at short notice for this type of mission, 24 hours a day, all year round.

All necessary procedures for the mission were carried out, the aircraft took off from Ciampino Airport heading for Pescara, where it embarked the man, before proceeding to Venice. The aircraft then returned to its home base to resume standby service.

Crews and transport aircraft of the Air Force are ready every single day of the year, 24 hours a day, to ensure, where required and deemed necessary for reasons of urgency, the medical transport of individuals in imminent danger of death, of organs or medical teams, or as in this case of people needing to be transferred to specialised treatment centers within the national territory.

Hundreds of flight hours are carried out each year for these types of operations, in support of citizens, by the aircraft of 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.