A G650 aircraft from the 31st Wing and a C-130J from the 46th Air Brigade transported the two young patients in serious condition to Rome Ciampino Airport.

Double air rescue for Air Force aircraft, engaged non-stop this morning in two emergency flights for as many children in serious condition and imminent danger of life.

The first intervention, an urgent medical flight carried out with a G650 aircraft of the 31st Wing from Ciampino on the Cagliari-Rome route, concluded around 2:30 PM today. The flight allowed the rapid transfer of a newborn baby just two days old from the Cagliari University Hospital Company in order to enable subsequent admission and the necessary specialist care at the’Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital in Rome. The young patient travelled inside a thermal cot, assisted and accompanied throughout the flight by a medical team and his father.

The second life-saving mission concluded around 4 PM with the landing of a C-130J from the 46th Air Brigade of Pisa on the runway at Rome Ciampino. The Armed Forces’ strategic transport aircraft took off from Catania to urgently transfer a 13-year-old child. Given the specific and critical clinical conditions of the young patient, the use of the 46th Air Brigade aircraft was necessary, as it was the only one capable of directly boarding the entire ambulance with its supporting medical equipment. The thirteen-year-old was thus able to travel in complete safety, continuously assisted by the medical team and accompanied by his father until his subsequent transfer to the designated Roman hospital facility.

Both missions, requested by the competent territorial Prefectures and authorised, as is customary for this type of public utility activity, by the Prime Minister's Office – the organ that manages and coordinates the activities of the state aircraft fleet – were issued by the Summit Situations Room of the Air Squadron Command in Milan. This is the operations room of the Air Force, which among its institutional tasks also includes activating and managing urgent medical transport, giving the order to take off to the aircraft that the Armed Force keeps ready, 24 hours a day, in various bases located across the national territory for this kind of necessity. At the end of the operations, the two crews returned to their respective military bases, immediately resuming service. Operational readiness.

Missions of this kind require acting with Utmost promptness, guaranteed by meticulous organisation and well-established procedures. Hundreds of flight hours are carried out each year by Air Force aircraft for urgent medical transports, both for people in imminent danger of death and for medical teams and/or organs for transplants, for humanitarian flights or for search and rescue missions.

The crews of the 31st Wing of Ciampino, of 46th Air Brigade of Pisa, of 14th Practice Wing of Pratica di Mare and 15th Air Wing of Cervia (with its SAR Centres located throughout the territory) are ready 365 days a year, non-stop, to take off very quickly with vehicles and assets capable of operating, even in complex weather conditions, to any destination in Italy and abroad upon request from Hospitals, Prefectures and diplomatic representations