The life-saving flight, requested by the Prefecture of Cagliari, was carried out with a Falcon 900 of the 31st Wing.
A baby, just one day old, who was hospitalised at the Policlinico Monserrato in Cagliari and in need of specialist treatment for a serious heart condition, was urgently transported to Milan late this morning on an Italian Air Force Falcon 900, for subsequent admission to the San Donato Milanese Polyclinic hospital.
For the air ambulance flight, requested by the Prefecture of Cagliari, a crew and an aircraft from the 31st Wing of Ciampino were deployed, one of the Air Force's flight units that ensures aircraft and crews are ready to take off at short notice for these types of missions, 24 hours a day, all year round.
Following contact between the Prefecture, the hospital where the child was admitted, and the Summit Situations Room of the Air Squad Command – the operational room tasked with initial coordination in such cases – the standby crew was activated. In a very short time, they took off from Ciampino Airport for Cagliari Elmas to pick up the little one, who travelled with his father and was constantly monitored by a medical team.
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 urgent reasons, the medical transport of people in imminent danger of death, of organs or medical teams, or as in this case, of people needing transfer to specialised care centres within the national territory. Hundreds of flight hours are carried out every year for this type of intervention, supporting 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 deploys helicopters from the 15th Wing of Cervia.
