The ATI stretcher (Aircraft Transit Isolator), the special device that the Air Force used on board aircraft and helicopters to transport and save the lives of hundreds of citizens during the Covid pandemic, is now part of the exhibition at the Vigna di Valle Historical Museum, which houses aircraft and major aeronautical innovations that have characterised the progress of the Armed Force.
The handover ceremony took place on Tuesday 11 March 2025, in the presence of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Air Force Corps General Aurelio Colagrande, of numerous Armed Forces authorities and authoritative experts and representatives from the national scientific and academic world in the healthcare field, including Dr. Ulrico Angeloni, Director of the Emergency Health Management Office of the Ministry of Health, the’Barrister Cristina Matranga, Special Commissioner of the Spallanzani Institute in Rome and the Dr Salvatore Amato, President of the Order of Physicians of Palermo.
The ceremony, which symbolically took place five years after the declaration of the pandemic state in our country, was an opportunity for sector experts, both from civilian healthcare and the Italian Air Force Medical Corps, to delve deeper into and retrace the phases that, as early as the early two-thousands, led to the creation of this highly specialised unit of the Armed Force, since 2011 Biosafety Group AM, a reality that has also become a benchmark for training foreign civilians and armed forces over time.
The unveiling of the stretcher inside the “Warehouse 22” it was preceded by a conference on topics of great current relevance and interest, such as those connected to the ability to prevent and manage epidemiological emergencies, introduced by a brief welcoming address from the Head of the Aeronautical Health Corps, Chief Inspector General Pietro Perelli, which highlighted how the biological containment transport that we have acquired as the Air Force constitutes a capability of “excellence that few air forces in the world can boast of offering to the community”. Following this, the Dr Emanuele Nicastri, Director of the UOC - Division of High-Intensity Infectious Diseases at IRCCS INMI ’Spallanzani“ in Rome, held a masterclass within which he illustrated the world situation and possible future scenarios, highlighting how “The ATI stretcher can be a metaphor for the Italian System's response to the pandemic and how it symbolises the way forward in this regard to ensure we are ready and prepared to face similar emergency scenarios in the future.”.
There followed presentations by a number of Medical Officers from the Armed Force specialising in the field, who delved into the topic of biocontainment in the Air Force within the European and NATO context. In particular, the following spoke: Colonel Marco Lastilla, Head of Office to the Chief of the Aeronautical Medical Corps, the Colonel Federico Cerini, Deputy Director of the Aerospace Medicine Institute of Rome, the Colonel Alberto Autore, Head of the Coordination and Acceptance Office, IMA of Rome, and the Lieutenant Colonel Alessandro Fiorini, Director of the Main Nursing Practice at Pratica di Mare and Head of the A.M. Biocontainment Group.
The conference concluded with a welcoming address from the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force, Air Force General Aurelio Colagrande, who highlighted the efforts and results achieved by the Air Force in this sector, in collaboration with national healthcare facilities. He emphasised the expertise and dedication that all healthcare personnel of the Armed Force have demonstrated, particularly during the pandemic and in all emergency contexts in which they are called upon to operate on a daily basis.
The ATI stretcher is the special device that the Italian Air Force has used since 2006 on board C-130J, KC-767 aircraft and HH101A helicopters to transport and save the lives of hundreds of citizens, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. From today, it will be included in the exhibition route of the Vigna di Valle Historical Museum, keeper of the aircraft and major feats of aeronautical engineering that have characterised the progress of the Armed Force, thereby enriching the story of the first hundred years of the Air Force's life with another important chapter.
