A G650 aircraft of the 31st Squadron transported the two critically ill young patients to the airports of Milan Linate and Turin Caselle.

Double air rescue for an Air Force aircraft, which was continuously engaged in two emergency flights yesterday afternoon in favor of as many children in serious condition and in 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-Milan route, it ended around 17:00 yesterday. The flight enabled the rapid transfer of a four-year-old girl from the G. Brotzu Hospital in Cagliari in order to enable her subsequent hospitalization and the necessary specialized care at the’Niguarda Hospital in Milan. The little patient traveled with assistance and accompaniment throughout the entire flight by a medical team.

The second life-saving intervention ended shortly before 21:00 with the landing on the runway at Turin Caselle by the same aircraft. In fact, the G650 of the 31st Squadron, after landing at Milan airport, took off again towards the same airport in Sardinia to urgently transfer a 18-month-old child. The little boy was thus able to travel in total safety, being continuously assisted by the medical team until his subsequent transfer to the intended Turin 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 centers deployed throughout the territory) they are ready 365 days a year, without interruption, to take off in a very short time with means and equipment capable of operating, even in complex weather conditions, for any destination in Italy and abroad, upon request from hospitals, prefectures and diplomatic representations.