The 36th Stormtrooper Wing and the 84th Search and Rescue Center (SAR) are training together to consolidate flight safety procedures and techniques. November was a month dedicated to Flight Safety in Gioia del Colle. In fact, after the salvage operation of a shipwreck last November 6 – which already saw a crew from the 84th SAR and pilots from the X and XII Fighter Groups operating jointly – another recovery exercise took place on a mountainous terrain on November 21. The exercise saw a HH139A helicopter from the 84th SAR perform some rescues of Naviganti of the X, XII and the same 84th SAR in the Armento area in the province of Potenza. To make the rescue operations particularly challenging was the terrain, as the rescues took place at approximately 1000 meters above sea level in a particularly rugged mountainous area. During the recovery operations, the ground-based personnel – assisted by a Team of Aerosoccorritors and Instructors from the C\SAR Center – carried out a march of approximately 5km through the mountains of the training area, thus training themselves to cope with all the hazards that normally characterize a mountainous environment. For this occasion, the ground-based personnel also had the opportunity to refine the methods of using the various survival equipment that are provided to Air Force pilots, which are considered vital in certain emergency situations. From these two training events, the latest of the current year, important ’Lesson Identified’ related to Flight Safety have emerged. For this reason, the personnel of the 36th Stormo have expressed a particular desire to increase this type of activity in 2019, introducing increasingly complex and challenging variables to achieve an ever greater and qualified training return.
