A C-130J aircraft and a HH-139B helicopter of the Air Force are the assets used for the two emergency transports
In the late evening of yesterday, November 29, 2022, the following operations were carried out: two urgent medical transports From the crews of the Air Force in favor of citizens in imminent danger of life: a sixty-five-year-old man – transferred by a HH-139B helicopter from the island of Ponza (LT) to the military airport of Latina – and a thirteen-year-old boy – transported from Alghero to Genoa with a C-130J aircraft of the 46th Air Brigade.
The transports were requested respectively by the Prefectural Office of Latina and the Regional Directorate of Transport of Lazio. Rescue Coordination Centre from the Air Operations Command of the Italian Air Force based in Poggio Renatico (Fe) and from the Prefecture of Sassari to the Situation Room of the Air Force Command of Rome. The management and coordination of the missions were carried out by the Operational Room of the Air Force Command of Rome. National Air and Space Operations Center of the Air Force Air Operations Command based in Poggio Renatico (FE).
A helicopter was activated for the first transport. HH-139B of the 85th C.S.A.R. Centre of the 15th Wing of the Air Force. The military helicopter took off from the military airport of Pratica di Mare. After making a stop at the airport of Latina to board a medical team, the aircraft headed towards Ponza where it boarded the sixty-five-year-old patient suffering from a heart attack. Around 21:30 the helicopter landed at the military airport of Latina, where the patient was immediately transferred by ambulance to the “Santa Maria Goretti” hospital in the city.
For the second transport, one C-130J aircraft of the 46th Air Brigade From Pisa Airport, the aircraft took off towards the military airport of Alghero, the headquarters of the Air Force detachment, to board an ambulance with a 13-year-old boy in imminent danger of life and a medical team from the pediatric department of the Sassari hospital. The aircraft landed at the Genoa airport around midnight; once the ambulance had disembarked from the aircraft, it immediately headed towards’Pediatric hospital “G. Gaslini”for the immediate hospitalization of the patient.”.
At the end of the missions, the two military aircraft then returned to their respective bases, where they resumed their operational readiness service.
Through its Flight Departments, the’Italian Air Force It provides means and crews ready to take off at any time and capable of operating even in complex weather conditions to ensure the urgent transport not only of people in imminent danger of life, as happened today, but also of organs and medical teams for transplants. Hundreds of hours of flight are performed every year for this type of intervention by the aircraft of the 31st Wing of Ciampino, of 14th Practice Wing of Pratica di Mare,of the 46th Air Brigade of Pisa from the helicopters of the 15th Stormo of Cervia.
