This evening, Thursday 9 January, a Falcon 900 of the 31st Wing of Ciampino has just completed a flight from Lamezia Terme to Ciampino, requested to ensure emergency medical transport for a newborn baby of just one day old.
The newborn required urgent specialist care, which necessitated the immediate intervention of the Italian Air Force aircraft. The little patient, coming from the Renato Dulbecco University Hospital of Catanzaro, was embarked at Lamezia airport onto a Falcon 900 aircraft at around 19:00. During the transfer flight, which took place inside a specially designed thermal cradle, the baby was accompanied by a medical team who constantly assisted him.
The aircraft landed at Rome Ciampino airport after a flight of about an hour. From here, the child was transferred on board an ambulance, continuing his journey towards the Bambino Gesù Hospital in Rome. The crew of the 31st Wing subsequently resumed operational readiness service.
The flight, requested by the Prefecture of Catanzaro, was promptly arranged and coordinated by the Top Situation Room of the Air Squad Command – 1a Air Region, the operations room of the Italian Air Force whose duties also include activating and managing urgent medical transport, issuing takeoff orders for the aircraft that the Armed Force keeps ready, 24 hours a day, at various bases for this type of requirement.
Missions of this type require acting with the utmost promptness, guaranteed by meticulous organisation and well-oiled procedures. Hundreds of flight hours are carried out every year by Italian Air Force aircraft for emergency medical transport, both of people in imminent danger of life and of medical teams and/or organs, for humanitarian flights, and for search and rescue missions. Crews from the 31st Wing based in Ciampino, the 15th Wing based in Cervia and its subordinate SAR (Search and Rescue) Centres, the 46th Air Brigade based in Pisa and the 14th Wing based in Pratica di Mare are ready 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, to take off at very short notice, with assets and crews capable of operating, even in complex weather conditions, to any destination in Italy and abroad upon request.
