Two of the Air Force's Falcon 900 aircraft were involved today in a series of air ambulance flights both within Italy and for the repatriation of citizens from abroad. The first involved a baby just five days old who, at the request of the Prefecture of Cagliari, was urgently transported in the morning from the Sardinian capital to Rome's Ciampino airport, from where he was then transferred to the Bambino Gesù Hospital. The same crew, one of those on 24-hour readiness for such emergencies, then departed again in the afternoon, also for Cagliari, to pick up another newborn destined this time for the IRCCS Policlinico of San Donato Milanese. The aircraft from the 31st Wing has already departed from Linate airport and is returning to its home base in Ciampino, where it will again be available for any further needs. During the same hours, another Falcon 900 from the 31st Wing repatriated three Italian citizens in serious health condition who needed to be transported to national treatment centres. The flight, requested by the Italian Consulate in London, was authorised by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and coordinated, as in the case of the two babies from Sardinia, by the Situation Room of the Air Force Command. First leg London – Pisa, where a sixty-year-old man, awaiting hospitalisation at a Tuscan hospital facility, was left; from there the aircraft took off again for Venice, in this case for a 53-year-old man in need of hospitalisation at a specialised treatment centre in Mestre following a road accident; the final stop was Turin, where an ambulance from the CTO was waiting for a 35-year-old woman in need of care following a fall. Missions of this type require the utmost speed.
Through its Flight Departments, the Italian Air Force makes available aircraft and crews ready to take off at any time and capable of operating in any weather conditions to ensure the urgent transport not only of people in imminent danger to life, as happened today, but also of organs and medical teams for transplants. Thousands of flight hours are carried out each year by aircraft from the 31st Wing of Ciampino, the 14th Wing of Pratica di Mare, and the 46th Air Brigade of Pisa, assets always at the forefront in emergencies. The essential coordinating role is played by the Armed Force's Operations Rooms, where officers and non-commissioned officers on duty 24/7 handle coordination between all external requesting parties – Prefectures, hospitals, embassies, other Ministries – and the Flight Departments themselves.
