This morning a Falcon 50 aircraft of the 31st Wing of the Air Force transported a 9-year-old Italian girl suffering from a serious pathology from Tirana, Albania, to Bari.
Humanitarian flight was requested by the Italian Embassy in Albania and authorized by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers to provide the small patient with the necessary specialist care in a hospital in the capital of Puglia.
The mission was coordinated by the Military Air Force Summit Situation, which took off the takeoff of one of the Armed Forces crews who, on various bases distributed throughout the country, are ready to day and night for this kind of activity Of Italian citizens.
Taken off from the base of Ciampino, home of the 31 ° Stormo, before moving to Albania, Falcon 50 stopped in Bari to embark on a medical team and healthcare facilities.
During the return flight, the little girl, taken on the stretcher, was assisted by the Italian mother and doctors.
Air Force crews and transport aircraft are ready for take-off 365 days a year to ensure, where required and deemed necessary for urgent reasons, the medical transport of people in imminent danger of life or seriously ill, the transport of organs and of medical teams.
There are hundreds of interventions of this type carried out every year by the Air Force, whose vehicles also have the ability to embark specific medical equipment, such as thermal cots, or even an ambulance with the patient on board. In the first 6 months of 2017, more than 80 interventions were carried out.
The service covers the entire national territory, including the islands, and is also available to our compatriots abroad, as happened this morning.