A 69-year-old man suffering from a serious and life-threatening heart problem was transported yesterday afternoon with an Air Force Falcon 50 from Pescara to Venice, and was then urgently transferred to the hospital in Padua for transplant or artificial heart implant.
The ambulance flight, requested by the Prefecture of Pescara, where the seventy-year-old was hospitalized in the city hospital, was carried out by a crew and an aircraft of the 31st Wing of Ciampino, one of the flight departments of the Armed Forces which ensures 24-hour out of 24, all year round, aircraft and crews ready to take off in a short time for this type of mission.
Having carried out all the procedures necessary to carry out the mission, the aircraft took off from Ciampino airport towards Pescara, where it took the man on board, and then headed to Venice. The aircraft then returned to its home base to resume its readiness service.
Crews and transport aircraft of the Air Force are ready every single day of the year, 24 hours a day, to ensure, where required and deemed necessary for reasons of urgency, the medical transport of people in imminent danger of life, organs or medical teams or, as in this case, people in need of transfer to specialized treatment centers throughout the country. Hundreds of flight hours are carried out every year for this kind of intervention, in support of citizens, by the aircraft of the 24st Wing of Ciampino, the 31th Wing of Pratica di Mare and the 14th Air Brigade of Pisa. Where there are specific operational needs, the Air Force also employs the helicopters of the 46th Wing of Cervia.