This year, the World Ski Championship’s edition took place in Cortina d’Ampezzo, surrounded by the wonderful Dolomiti’s mountains in the eastern part of Italian Alps, probably one of the best landscapes in the world. As a part of the event, numerous helicopters from all the national law enforcement agencies, Polizia di Stato, Guardia di Finanza and Carabinieri were flown to Cortina. All of them showed up with their latest fleet additions, produced by the Helicopter Division of the Italian state-run company Leonardo. Polizia Di Stato sent both of its new AgustaWestland UH-139E, MM81978 PS-116 and MM81879 PS-118 based respectively at Milano Malpensa and Firenze Peretola. Delivered few weeks ago, both of them were temporary deployed at Venezia Tessera airport at X° Reparto Volo and they operate daily sorties from there. One of them, POLI 116, was tasked on anti-terrorism duty, ready to deploy NOCS Special Forces (Italian acronym of Central Operational Security unit) over Cortina to ensure high level of security required for this event. The other one, equipped with camera system, provided support for law enforcement officers on the ground with live streaming of the entire Cortina’s Valley, focusing on the ski track and the access routes to the red area surrounding the most sensitive sites.
Guardia di Finanza guaranteed HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) with a dedicated helicopter operating close to the ski tracks, together with a civilian Airbus Helicopter H135, and a backup machine based in Fiames ready to assist if the primary one had some issues. For this purpose, AgustaWestland AW169, MM81966 GF-503, and AgustaBell AB- 412EP Grifone, MM81505 GF-217, both belonging to the “Sezione Aerea” of Bolzano, flew daily from their base to the operational area. An extra AgustaWestland AW139, MM81964 GF-414, usually operating out of Pratica di Mare (Roma), joined the team in Bolzano. For VIP transportation and general purposes, two AgustaWestland AW109N Nexus based in Venezia, MM81680 GF-302, and MM81685 GF-307 were occasionally used. Carabinieri moved to Belluno, their closest helicopter base, from there, their two recently acquired AgustaWestland UH- 139D (MM81967 CC-02, and MM81968 CC-01) were used as transport helicopter to carry military police team to operational area. They also carried a Carabinieri parachuters team, that together with an Italian Army team operating from AB205, MM80606 EI-315, took part in the Closure Ceremony. The Italian Law Enforcement agencies selected old Cortina’s airport as forward operating base which is located in Fiames, 6 km north of the city and is normally used only by private helicopters. At the base, they set up a mobile control tower, a refueling point with dedicated personnel and fuel truck, and finally prepared an ad hoc landing area clear of snow to permit continuous daylight operations with multiple helicopters. The operations were carried out even during the most hostile situations such as heavy winds, temperatures dropping below -18° C etc. Everything worked perfectly, despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic situation, thanks to the professionalism of all the personnel involved, and it was a great test for the upcoming Olympic winter games that will take place in the same area in 2026.
Text and images: Marco Papa