Post by EliFriulia

🚁 INSIDE ELIFRIULIA – PEOPLE BEHIND THE ROTORS 👤 Interview with Gianmarco Benacquista As a child, he couldn’t take his eyes off the helicopters outside the classroom window. Today, he flies HEMS in his hometown, Latina. 👉 WHAT IS YOUR ROLE AT ELIFRIULIA? I am a HEMS co-pilot, operating across our 3 bases in Lazio, primarily in Latina. ✈️ HOW DID YOUR JOURNEY IN AVIATION BEGIN? Since I was a child, I used to go to airfields with my uncle, and from my grandmother’s house I could watch HEMS helicopters near the hospital. Even at school I could see them take off or land. My teacher would let me go to the window because she knew I would lose focus whenever a helicopter appeared. 🌍 WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR PATH BEFORE JOINING HEMS OPERATIONS IN LAZIO? I started flying passenger transport in 2017. In 2024 I joined EliAdriatik in Croatia, flying between Brač and Rijeka, before returning to Italy at the start of HEMS operations in Lazio. 🌅 WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER MOST FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE IN CROATIA? It was a major professional step for me. Flying night operations with NVGs gave me valuable experience and helped me grow a lot as a pilot. I also remember the incredible sunsets in Croatia, especially because I love photography. 🚁 WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU TO BE A HEMS PILOT TODAY? It feels like everything has come together, from watching helicopters as a kid to flying them today, right here in Latina. 🚨 IS THERE A MISSION YOU WILL NEVER FORGET? My first primary mission, with a landing on a road. Until then I had only done hospital to hospital transfers. 🤝 HOW DO YOU BUILD TRUST WITHIN THE CREW? Through communication, cooperation, and openly discussing mistakes. Knowing many colleagues already in Latina also helped me a lot. ⚠️ WHAT DO YOU FEEL DURING A CRITICAL MISSION? Tension is higher, especially with marginal weather. In those moments, trust really matters most, and every decision is discussed together before action. 💡 WHEN DID YOU REALISE THIS WAS THE RIGHT JOB FOR YOU? While I was still at school, I already knew the direction I wanted to take. After graduating, I immediately enrolled in a commercial pilot training course. I truly realised that HEMS was what I wanted to do when I started flying my first missions and felt how meaningful this role could be. 🎯 WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE STARTING THIS CAREER? Be humble. Follow your own path, keep learning and never feel the need to prove anything to anyone. Knowing your limits is essential. At some point you may start feeling very confident, then you realise how much there is still to learn. 🔁 Want to discover more stories from behind the scenes of Elifriulia? Follow Inside Elifriulia – People behind the Rotors and meet the people who make our operations possible every day. Photo credits: Giovanni Barone, Marco Marocco, Angelo Taglienti #Elifriulia #Eliance #EliAdriatik #InsideElifriulia #HEMS #Pilots #Aviation #PeopleBehindTheRotors