"The Autumn of the Pilot": Interview with Commander Fausto Bernardini

13/01/15

It is not often that you find yourself in the presence of well 9300 hours of military flight, you fly on fighters, helicopters and propeller aircrafts, each of which is ideally identical to the other, as it always contains the same passion, the same enthusiasm, the same pride of the very first time in flight, and that on the other hand represents, however, a story and an adventure that is always different from the previous ones and from the following ones.

The commander Fausto Bernardini is clearly a life lived for the flight, a life lived for this great passion, which has achieved its utmost consecration when it is realized daily, under the auspices of the Military Air Force. This is evident from his latest book, The Autumn of the Pilot, which magically turns into an airplane thanks to Bernardini's "handle" and allows us to fly while remaining comfortably on the ground.

In each adventure, told in his book, you have the opportunity to seamlessly capture the emotions of the pilot, the other protagonists of the story, the sensations that the flight can give to any person who decides to dive into this fascinating world such as of aviation, and in particular the military.

Bernardini recounts his first flights, at the Aeroclub in Arezzo, the moments of concern in view of the demand in Aeronautica as a complementary pilot official student, the difficulties and the tests to be faced during the process to reach the much sought after Aquila Turrita, the flights and stunts carried out together with friends, first and foremost, but above all the gratitude towards the people who made this dream achievable, like the Arezzo Aeroclub instructors, protagonists of different and touched stories of the book, exactly like his brother and commander Bernardini's father.

Reading the book, my first thought, as an enthusiast, was to realize that what I was reading was exactly the life I've always dreamed of living. I was able to capture the emotions of acrobatic flight, of flying in the solitude of high altitude, in the moral and professional satisfaction in saving a human life on board a helicopter, in the gratitude to the loved ones who are responsible for the realization of the dream , in true friendship between men before pilots and finally, but not less important, the gratitude towards the great institution that is the Air Force. All things that, I thought, from an early age, that I would have undoubtedly tried if I had become a military pilot. A book, therefore, that a true enthusiast can not absolutely lose, to be read also to the "terrestrial" to make understand the great passion for flight.

I had the pleasure of interviewing the commander Bernardini, who before being an officer and pilot of the Air Force, was and is, a great fan of the flight. Before telling you about the interview, I would like to tell you about the aviatory life of Fausto Bernardini.

The commander began flying to 16 years, in the 1966, at the Aeroclub of Arezzo, and he enrolled in Aeronautics in the 1971 as AUPC. He attended the Aeronautical Academy and the Lecce Flight School in the 1971 / 1972 years. In the 1972 / 1973 years he was pilot student at Amendola. From 1973 to 1978 was assigned to the 2 ° Form at the 14 ° CBR Group on G-91 / R hunting. From 1978 to 1981 he was instructor at Amendola at the 201 ° Group. From 1981 to 1987 returned to the 14 ° Group of the 2 ° Stormo. In the 1987 / 1988 years he was pilot at Decimomannu RSSTA. In 1988 he was again instructor at Amendola at the 201 ° Group. From 1988 to 2010 he was pilot and commander of 651 ^ Squadron of 51 ° Storm of Istrana. It has totaled 9300 flight hours, of which about 3000 on helicopters, 6000 on hunting and 300 on propeller aircraft. He has the following civil aircraft licenses: Cessna 150, Stinson L5, 416 Macchi, Parthenavir P66, Bucker 131 Jungmann. While on military planes and helicopters: MB-326, MB-339, G-91 / T, G-91 / R, TF-104 ASA / M, SIAI 208, AB47 G2, AB 212 AMI / SAR and NH500.

Commander, the first question can only be this: How was your passion for flying born? Remember an event or a particular moment in which he thought: I want to be a military pilot?

I believe that my passion for flying goes back to very ancient times. When my brother and I were little, my father often told us the best moments of the military service he had done in the Air Force during the Second World War. My father was not a pilot, but he had lived very close to that world, which he loved and admired. I believe that the first stirrings of my passion were born then. A particular event? I think so. Also very remote. I was five or six at the most. The planes of the reconstituted Air Force often passed over our house. Mighty propeller planes, whizzing low over the rooftops. One day one of them, perhaps a P51 Mustang, passed very low and the crowd of children among whom I was, perhaps the smallest, was delighted by that quick appearance. Some shouted that they were able to see the pilot, I don't know and I don't remember if I saw him, but that word "pilot" had a strong effect on me. On my way home I kept repeating it and my brother, who was four years older, explained what it meant. At lunch we told our parents what had happened and I shouted with enthusiasm that I had seen the pilot's head, like everyone else. Then, decided, I said that when I grew up I would be an aviator.

When did you go to the aeroclub for the first time, what emotions did you feel? How was the impact with the environment and the instructors? What memory do you have of that period?

The first time I came to the world of flight I was about ten years old and I was quite disappointed. On a Sunday my father took me to Arezzo airport, home to an Aero Club. I watched the distant aircraft without crossing the fence. They seemed very tiny and, to tell the truth, they did not make me any emotion. Returning home, by car, my father was disappointed with my behavior and told me that if I wanted, next time he would fly me. That transition from the abstract to the concrete had a particular effect and from that moment I did nothing but wait that day. The first flight made a good dose of enthusiasm. A few years later, the pilot course was the spark that burned the gas can.

The first time he flew what he thought of? Have you ever had any uncertainty or did you ever realize that air was its element?

I never thought that air could be my element. I always had the distinct awareness of being a "terricolo" and that the flight is a temporal concession that makes us the Almighty. The first time I flew, I confess that I was not aware of what was happening. I liked it, but it did not lead me to any question. Inside of me it seemed obvious that I would have been a pilot. The doubts came out during the course of piloting the Aero Club and then, the most terrible, during the course in the Italian Air Force.

You have flown on many civilian and then military aircraft, but have your expectations on them always been confirmed by reality? Or even, in some cases have they been overcome by reality? In this regard, which aircraft remember in one way or another?

Every plane has its beauty. On every plane I climbed with great respect and never believed who says "that one takes like a bicycle" or "it's like a bicycle!". I think I loved every plane I flew on, because at that moment it was the means to reach a dimension that was not mine. If you simply talk about the performance of an airplane, then sometimes you can be a little disappointed. But never completely disappointed, as it may happen for a car, because, I repeat, the plane is the gateway to another dimension and if it succeeds in fulfilling that task it has already done its duty.

I remember every plane on which I flew, and to everyone I have a sense of gratitude.

What are the differences and resemblance that has surfaced on aircraft with different characteristics, both civil and military, propeller, rotating wing and jet?

I would like to dispel a habit of aeronautical thinking, that is, the faster a plane is, the more difficult it is to drive it. The speed and the difficulties are not always directly proportional, so much so that the helicopter in some situations can become much more difficult than a supersonic. It is true that as the speed increases, for example when landing, it must necessarily follow an increase in attention and reflex readiness, but the man gets used to it easily and in a few hours of flight he can adapt to high speeds. Every plane, in the pilotage, looks like its kind. The parameters change, and adapting to this highlights the rider's ability. The helicopter, whose knowledge I made that I was almost forty, is the most volatile and unstable of all the flying machines I've known.

What was the aircraft with which you felt the most "feeling" and why?

Maybe the fans can play like a curse, but the most feeling I'm feeling now, with my Fieseler Storch. When I fly with him (almost every day) I feel I'm dealing with a generous plane, which gives you all of yourself ... and maybe even more! In spite of all the laws of aerodynamics, it takes off and lands on real earth, short, uneven and sometimes inclined handkerchiefs. Here, flying with him I can afford to return a child, curious to do a new experience every day.

Instead, what was the aircraft that gave you more satisfaction from a professional point of view? And why?

If you talk about satisfying your ego, especially in juvenile ages, the G91 has given me great satisfaction. If we talk about pure professional satisfaction, with AB 212 I save so many lives so I can not be satisfied with it.

When he became a flight instructor, did he ever meet again in his pupils, feeling three people in one? That is, the Fausto that the Arezzo Aeroclub was followed by its instructors, the Fausto student pilot in Lecce and Fausto who, as an instructor, had to decide whether to allow the continuation of the dream of flying to their students? If so, how did you reconcile these three "souls"?

As a pupil, in Lecce, I made a diary, which I had the pleasure of rereading from an instructor, but not for this reason I was suffering from pietism or inappropriate bonariety. The flight, unfortunately, can not be considered a sport: it is a discipline and as every discipline needs seriousness, complete devotion and correctness. I, my students, have convinced them with the good and the bad manners of what they dictated to me and they, following my advice, have become military pilots. All. All the students who were entrusted to me finished the pilot course.

Among the thousands of flight hours you fly, is it possible to say what was the most beautiful flight? Does it keep anyone in particular in the heart?

In a lifetime of a pilot so long, you can not sum up everything in a flight: I bet at least two. The first was the one I flew for the first time by myself on board. The second most beautiful flight, with the same merit as the first one, was when, with my crew, in the afternoon we saved forty human lives during the flood of Piedmont. I piloted an AB 212 ... great machine and important collaborators.

Among the aircraft of various nature and kind that has flown, which one believes to love more and why? I guess it's hard to answer.

It is not difficult to answer ... it is impossible. I loved them all and still love them all, my ghosts of heaven. Yes, because today many of them are ghosts for me.

I have also read his previous book, "Pilot", where he tells his first 16 years flight with the L5 Stinson: after all these flight hours as his vision of flying has changed thanks to the enormous experience accumulated? Would you now reproach some Fausto student at the aeroclub and Fausto student in Lecce?

Yes, experience makes the judgment of past events, sometimes severe. At Fausto Aero Club in Arezzo I would give some scappellotto ... and not metaphorical, and even good-looking: sound! He was too inexperienced to do things to the limit as he tried to do, and Pietro, the instructor, wanted him too good to go beyond some roughness. That Fausto there was so fortunate ...

The Fausto student in Lecce does not reproach anything. He has put it all on, engaging every day and it is right that he has managed to finish the course.

Returning, however, to his latest book "The fall of the pilot", reading grasps his gratitude towards the AM. How is the Air Force today compared to yesterday? How did you see it change over time?

I think I will be grateful to the Air Force until I live. He gave me everything to which a passionate young man, as I was, could aspire. Then, over time, he continued to give me, both humanly and professionally. I held rewarding positions and qualifications; How could I not be grateful?

Over time, the Air Force has had to deal with changes continuously, but what I think is most important comes from the fall of the Berlin Wall, then from the end of the "Cold War". Before that, we were preparing against a theoretical enemy, a bit like what Buzzati recounts in "Il deserto dei tartari". After the fall of the wall the Aeronautics took part in important operations in the theater of war. If before the pilot there was time to devote to himself, to a more personal training, after all this is over. I lived this second part as "non-operative", but in close contact with the young people who took part in all the international missions. I saw many smiles and carefree disappear from those faces. That same light-heartedness that had enlivened my youth.

After many years of career as a pilot, is there any desire "aviatorio" that he wanted to achieve but who, for various reasons, could not?

I do not know. As I have just said, I feel satisfied with my life in the Air Force. Maybe it would have been a good experience to be an instructor in the USA I was about to leave ... when in a moment the cards changed. Being quite fatalistic, I did not take it too long.

After the books "Pilota" and "L'autunno del pilota" do you have any other project in the program? Can you mention something? Finally, fans can follow it to be updated on the publication of his books?

After these two books, the third edition of the "Zen" is being drafted. It's almost completely written, now it's about fixing it. Then I have other non-aeronautical books that I've written or that the draft is current. Who knows if anyone will be interested in their publication?

In any case, fans can follow me on Facebook. This is the link to my "Fausto Bernardini" profile https://www.facebook.com/fausto.bernardini.31 and this from my "Pilot" page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pilota/211620265524178?ref=bookmarks.

Commander Bernardini, thank you for the interview and I give you the best wishes you can give to a pilot: Lots of other flying hours!

Carmine Savoia

(in the opening photo a young Bernardini student pilot, to follow aboard a Mb339 of the 651st Squadron with the F-104s of the 22nd Group of the 51st Wing, finally aboard his Fieseler Fi 156 Storch)