The airport was established in 1923 in Pavullo nel Frignano, in the province of Modena, and goes through several phases. Today the structure has been enlarged and modernised, with a redevelopment of the asphalt runways, hangars and access structures. The five-year plan will close in 2025. Giampaolo Colletti interviews Roberto Gianaroli, President of Aero Club Pavullo for Fare Insieme
di Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
This is a story that is almost a
century old and contains many narrative commonplaces, difficult moments and
exciting phases. The establishment, the success, the destruction, the
reconstruction, the participation of a community with its volunteer work and with
the support of many local entrepreneurs. And yet the pride of a land that has always
identified itself in this space, extending over one thousand four hundred
metres in length and eight hundred metres in width, which is now completely
refurbished. This is why the history of the Pavullo Airport goes beyond the
restrictive definition of a mountain
airport. Of course, this space is located at over six hundred metres above
sea level, which makes it unique in the province of Modena and one of
the two only existing mountain airports in Italy. But actually it is much more.
Because it is the airport that is linked to the Emilian industry, the real
gateway to the Italian Motor Valley. After all, Maranello is only eighteen
kilometres away, and here you enter the future.
Between past and future. But let's proceed in order and rewind the tape to 1923: the
landing was inaugurated in that year, which later became the Royal Flight
School in 1927 and was officially defined as the State Civil Airport in 1931.
We are two kilometres south of Pavullo nel Frignano, a town of eighteen
thousand souls and the second largest municipality in the province of Modena.
Today the airport is used for general aviation, therefore business aviation and leisure and sports flights or for the
practice of Civil Protection and rescue functions. Since its inception it
hosted the first and most important school for gliding in Italy: four years
after its foundation, the Pavullo school began to select the future gliding
instructors, the civil and military specialists and also the so-called winchers, when from the primordial
elastic launch one passed to the winch launch, a take-off technique conceived
and used for the first time in Italy right here in Pavullo. Then the halt of
all activities at the end of the Second World War and the reopening in the
1960s, thanks to an ever growing community of paratroopers. In the nineties the
gliding school was re-founded with the winch launch. The renovation works began
with the new asphalted runway, the aprons for aircraft, the fences, the
lodgings, the fire-fighting services and the petrol stations starting from
2003. «This airport has really gone through many different phases, but what has
remained constant over time is the fact of being a space of identity for the
community», says Roberto Gianaroli, President of Aero Club Pavullo,
which has a team of eleven employees, between ground staff, flight crew and
administration. Over the years the structure has been enlarged
and modernised, with a redevelopment of the asphalt runways, hangars and access
structures. To be followed by the bar and restaurant, a space that is used in a
multi-faceted way. Sports has always been a distinctive feature: today two
sports clubs and a commercial one (dealing with fuels) operate in this space.
There are four hangars present, one of which has only recently been
inaugurated. The third, more specifically, is dedicated to the helicopter
rescue service. «We have constructed it in compliance with the most advanced
quality standards: if up to a certain period hangars were considered only as
exclusive shelters from rain, wind and sun, today other parameters are taken
into consideration for these spaces, such as controlled temperature and
lighting coefficient. In this way, they also become pleasant to live in and
more performing for modern aircraft that have a lot of digital technology on
board. We were able to build the last two hangars thanks to the donations from
two entrepreneurs: the aircraft inside are kept in standard temperature conditions
that safeguard the instruments and equipment on board», says Gianaroli.
The Airport of the community. From this
entrepreneurial experience we can gather another central point of discussion:
the involvement of users and the creation of a motivated community with a
strong sense of belonging. This space represents a shared historical heritage.
«There is a part of our users who come on a regular basis with their own
aircraft and pay a fixed annual fee plus variable services; but actually this
space is iconic, it has always been a reference for the territory and its
citizens. We are the great green lung of Pavullo: on the occasion of the
inauguration of the airport perimeter road, which opened to pedestrian traffic,
it was very emotional to see more than a thousand people wearing the same
jacket and near each other, forming a proper ‘human snake’. In 2019 we hosted the gliding world championship.
Then we celebrated a few months ago the one hundred and ten years of the Aero
Club of Italy, with the whole world of aviation coming to visit us; it was the
recognition of the operational capacity of this territory and of the quality of
the infrastructures offered. But the most satisfying moment always comes
tomorrow», concludes Gianaroli.
The
five-year plan will close in 2025.
The runway, junctions and external roads will be extended; a new control tower
will be built with the operational offices; a reception service centre for
pilots will be created, a multi-purpose room and new kitchens for the catering
service will be built; new aprons will be put in place and the airport
perimeter road will be completed.
Once again the
airport will continue to take flight and possibly to fly higher still.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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