On Tuesday 30 November 2021, Lieutenant Colonel Stefano Vit became commander of the 313th Aerobatic Training Squadron (Frecce Tricolori), during a change of command ceremony at Rivolto Air Force Base.

Military and civilian authorities presided as Lieutenant Colonel Gaetano Farina relinquished command after serving as Pony0 (Frecce Tricolori commander) since November 2018.

As per tradition, the ceremony was preceded by the symbolic “in-flight handover”. The two pilots, with the rest of the formation, displayed some aerobatic manoeuvres till Lt. Col. G. Farina broke away from the rest of the formation leaving the team under the command of Lt. Col. S. Vit.

Lieutenant Colonel Gaetano Farina joined Italian Air Force in 1998 and has more than 3500 flight hours. He is rated on SF260, T-37, T-38, F-16 and MB339. He has been a pilot of the Frecce Tricolori team since 2009. He has held the role of Pony7, Pony4, Pony2 and Pony1 before becoming the team’s commander in 2018.

Lieutenant Colonel Stefano Vit joined Italian Air Force in 2000 and has more than 3000 flight hrs. He is rated on SF260, AMX and MB339. He has been a pilot of the Frecce Tricolori team since 2012. He has held the role of Pony9, Pony8, Pony5 and Pony3 before assuming the role of leader (Pony1) in 2018.

As Lt. Col. Vit assumed the command of Frecce Tricolori, the team will be led in flight by the new formation leader (Pony1) who will be annunciated in the next weeks. This also means a new pilot will join the formation next year. Only the best pilots from the Italian Air Force can join the Frecce Tricolori: each year one or two new members are chosen strictly among those who have more than 1,000 flight hours, and once they are selected they must follow a gradual insertion training program from October to April.

The 2022 formation of Frecce Tricolori will be annunciated during the traditional ceremony held some days before Christmas.