Mario Agustoni is the Nominated Person Flight Operation Helicopter (NPFO) and heads up the Helicopter Procedures and Training division. This ensures that all flight and operational training sessions and checks relating to the helicopter crews (pilots, HEMS crew members, flight physicians and rescue specialists) are properly organised, implemented and monitored. The division also includes the departments, Flight OPS Helicopter and Crew Training Helicopter, as well as HCM Standards and Medical Service Helicopter.

Curriculum vitae, Mario Agustoni

Besides his duties as NPFO and member of Rega’s Management Board, Mario Agustoni is involved in the development and implementation of helicopter-specific instrument flight procedures in Switzerland, as well as in the adoption of cutting-edge technologies for rescue flights.

After finishing grammar school and completing the preparatory courses for military pilots, he trained as a Swiss Army helicopter pilot and joined the Air Force in the rank of captain. Parallel to his activities as a military pilot with the Super Puma, he acquired a civilian flight instructor licence for mountain flights and worked as a HESLO pilot for firefighting and material transport on behalf of Elticino and Heli Rezia.

During his military career, Mario Agustoni completed several deployments abroad, including as part of KFOR in Kosovo and EUFOR in Bosnia. He also worked for the UNHCR in Indonesia in the initial phase after the devastating tsunami on the island of Sumatra.

In 2005, he joined Rega as a pilot at the Locarno base and began his HEMS activities with the Agusta A109K2. A few years later, he was appointed as a flight instructor. After working closely with the Flight Test Department at Leonardo, in 2010 he assumed the role of Chief Pilot on the new AW109SP Da Vinci.

For almost 5 years, Mario Agustoni was involved in the AW169 Icebird project in order to prepare for its launch, and worked closely with manufacturer Leonardo at all the stages of development.

On completion of the Icebird project, Mario Agustoni was appointed Deputy NPFO and subsequently, at the beginning of 2025, NPFO. During this time, he switched to the Airbus H145 rescue helicopter and became a member of the procurement team for the new model, which will be gradually introduced at all the Rega bases as from 2025.