The ceremony included some notable moment, like the “passing of the baton” between an “older” T-339A pilot and a “younger” T-345A pilot and the presentation of the T-339A’s flight stick diplay, which will be put among the Wing’s memorabilia in the command’s building. Also, although he could not be present on site, the first test pilot of the MB-339, Franco Bonazzi, recounted some of his memories about the first flights of the aircraft.
According to the service, in July 2025 the first students will start to train on the T-345A, while the T-339A’s operations will fade out and the 61st Wing will continue its training activities with the T-345A, the FT-339C and the T-346A. In future, the Wing will eventually transition to a two-aircraft fleet with only the T-345 and T-346.