Search intensifies in Calabria for missing ultralight plane carrying two Rome lawyers

Flight path and disappearance

A Tecnam P2008 light aircraft carrying two Rome-based lawyers vanished on Sunday, 16 August, while flying along the Tyrrhenian coastline of Calabria. The pilot, 64-year-old Carlo Arnulfo, an attorney registered with the Rome Bar since 1991 with more than 30 years of aviation experience, was travelling with 55-year-old cassation lawyer Angela Buccico. Buccico practices civil law at her family firm founded in Matera in 1947 and teaches at the Safa legal academy. The couple had spent the Ferragosto holiday in Sicily after flying from Giubiliana airfield in Ragusa to Messina on Saturday. On Sunday morning at 09:30, the aircraft departed the Capo d'Orlando airfield in Messina province, bound for Sibari in Calabria.

The final recorded contact occurred at 10:24 on Sunday morning, when Buccico sent a photograph of the Stromboli volcano to a friend. The aircraft never reached Sibari Fly airfield, where airfield president Mario Varca confirmed that Arnulfo had not announced his approach as he had done on previous flights.

Search operations and technical tracking

Search teams launched emergency operations at 21:05 on Sunday evening after relatives reported the aircraft overdue. The Prefecture of Cosenza coordinated a joint effort involving the Vigili del Fuoco, Aeronautica Militare, Capitaneria di Porto, Protezione Civile, and local police forces. Specialist teams from the Alpine and Speleological Rescue services of Calabria and Basilicata joined ground operations across steep and heavily vegetated terrain. Aeronautica Militare deployed a dedicated search-and-rescue helicopter, while remotely piloted drone operators used infrared thermal cameras during night and dawn sweeps.

Technical teams used IMSI Catcher devices to triangulate mobile phone signals in areas lacking cellular coverage. Signal data placed Arnulfo's phone near Fuscaldo and Buccico's phone further inland near Falconara Albanese. Emergency crews focused operations on the mountain corridor connecting Fuscaldo, San Pietro di Fuscaldo, and Scarcelli, as well as the Cozzo Cervello mountain, which rises over 1,300 metres. Investigators are also working with civil aviation agency ENAC to analyze previous flight routes across the region.

Community response and civic appeals

Local officials in Calabria and Basilicata issued appeals to support search teams working across the rugged terrain. Fuscaldo Mayor Giacomo Middea asked residents, particularly organized teams of hunters and mushroom foragers familiar with the mountain slopes, to assist authorities.

Let us lend a hand without being an obstacle to the rescue teams. Anyone able to provide useful information for this search is invited to contact the relevant authorities immediately.

In Basilicata, Matera Mayor Antonio Nicoletti extended support to the Buccico family. Angela Buccico is the daughter of Emilio Nicola Buccico, who served as mayor of Matera from 2007 to 2009, and the sister of current deputy mayor Rocco Buccico.

I am deeply shaken by what is happening. Rocco Buccico, a dear friend even before being deputy mayor, informed me of what was happening in the early hours, and today we share great concern alongside our entire community, which follows the search for our fellow citizen with bated breath.

Ground teams and aviation crews resumed search operations across the mountain ridges at dawn.