Secaucus, New Jersey was the site of AMA Expo East in February. Many AMA staff members attended to run the show, but this was a special trip for foundation staff as we were going to pick up a donation to take with us to sell in the expo's Swap Shop. This donation came from a good friend of ours, Charles Sylvia. You may remember Mandee’s blog post about her trip with Tony to visit Charles back in October to pick up his first donation to the AMA foundation and now he was donating again! Mandee and I flew into LaGuardia airport and took our first New York City taxi ride into New Jersey. There we picked up our (not as small as we thought it would be) cargo van. We had a Cessna 310 to take to Charles as trade for another plane and then he was donating twelve additional planes to the foundation! Once we had the plane loaded and secured, we were off to New Hampshire. It was already dark and we had a four hour long drive ahead of us. We entered our destination into the GPS and Mandee nervously pulled off in our rented van. We made it to our hotel just after midnight to get a bit of sleep before heading out early to meet Charles. [caption id="attachment_3434" align="alignright" width="150"]
Chrystal, Charles, Mandee[/caption] The next morning, we were welcomed into the home of Charles and his wife, Fran, where Charles already had all of the planes lined up and ready to load into the van! Charles is very organized and had a file to go along with each plane so that the new owner would have all the information they could ever need to know about their plane. Charles helped the two of us safely load them in the back of the van and we were also able to visit a bit with them while we were at it. Once we had the planes secured and took a photo documenting the occasion, we were back on the road. [caption id="attachment_3442" align="alignright" width="150"]
Mandee driving on the George Washington Bridge[/caption] We thought we had the difficult part behind us, the long drive at night and loading up all the planes…but then we realized that we were going to have to drive back through New York City to get to the Meadowlands Exposition Center. Did I mention that Mandee is terrified of bridges? Well, I learned that about her on this trip. And she learned that there a lot of bridges in New York/New Jersey! As we got closer and closer to the George Washington Bridge, I tried as best as I could to calm Mandee’s nerves about driving a cargo van across it…in very heavy traffic. As you may be able to tell in the photo, she’s a little tense. But, we made it! Once we pulled into the Expo Center, the relief of making it was so overwhelming to Mandee she had tears in her eyes and I believe she almost kissed the ground. And now, we actually had the hard part behind us! [caption id="attachment_3437" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Mandee, Frank, Chrystal[/caption] The next few days were a whirlwind of activity in the Swap Shop. We got to meet so many people including District II AVP, Frank Granelli, who lent us his expertise in our booth. One of our customers, AMA Member Frank Costello, came to the expo after hearing we were selling a C-47 twin. It had been a long-time dream of Frank’s to own this particular plane. We were excited to help make this dream come true…but not as excited as Frank was to take his plane home! [gallery columns="2" ids="3432,3431"] We had a great time at Expo East and sold all of our planes with the money raised benefiting AMA’s educational/youth programs. The foundation team is so thankful to everyone who made this trip so successful; Charles and Fran, Frank, and all of the members who are giving each plane sold the opportunity to fly again! It was a busy weekend but Mandee and I managed to make it into the city one night for dinner and a show...but don't worry, we left the driving up to a professional! [caption id="attachment_3441" align="aligncenter" width="150"]
Mandee and Chrystal on Broadway[/caption] Chrystal Pearson Development Communications Coordinator AMA Foundation
When asked about his history with flying and how excited he is for the trip, this is what he had to say: How long have you been flying model aircraft/involved with the AMA? Bill has been flying since his early teens and has built and flown control-line in the days of the Redhead McCoy glow engines. His club was sponsored by the local Plymouth Auto Dealership, and that was it for the next 60 years. Then, a few years ago his daughter gave him a surprise birthday gift, an E-Flite Apprentice ready-to-go out of the box. He joined a local club, the Arizona Model Pilot's Society (AMPS) and the AMA. What are your areas of interest in model aviation? Free flight, RC, helicopters, scale, etc.? Currently he enjoys flying RC. What is your profession? Has model flying had any impact on your career path? Bill is a retired Wells Fargo Financial Advisor. Model Aviation has not really had an impact on his career choice. He has attended numerous airshows in the D.C. area along with the Air and Space Museum and Udvar-Hazy Museum, which his daughters have said they have visited too many times. How excited are you about winning? "Being known as "Mr. Never Has Won Anything," excited is not a strong enough word to describe how happy I am. This one is for the books!" 
Viper EDF 
All the aircraft ready to be picked up.[/caption]
