{"id":8691,"date":"2018-04-27T10:23:33","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T15:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/?p=8691"},"modified":"2018-04-27T10:23:33","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T15:23:33","slug":"envoy-and-boeing-team-up-to-give-a-tour-of-a-lifetime-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/2018\/04\/27\/envoy-and-boeing-team-up-to-give-a-tour-of-a-lifetime-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Envoy and Boeing team up to give a tour of a lifetime"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember the scene in \u201cWilly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory\u201d<\/a> when the lucky children get their first glimpse of the candy factory \u2013 chocolate waterfalls, gum drop trees, marshmallow mushrooms\u2026 \u2013 and the look on Charlie\u2019s face as he enters Wonka\u2019s world of \u201cPure Imagination\u201d?<\/p>\n

That scene was virtually duplicated at Boeing\u2019s Puget Sound assembly factory when avid aviation enthusiast Jace Nylund first set eyes on his beloved Boeing 737 MAX on the production line.<\/p>\n

Jace, who is diagnosed with autism, is a senior at Colleyville Heritage High School in Colleyville, Texas, and a close friend of Envoy Captain Nick Kinner. Nick and Jace met through Nick\u2019s wife\u2019s former employer Best Buddies International<\/a>, which is a non-profit that \u201ccreates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities,\u201d according to their website.<\/p>\n

A sight to behold<\/h3>\n

\"IMG-FLT-Nick-Kinner-Boeing-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jace (right) with his parents as they tour the 737 assembly line in Renton, WA. (Photo courtesy of Boeing\/Jeppesen)<\/h5>\n

Familiar with Jace\u2019s obsession with Boeing, Nick proposed the idea to offer Jace a tour of Boeing\u2019s facilities to Jeppesen executive Mary Skelton who works with their parent company Boeing. She, in turn, proposed the idea to members of the Boeing team, and they were more than happy to offer a tour to one of their biggest fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew Jace was big into another airline\u2019s 737 MAX, so I took this opportunity to sway him to American Airlines,\u201d said Nick. \u201cNow Jace has set a goal to work at American as a Fleet Service Clerk \u2013 I guess I won him over!\u201d<\/p>\n

During their two days in Washington, Jace, Nick and their families toured the Boeing flight museum and the factories where they build the 737s and their heavy jets; the 777 and 787. Boeing also awarded Jace with a leather Boeing jacket with Test Pilot badges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was not a dry eye in the room as Jace donned the jacket and wore it proudly,\u201d Mary wrote in an email.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should have seen the look on his face,\u201d said Nick. \u201cIt was unbelievable to see how excited he was. He kept telling us that this was the best day of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I love giving back.”<\/h3>\n

\"IMG_DCA_Brookshires_Honor_Flight_2017-59\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Captain Nick (right) with a WWII veteran during the Brookshire’s Honor Flight.<\/h5>\n

For years, Nick and his wife Faye have worked or volunteered to help others, and continue to help out for Best Buddies events at least twice a month. At Envoy, Nick is frequently volunteering his time and flying for military charters, such as the Gary Sinise Foundation<\/a> and Brookshire\u2019s Honor Flight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both of Nick\u2019s grandfathers served in the military and his cousin has Down Syndrome, so naturally he wants to help those who are close to his heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoy volunteering, because I love giving back,\u201d said Nick. \u201cWith veterans or people with disabilities, it\u2019s important to be inclusive and treat and respect them like you would anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IMG_DCA_Brookshires_Honor_Flight_2017-105\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Captain Nick (second from left) with Envoy volunteers and flight crew in Washington D.C.<\/h5>\n

Although Nick is about 11 months from flowing to American, he hopes to continue his passion for volunteerism once he joins the mainline. That shouldn\u2019t be too difficult considering Envoy and American\u2019s frequent collaboration on charity initiatives like Sky Ball<\/a>, Maagic Flights and Snowball Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll continue to help in any way I can,\u201d said Nick. \u201cI\u2019d recommend it to anyone working at Envoy. It\u2019s such an unbelievable experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, even though Nick was the connection between Jace and Boeing, he\u2019s just glad he could help.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoeing and Jepessen went way, way above and beyond,\u201d said Nick. \u201cThey deserve all the credit for that amazing tour with Jace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cover photo (courtesy of Boeing\/Jeppesen): Left to Right; Jace Nylund, Kevin Rathke, Faye Kinner, Jill Rathke, Nick Kinner , Mary Skelton (Boeing), Steve Lusk (Boeing), Cade Nylund<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember the scene in \u201cWilly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory\u201d when the lucky children get their first glimpse of the candy factory \u2013 chocolate waterfalls, gum drop trees, marshmallow mushrooms\u2026 \u2013 and the look on Charlie\u2019s face as he enters Wonka\u2019s world of \u201cPure Imagination\u201d? That scene was virtually duplicated at Boeing\u2019s Puget Sound assembly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":42162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[398,105,64,181,399,65,66,77,195,400,401,78,144,49,146,86,51,68,118,402,59,60,97,98,80,63,103],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8691"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}