We are pleased to announce the Wings of Dream Raffle winner.

Mark Mayer, holder of ticket number 1894, won the raffle after his winning ticket was randomly selected by Keystone Airport Authority Board Chairman Noel Thomas at 5 pm on January 15, 2010 at the Keystone Airport conference room.

It took several days to reach Mark since he is based in the Netherlands. Mark is 24 years old and confesses that he has “never won anything.” He now flies 737s for Ryanair/Brookfield Aviation in Europe as first officer and is gearing up to start his command upgrade process soon.  He has a CFII and MEI with 2850 hours of flight time.

His flying passion began at a young age when he began flying model and small RC aircraft. He signed up with Aeroclub Salland, a local Dutch glider club, at the age of 15.  Several years later, he left for the United States to live with family members and shortly after received his instrument, commercial and multi-engine ratings. After pursuing his CFI, CFII and MEI ratings, he moved to Long Beach, CA to work as a flight instructor before heading to Europe to fly for Ryanair.

At the time of this writing, Mark is a very happy, young airline pilot and is out celebrating with his girlfriend. In a transatlantic conversation on Sunday, Mark shared with Wings of Dreams Executive Director Bob Oehl that his mother is especially happy since some of the prize money may pay back the money he borrowed from them for flight training!

Mark still flies General Aviation aircraft regularly.  A son of a U.S. Navy A-1 Skyraider pilot, who served in Vietnam, he is very interested in aviation history. Mark commented on how he appreciates Wings of Dreams’ efforts to keep “historical aviation alive” and said, “someday I’d like to fly a warbird!”
The staff at Wings of Dreams is excited to award this prize to Mark and wishes him a very successful aviation career.