Wishes

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Manuel, 6 years old

“I wish to fly over the Matterhorn in a helicopter“

Manuel is a delightful 6 year old. Manuel lives in the foothills of the Alps and is fascinated by all the helicopters flying over his home. He builds Lego helicopters.

Manuel’s wish to see the Matterhorn was very important to him as his father is a mountain guide and Manuel wanted to see where his dad goes to work and what better way than in a helicopter!

On a brilliant sunny Saturday morning in December, Manuel, little brother Michael and their mum and dad watched a bright red helicopter swoop down and land at the airbase close to their home. Manuel and his family took off over their grandmother’s house and waved enthusiastically.

For nearly an hour the family flew over deep valleys and glaciers and whizzed past steep rocky faces and snowy mountain caps. Manuel sat very quietly next to the pilot, taking it all in, his eyes gleaming with happiness. And then whoosh – suddenly the big Toblerone appeared! The pilot approached the rocky face and flew the family all around the mountain. Quite a breathtaking experience which Manuel handled with great aplomb!

After the thrill of going round the Matterhorn the helicopter landed at its base in Zermatt where Manuel and his brother were given the VIP tour of the facilities visiting all sorts of helicopters and Manuel enjoyed being winched up and down as if in a real rescue situation. Greatly touched by this young boy the staff at Air-Zermatt very generously donated the boys the gift of model helicopters and baseball caps. The boys marched into town proudly wearing their hats and throwing snowballs.

Following a hearty raclette in a cosy inn, where Manuel and his dad drew helicopters all over the paper tablecloth, the family toured around Zermatt. Then it was back to base to be whisked back over the mountain tops to home.  Again the helicopter flew over grandma’s house which delighted them as, when they landed, this same very special lady was waiting for them to go drink hot chocolate and tell grandma all about this extraordinary day when Manuel’s wish came true.
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Many thanks to the pilots at Air Zermatt: Thomas Pfammatter and Markus Koch and a big thanks too to Philippe Steinger for the amazing helicopter base tour and to all the staff at Air Zermatt for helping Make-A-Wish make Manuel’s day so very special.  Warm thanks to our volunteer Jacqueline who filmed Manuel’s wish as a wonderful souvenir of his wish coming true.



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