Photo Gallery: Wings for Autism program comes to Bob Hope Airport
German Barrero, from far left, takes hold of his son, Alessandro, 15, who is autistic, while departing the plane during Jet Blue, Pacific Child and Family and TSA’s “Wings for Autism” program, which took place at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank on Saturday, May 4, 2013. JetBlue Airways began “Wings for Autism” in Boston for the last three years and brought the program to California for the first time. Families with autistic children are often fearful of traveling due to the stress that parents may go through. Anxiety, long lines, loud noises and unfamiliarity may affect autistic children. About one in 88 children are autistic. (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Staff Photographer)
Tanna Havlick, left comforts her daughter, Natalya, 6, on the plane during Jet Blue, Pacific Child and Family and TSA’s “Wings for Autism” program, which took place at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank on Saturday, May 4, 2013. JetBlue Airways began “Wings for Autism” in Boston for the last three years and brought the program to California for the first time. Families with autistic children are often fearful of traveling due to the stress that parents may go through. Anxiety, long lines, loud noises and unfamiliarity may affect autistic children. About one in 88 children are autistic. (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Staff Photographer)
Clinical supervisor Taeja Klug, from far left, gets Jacob Sanchez, 7, to respond to JetBlue chief pilot James Daulton, far right, during Jet Blue, Pacific Child and Family and TSA’s “Wings for Autism” program, which took place at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank on Saturday, May 4, 2013. “When you have events for kids with autism like this, it brings the anxiety down,” Jennifer Slater-Sanchez says. Jennifer is the mother of Jacob who has been diagnosed with autism since he was three-years-old, she adds. (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Staff Photographer)
Tanna Havlick, center, takes hold of her daughter, Natalya, 6, as she and her husband, Rhett, far right, board on the plane during Jet Blue, Pacific Child and Family and TSA’s “Wings for Autism” program, which took place at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank on Saturday, May 4, 2013. JetBlue Airways began “Wings for Autism” in Boston for the last three years and brought the program to California for the first time. Families with autistic children are often fearful of traveling due to the stress that parents may go through. Anxiety, long lines, loud noises and unfamiliarity may affect autistic children. About one in 88 children are autistic. (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Staff Photographer)
Emma, 6, from left, Pam and Ryan Geller, 6, board on a plane during Jet Blue, Pacific Child and Family and TSA’s “Wings for Autism” program, which took place at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank on Saturday, May 4, 2013. “We heard about the program in the east coast and we were so happy that it came over here,” Pam says. Emma and Ryan are twins, but only Ryan has autism, she adds. About 70 autistic children took part in this event. “We haven’t been able to go anywhere,” Pam says. “This is giving us confidence that we can do it,” she adds. (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Staff Photographer)