Andera educates All-School Reunion crowd

CRESCO - Sometimes the farm boy brings out the best in an individual––with Don Andera, it was the Army and the desire to fly that led him to success!

Andera grew up on a farm near Schley, youngest of six kids, where he graduated from Crestwood in 1976.  Always wanting to fly, he joined the Army to attend helicopter flight training. While in the service he became an Instructor Pilot while achieving his Bachelor of Science Degree, eventually earning the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 5.  Following 27 years of active duty, he retired from the Forces in 2003. 

Starting a second career, Andera flew passenger and cargo planes between the Hawaiian Islands for five years, eventually shifting to become a Safety Inspector with the Federal Aviation Administration.  As an inspector, Andera had oversight of commercial aviation operators, oversaw aircraft accident investigations and conducted pilot certification evaluations. After a decade of working for the FAA, he retired in 2018 and remained in Hawaii, but returns to Cresco on a regular basis, often to visit the family farm and enjoy visiting siblings and friends.

 

Andera opened up stating, “A lot of what influenced my upbringing was the farm and growing up on a farm. Also the rural community here, all having a major influence on my life and building character.”

He noted that as a child he often played in the sandpile out on the farm and spent a lot of time sharing the sand with the barn cats.

“They were using it for other purposes, but I  just dealt with it at the time,” stated Andera, as the crowd started laughing wondering where he was going with his analogy. “As I got older, my parents owned a lot of livestock, and as you know you have to deal with a lot of manure on a farm. I’d end up pitching it, loading it, spreading it and hauling it.”

The speaker then commented about running certain equipment out in the open field.

“If you’re familiar with the open manure spreaders of the day, they worked pretty well when full, but as the load goes down, the paddles on the back start flicking the content back toward you on your open tractor.”

He went on to explain that it was just another thing “you just dealt with” and even though you “didn’t want to do it,” it all had to be done.

“Little did I know that was kind of a metaphor for life, showing me exactly how it was going to go,” stated Andera with many more laughs and smiles from the audience. “While in school, I did not go out for sports, I was not in the band, and most of my extracurricular activities were back on the farm, just doing and completing my farm chores/work.  I like to think I grew up on the back of a tractor.”

Andera noted that he was “quite unremarkable as a student,” but added that he always wanted to fly and was thinking about joining the Air Force.

“So I figured I would let the military  pay for it (flight school), but they required 20-20 vision, plus the Air Force wanted four years of college before you tried to enter flight school,” pointed out Andera. “I was kind of thinking of going that route when the Army Recruiter showed up at the school . . . besides, I wanted to get out of third period English class, so I went and talked to the recruiter.”

The Army enlistment agent stated there was a program where he could put him in Helicopter Flight School right out of high school.

“That sounded good to me, so I pursued that by passing the physical, the aptitude test and signing up for the program, even before I graduated from Crestwood.”

Upon graduation in 1976, Andera went through Basic Training, made it through Flight School (earning his Helicopter certification) and his career had started.

“Anybody in the military will profess, it’s a life of constant moving and training,” added the now flight pilot. “You’re constantly meeting new friends and you’re always watching old friends move away.”

He added that it’s also “peripheral, interesting experiences,” both on-and-off-duty. 

“One of my first assignments was flying helicopters around the border of North and South Korea. I was doing that before I was the age of 20.”

Another mission during that period, noted Andera, was picking up a Brigadier Commander in Korea.

“I landed in a field site and he loaded the Chopper, where I proceeded to take him where he needed to go,” said Andera. “As he approached the craft, I greeted him, then saluted him and he took one look at me, stopping in his tracks.  How old are you? I probably said 19, sir!  And he just put his head down and shook his head and said, ‘I guess you know how to fly this thing.’ That was kind of the beginning of my career.”

In his 27 years of service, he moved about 11 times, not including any of the temporary duty assignments. He also became a flight instructor, training both domestic and foreign students at the Aviation Flight School in Fort Rucker in Alabama.

“I had completed my University courses at night, while I was giving Flight Instruction during the daytime hours,” said Andera. “I enjoyed that time, even though I was so busy. As for highlights in my career, I happened to be stationed in Germany in the late 80s when the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War ended.”

He noted that he was able to “knock a few chunks of concrete” off the Berlin Wall with a sledgehammer.  

“Where I acquired that sledgehammer I have no idea, but that’s how a farm kid can make-do with anything he can get his hands on.”

Another area was being stationed in Nepal, a country in South Asia. 

“I was with a small group of people assessing the needs of the Nepalese Military as a pilot. I also love to fly other aircraft and this gave me the opportunity to operate a Russian-built helicopter over the city of Kathmandu, which was a nice experience.”

One of his last jobs in the Military was to be an Army Standardization Officer in Hawaii.

“I had the oversight of Training Programs in Hawaii, Japan and Alaska where I would make regular visits to all three of those locations.”

He noted that it was also in Hawaii that he met his wife, Donna.

Andera added that he never thought he would stay in the Army, making it a life career.  

“It just sort of happens that way. Once you get about 10 years in, it’s just as well to do another 10 years and so on. Time really did go by fast.”

He eventually receive the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 5, which was as high as you could go in the Army.

“After 27 years I figured that that’s enough and I got out.  That’s where I transitioned from helicopters to airlines and took a job flying cargo between the Hawaiian Island. I also flew sub-cargo and passengers at about that time, right around 2008.  However, the economy was starting to turn and several airlines were going out-of-business.”

That’s when Andera took a job with the FAA as an inspector. 

“So I went back into the government as a safety inspector with the Federal Aviation Adminstration, and once there, my job was doing evaluation certifications, pilot evaluations, monitoring training programs and doing a number of accident investigations.”

Ironically, Andera was actually in an accident due to engine failure when his helicopter went down near Maui.

“I ended up breaking my back and my leg and was in the hospital for three weeks. Fortunately, I was able to recover. I didn’t want the accident to affect the rest of my life, so I continued to work hard, have a good attitude and got right back to flying.  I just dealt with the injuries, but was able to recover and stay with my flying.”

After 10 years with the FAA, he retired in 2018 and Andera and his wife have been doing plenty of traveling. The couple purchased a nice camper/van and are currently drifting throughout the states. 

“We’ve also traveled internationally, actually going inside the Great Pyramid of Egypt, seen the ruins of Machu Picchu and have walked along a part of the Great Wall of China.  We’ve also seen the ruins of  Angkor Wat, Cambodia, were at Tiananmen Square in China, the Red Square in Moscow, seen the Taj Mahal in India visited the Amazon forest, walked with penguins on the Falkland Islands.”

During these visits, he noted they have rode camels, elephants, donkey carts, hot-air balloons, have scuba-dived with sharks and so much more!

“So far we’ve visited all 50 states, and about 60 different countries,” added Andera. “It’s a big, beautiful world out there, so experience as much of it as you can.  But, even though I’ve done so much and have seen a lot in my life, I still really enjoy coming back to Cresco. Especially back to the home farm as there is no place like home!  My brother Marvin is still on the farm, who’s here, I thank you.  I enjoy helping him with the spring planting and the fall harvest, working some of the fields.”

He stated that he still drives the tractor his father purchased new in 1964.   “I even listen to the same songs on the radio, except they’re now called oldies.”

Andera went on to state that all his life he has cherished growing up on the farm and near Cresco.

“I’ve always felt being raised in a rural community has helped me and not been a hinderance––not in the least––never shying away from hard work.”

In closing he came back to the manure spreader as a teenager . . .

“I believe dealing with the ‘crap’ on the farm helped me deal with the ‘crap’ that was being thrown at me.  You just have to accept that some things need to be done, whether you want to or not.”

To finish he told a story about a little bird  that did not want to fly south for the winter. 

“So when his friends took off to fly south to warmer climate, he decided to stay back.  Well, the weather started to get bad and was much colder than expected, so in a last-ditch effort the little bird started flying south.  As the weather worsened, his wings iced up and he started to plunge, falling in a pasture.

“A cow happened to pass by and the little bird, now frozen, thought it was the end. However, the cow dropped a cow-pie right on top of him and the warm manure started to thaw his wings and he started to feel warm again. He was so happy that he started to chirp and sing.

“Unfortunately, the singing attracted the attention of a fox that was nearby, who followed the sound, finding the little bird, digging him out of the manure. The fox promptly ate the bird!”

Andera stated there are three morals to the story . . .

1) “Those who get you into ‘crap’ are not necessarily your enemy.”

2) “Those that help you out of the ‘crap’ are not necessarily your friend.  

3) “That if you’re warm and happy and in a pile of ‘crap’––you should just keep your mouth shut!”

“Thank you,” closed Andera.