Alan Anders, Vice President & Director of Operations & Maintenance

Alan Anders in the cockpit of an A-1 SkyraiderAlan was born in a Quonset hut on Hamilton Air Force Base, north of San Francisco. His father, William Anders, was out flying an F-89 Scorpion. Upon hearing news of his first son’s birth over the radio, he replied “ I still have half a tank of fuel and will RTB (return to base) when bingo (minimum fuel).” Maybe that’s when Alan decided to become a pilot. That day (Feb 18, 1957) was the day the last Skyraider rolled off the Douglas Aircraft production line and was test flown. For some strange inexplicable reason, it is Alan’s favorite airplane to fly. Initially, Alan wanted to be an Army helicopter pilot, but demand was declining in the spring of 1975 after the fall of Saigon. He pursued a career in commercial art, computer animation and making feature films at Dreamworks Animation. It was not until much later in life that Alan indulged his love of flying and went at it with a vengeance. In 11 years of flying, he amassed well over 2000 hours, mainly in ex–military warbirds. He earned his instrument, commercial helicopter, fixed wing ratings, and type ratings in the L-39 jet, T-28, and AD-4 Skyraider. In addition to flying with the Navy’s Tailhook Legacy Flight, he flew a vintage AT-6 Texan with the Military’s Texan II trainer in the Air Force’s Texan Flight program.