Founded in 1948 as Jungle Aviation and Radio Service by

William Cameron Townsend William Cameron Townsend (July 9, 1896 – April 23, 1982) was an American Christian missionary-linguist and the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (now SIL Global). Both organisations emphasized ...

, JAARS is a worldwide,

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

, mission

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

and support organization with a primary focus on Bible translation support operations. JAARS provides practical support in

, land and

maritime transportation Maritime transport (or ocean transport) or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by watercraft has been widely used throughout recorded history, as it provi ...

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

and media. Its current president is

Steve Russell Steve or Steven Russell may refer to: * Steve Russell (politician) (born 1963), American politician in Oklahoma * Steve Russell (computer scientist) (born 1937), American computer scientist * Steve Russell (writer), Cherokee journalist and academic ...

, as of October 1, 2022. JAARS marks its 75th anniversary in 2023, with a slight adjustment to its name to incorporate its 75-year heritage—Jungle Aviation and Relay Service. JAARS is a wholly controlled subsidiary of

SIL International SIL Global (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics International) is an evangelical Christian nonprofit organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, to expan ...

, but also partners with many other organizations.

History

co-founded

Wycliffe Bible Translators Wycliffe Global Alliance is an alliance of organizations that have the objective of translating the Bible into every language. The organisation is named after John Wycliffe, who was responsible for the first complete English translation of the ...

and

in 1934, and as the organization grew, he saw the need for airplanes and radio to reach remote areas around the world and to provide safe access to language groups. JAARS was originally formed as Jungle Aviation and Radio Service in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

in 1948 and moved to its current location in

Waxhaw, North Carolina Waxhaw is an incorporated town in Union County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 20,534 according to the 2020 Census. The population grew 108.28% from 2010. The name is derived from the indigenous people who lived in the area, w ...

, in 1961. The 572 acres of land where JAARS is located began as a 200-acre donation by the

Belk Belk, Inc. is an American department store chain founded in 1888 by William Henry Belk in Monroe, North Carolina, with nearly 300 locations in 16 states. Belk stores and Belk.com offer apparel, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, home furnishings, a ...

family. In 1986, as a result of diversifying activities (like information technology and purchasing and shipping), JAARS officially dropped the original meaning behind the acronym and became simply "JAARS Inc."

Operations and activities

JAARS Base

JAARS' North Carolina headquarters is commonly called the "JAARS Base". The base is operated by over 500 people on 551 acres, encompassing 68 buildings. While the JAARS Base serves as the home for all the organization's core operations (like transportation), it also hosts staff from partner organizations. For example, SIL International has IT and media staff working at the JAARS Base, and Wycliffe Bible Translators USA has a large contingent of human resources personnel with offices at the center. The center's airport is registered with the FAA as JAARS-Townsend Airport , a public-use airport. The public-use

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

is 3,309' x 40' listed as good

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

. Additionally, three grass runways are used by JAARS for standards training. JAARS Helio Couriers Feb2022

Aviation

In aviation, JAARS helps its field partners start and run local aviation programs. This help comes from training staff, setting standards, equipping aircraft, research, and more. These associates in turn offer several transportation services to a range of individuals, including

translators Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

, support staff, consultants, trainers,

linguists Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures ...

, Christian mission organizations, hospitals, locals, and governments. These services can also include medical evacuations and disaster relief work. JAARS' aviation partners fly a variety of aircraft, including: * Bell Long Ranger

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

, flown by

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

Robinson R66 The Robinson R66 is a helicopter designed and built by Robinson Helicopter Company. It has five seats, a separate cargo compartment and is powered by a Rolls-Royce RR300 turboshaft engine. The R66 is slightly faster and smoother than the pisto ...

, flown at the JAARS Center and by SIL International in

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Cessna 206 The Cessna 205, 206 and 207, known primarily as the Stationair (and marketed variously as the Super Skywagon, Skywagon and Super Skylane), are a family of single-engined, general aviation aircraft with fixed landing gear, used in commercial air ...

, flown at the JAARS Center and by partners in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, Cameroon, and Papua New Guinea *

Cessna 207 The Cessna 205, 206 and 207, known primarily as the Stationair (and marketed variously as the Super Skywagon, Skywagon and Super Skylane), are a family of single-engined, general aviation aircraft with fixed landing gear, used in commercial air ...

, Soloy Turbine conversion, flown by SIL International in Cameroon *

Cessna 208 Caravan The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargoma ...

, flown by YAJASI in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Helio Courier The Helio Courier is a cantilever high-wing light Short Take-Off and Landing, STOL cargo aircraft, utility aircraft designed in 1949. Around 500 of these aircraft were manufactured in Pittsburg, Kansas, from 1954 until 1974 by the Helio Aircraf ...

, flown at the JAARS Center *

Pilatus PC-12 The Pilatus PC-12 is a pressurized, single-engined, turboprop aircraft manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Stans, Switzerland since 1991. It was designed as a high-performance utility aircraft that incorporates a large aft cargo door in addi ...

, flown by YAJASI in

Pilatus PC-6 The Pilatus PC-6 Porter is a single-engined STOL utility aircraft designed by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. First flown in 1959, the PC-6 was produced at Pilatus Flugzeugwerke in Stans, Switzerland. It has been built in both piston engine- ...

, flown at the JAARS Center and by YAJASI in Indonesia *

Quest Kodiak The Daher Kodiak (formerly Quest Kodiak) is an American utility aircraft designed by and originally manufactured by Quest Aircraft in Sandpoint, Idaho. Manufacturing was taken over by Daher in 2019 after its purchase of Quest Aircraft. The h ...

, flown by SIL International in

JAARS was one of fifteen organizations that financed the prototyping and development of the

. JAARS also developed S-Seats, a seat for Bushliner 1850 that enhanced the crashworthiness and adaptability of the aircraft. JAARS also transported tons of supplies in the aftermath of

Hurricane Helene Hurricane Helene ( ) was a deadly and devastating tropical cyclone that caused widespread catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities across the Southeastern United States in late September 2024. It was the strongest hurricane on record to ...

Museum

The Alphabet Museum is located at the JAARS Base in

. The museum was established in 1991 by JAARS founder

and focuses on the development of the world's

alphabets An alphabet is a standard set of letter (alphabet), letters written to represent particular sounds in a spoken language. Specifically, letters largely correspond to phonemes as the smallest sound segments that can distinguish one word from a ...

and the history of writing systems and written languages. Exhibits include maps, paintings, sculptures, a replica of the

Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a Rosetta Stone decree, decree issued in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty of ancient Egypt, Egypt, on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts ...

, a

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

scroll that is over 150 years old and a handmade lyre. The languages covered include

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

and

African languages The number of languages natively spoken in Africa is variously estimated (depending on the delineation of language vs. dialect) at between 1,250 and 2,100, and by some counts at over 3,000. Nigeria alone has over 500 languages (according to SI ...

. The newly reopened Cardenas Building (named for former Mexican president

Lázaro Cárdenas Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (; 21 May 1895 – 19 October 1970) was a Mexican army officer and politician who served as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Previously, he served as a general in the Constitutional Army during the Mexican Revo ...

) features all new exhibits that tell the story of JAARS.

References

{{Authority control Christian missions Evangelical parachurch organizations Non-profit organizations based in North Carolina Union County, North Carolina Organizations established in 1948