Plane's New Mission: Lots of Jungle Flights
Donation to help Bible translators, linguists
Marshall Carter had hoped to fly his 10-seat family plane to Waxhaw himself last week and donate it personally to the JAARS missions agency.
But it was an unusually busy week for Carter, deputy chairman of NYSE Euronext – the holding company for the New York Stock Exchange. So a bush pilot friend of Carter's flew the Pilatus PC-6 to Waxhaw and handed it over to JAARS on Thursday.
The Waxhaw-based JAARS – short for "Jungle Aviation and Radio Service" – provides technical support for two outfits: SIL, a faith-based company that studies some of the world's lesser-known languages, and Wycliffe Bible Translators, which translates Bibles into those native tongues.
Carter, 67, said the plane had brought "great joy" to his family, but he wasn't using the plane and it was too big for his needs. It's now headed to what Carter describes as "its most important mission ever."
The plane – worth an estimated $1 million and capable of water landings – is being repainted and outfitted in Waxhaw before it goes to work for a JAARS mission partner in Eastern Indonesia. The planes are ideal for jungle and bush conditions because they can take off and land on short runways.
JAARS, which Carter says many longtime aviators know about, also flies supplies and medical missions to remote areas all over the world.
"I thought I would turn it over to a humanitarian organization that could make better use of it," Carter said.
Carter was the NYSE's chairman until this year's merger with Euronext. He previously served as chief executive of financial firm State Street Corp. from 1992 until 2001.
For the JAARS center, the unexpected gift couldn't be timelier.
Arthur Lightbody, JAARS media relations officer, siad the organization had been preparing to raise money to add a PC-6 to its fleet in Papua, New Guinea. JAARS is replacing about 80 percent of its fleet with planes that use jet fuel rather than aviation gas, which is hard to find in remote regions, Lightbody said.
The PC-6 planes also can be flown in difficult mountain ranges, at higher elevations and faster speeds than other small aircraft.
Carter said he became interested in the PC-6 when he saw it during one of his two tours during the Vietnam War. He had owned his PC-6 for more than nine years, flying it mostly on weekends.
Carter doesn't plan to remain plane-less for long. He's already ordered a two-seater that he hopes arrives in time for Christmas.
Article by Marty Minchin. Reprinted with permission from the Charlotte Observer. Copyright owned by the Charlotte Observer.
