Here is an example of the exceptional work by Jim Rendell. Click to enlarge.

For as long as he can remember, Jim has always loved airplanes! He grew up in northwest Nigeria where his parents were missionaries with SIM (Serving in Mission) for 35 years. Before he was even in grade school he was building model airplanes with his two older brothers. Their uncle who was back in the States owned a hobby shop and kept them supplied with model airplane kits to build and fly.

Growing up in a remote area meant that Jim and his siblings were 500 miles from the mission boarding school. Flying home in the small mission plane was always an exciting event! That early interest in aviation turned into a lifetime passion and he went on to train as a missionary pilot and mechanic at Moody Aviation in Elizabethton, TN. In 1973 he returned to Africa to fly for the SIM mission in Niger, the country just north of Nigeria.

Back in the mission boarding school Jim’s teachers noticed his talent for drawing and encouraged him to develop it. Later in high school Jim asked the pastor of his church what he thought about him going to art school or to flight school for mission aviation. His answer was, “Fly now while you are young and you can draw later when you’re old!” Jim took his advice and once he had the training went back to Africa. Over the years he’s enjoyed drawing as a hobby and when he learned about the Fly4Life theme for the Air Venture show at Oshkosh this year it afforded an opportunity to do something he had wanted to do for a long time. That was to draw a series of airplanes representing those used by mission aviation around the world. This IAMA 2010 Fly4Life calendar is the result.

Jim has a commercial pilot’s license with instrument and multi-engine ratings and an A&P mechanics license. He has been with SIM for 36 years and has 33 years and 10,000 hours of flying experience in West Africa. He is happily married to Sandy. They have three grown children, Jason, Crystal, and Scott with daughter-in-law Stephanie.

Click on the link below to visit the SIM On-line Bookstore and order yours today (Note: scroll to the bottom of the store page):

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Jim is an AOPA and EAA member and can be

contacted at jim.rendel@sim.org.

In 2007, some friends of mission aviation approached the EAA with the idea of featuring mission aviation at AirVenture.  The EAA was open to the idea and invited IAMA (the International Association of Missionary Aviation) to submit a preliminary proposal.  At the 2008 IAMA conference in Spokane, the concept was discussed by the attendees at large and a plan was rapidly drafted for the EAA’s consideration.  It was an energetic time, as never before had mission aviation been given the prospect of such large-scale visibility.

Just before AirVenture 2008, the EAA approved the mission aviation feature.  When IAMA members converged at Oshkosh in July 2008, we realized this would be a huge undertaking, requiring an extraordinary amount of time, energy, and resources.  Being a virtual organization, with no executive director and a part-time board, IAMA faced a serious challenge.  But as God so marvelously does, He provided two very-capable people to serve as project managers, Rob and Teena Ray.

Rob quickly called daily meetings and began the process of creating the mechanisms needed to get things moving in high gear.  Also with us at Oshkosh in 2008 was Bob Warner, a former EAA staff member appointed by the EAA to head up the overall feature.  The EAA, being an organization made up of people interested in general aviation, wanted to expand the original concept from just mission aviation to humanitarian aviation, and thereby include the public benefit aviators.  Given this mix, IAMA decided its slogan would be “Fly4Life” and a logo was designed incorporating those words.  The EAA liked the concept and asked if they could use it for the entire feature.

With the Fly4Life theme established, IAMA began developing a plan for the Fly4Life Tent.  This tent will be provided compliments of the EAA and will be furnished by IAMA with panels explaining mission aviation.  The “Life Tent” will use photos and video to tell what mission aviation is, what it does, and why it’s done.  The material will dovetail with the EAA’s humanitarian emphasis.  The PBA organization will also have a tent adjacent to the Life Tent, at the edge of AeroShell Square on the AirVenture grounds.

The stage is being set….

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