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Jepp
Climbs Every Mountain to Make Flying Safe SEPTEMBER
2000 "Jepp" was born Jan. 28, 1907, the son of Danish immigrants. As a teenager, the would be pilot often spent time sleeping in a hangar, gassing engines, barnstorming with older pilots, and doing a little wing-walking. In the late 1920s, Jepp borrowed $500, bought an old Army surplus JN4 "Jenny" bi-wing airplane, and quit high school. After soloing with just two hours and 15 minutes flying time, he began barnstorming with Tex Rankin's Flying Circus, flying with other pilots into small towns, and doing stunts to attract people, earning $10-$20 for a 15-minute ride. He later became a flight instructor for the Circus. Jepp was the 27th pilot to be issued an Oregon aviation license. Orville Wright signed his pilot's license, Federation Aeronautique International # 7034, on Jan. 29, 1929. For Jepp, flying the Jenny, an Eaglerock (another bi-wing plane built in Denver) that he later purchased, and other early bi-wing planes was magical. He once described the experience in the "old open airplanes" by saying that when you flew one, with the wind in your face, listening to the hum of the engine and the noise of the propeller, "you felt like a bird, a part of the airplane." In 1929, he barnstormed his way to Dallas where he won a contract to fly aerial photographers over the Louisiana delta for major oil companies. This led to a job with Royal Dutch Shell Oil to fly English aerial photographer Sidney Bonnick on a pictorial survey of the then uncharted Mexico (he was issued Mexico's license # 31). In 1930, he began flying the night mail, which paid twice as much as flying by day - a mail pilot could earn $800 and up a month - for Varney Airlines at Portland. He later joined Boeing Air Transport. Both companies later merged to become United Airlines. For these companies, Jepp flew many of the early aircraft types then in use, including the Boeing 40B and the Tri-motor Boeing model 80A - a bi-wing plane that he loved to fly because it "could get off the ground when the Ford and Fokker tri-motors couldn't." Jepp described his job flying night mail routes, often on perilous routes over the Rockies and the Northwest U.S., as one that required "flying by the seat of your pants." It also required fast learning. In those days, pilots often flew 50 to 300 feet above the ground, following a practice of following railroad tracks called "hugging the UP" or Union Pacific, and highways. The story goes, that in those days, the best way to navigate, if your compass went out, was to find an outhouse. (All outhouses faced south, so if you found one, you could find out what direction you were going.) Jepp had his share of close encounters, including a time in a storm when he had to put down a plane with a dead engine on a ridge near Omaha, Neb., and, after the plane plunged unexpectedly into a road cut, found himself stumbling around in the snow with his parachute between his legs, just 100 feet from the burning plane. There were a few times when the pilot flew a DC3 on one engine over the mountains. There was many a night when he flew in an open cockpit, ice on the wings, as the plane staggered along. Tal Miller, a fellow pilot and long time friend of Jepp's, met him when Miller was a line boy for Denver Municipal Airport. Miller related that Jepp, like other pilots, had originally begun navigating with the use of road maps. Jepp knew that there had to be a better way. He decided to create his own air charts to fly by. On his days off, according to Miller, he began spending countless hours "climbing every mountain", not to mention numerous smokestacks and water towers, and confirming the information by driving the entire distance by car, using several altimeters (strapped to his back) to record accurate elevations. He wrote the data he collected in a ten-cent notebook, which would later be known simply as "Jepp's Little Black Book." He obtained additional information from city and county engineers, surveyors and farmers. Soon, other pilots were exchanging information with Jepp, and coveting the contents of his black book. Into the book went information regarding every airport he flew into, including the most remote parts of the western United States. Information logged included runways, water towers, houses and fences, railroad tracks, landmarks, elevations and obstructions, field lengths, slopes, drainage patterns, etc. He penciled in altitudes and compass headings on his air navigation charts, in a day when there were no useable air navigation charts available. Sketches were drawn of airport layout and terrain. Information was entered regarding farmhouses in the area, and phone numbers of local farmers who could provide help with weather conditions. He'd also use the charts to refresh his memory if it had been a while since he had flown there. In the mid 1930s, Jepp flew a flight on United that would change the course of his life. Flying over Iowa in a Boeing 247B, Jepp met Nadine, a stewardess (they weren't yet called flight attendants), who was also a registered nurse (a requirement for stewardesses). It was love at first flight. They were married on September 24, 1936. Jepp's little black book was one that would not need to be tossed out after marriage! In fact, Nadine and Jepp poured over the contents of the book and soon, when they were satisfied that he, as well as others, could fly by his charts, they began duplicating the contents in the basement of their Salt Lake City home, with the help of college students hired as draftsmen and artists. Jepp's notebook became the Jeppesen Airway Manual, which sold initially for $10 and included landing approach procedures for 50 airfields between Chicago and Oakland, Calif. When instrument flying was introduced during the mid-1930s, Jepp updated his black book to show pilots how to follow radio beacons, mileage reference charts and terrain elevation profiles, believing that instrument flying was the only way to develop aviation into a reliable form of transportation. Jepp and Nadine moved to Denver in 1941. By the time World War II broke out, they had covered all of the United States. He gave 50 of his manuals to the military and secured contracts with both the Navy and Army air arms. He continued to fly as Captain for United, piloting DC3s, DC4s, DC6s and finally DC7s while at the same time working earnestly on updating his manual. As demand for Jepp's Airway Manual grew, the company worked with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), forerunner to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to establish the first Standard Instrument Approach Procedures. (Before the creation of the manual, airlines developed their own standard approach procedures, which were submitted to the CAA for approval.) In 1954, Jepp decided to concentrate on his booming chart business, now used worldwide, and took early retirement from United. He sold the company, now known as Jeppesen Sanderson Inc., in 1961, to Times Mirror Publishing Co. of Los Angeles, remaining as president and chairman of the board. At the time, the company was grossing $5 million a year and had more than 200 employees. In 1970, Jepp became one of the first inductees into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into the OX-5 Aviation Hall of Fame, the National Aviation Hall of Fame (1990), and received the NBAA Meritorious Service Award, in the company of such aviation greats as Charles A. Lindbergh, Igor Sikorsky and Jimmy Doolittle. Nadine Jeppesen died in June of 1996, followed shortly by the death of Jepp in November of the same year. A few months before his passing, Miller and several other influential friends finally convinced Jepp to have his papers and aviation memorabilia, including the original black book, log books and his pilot's licenses, preserved and placed in an exhibit at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. In 1991, the newly founded Jeppesen Aviation Foundation's President Ralph Latimer, Vice President Don Sellars and Silver Wings Fraternity director Tal Miller together worked hard along with many other key people and organizations to get the Jeppesen Terminal at DIA named after Jepp, and to place many of his aviation items on display in an exhibit there. Today, Jeppesen is the leading publisher of air navigational information and flight training systems; all U.S. airlines, many foreign carriers and two-thirds of all instrument-rated pilots use Jeppesen Airway Manuals. Jeppesen Sanderson's parent company, Times Mirror, was sold to the Tribune Co. in June of 2000. It was recently announced that Boeing Co. was purchasing Jeppesen Sanderson for $1.5 billion. Jim Jeppesen, one of two sons of Elrey and Nadine, was an early employee (1957-72) of the original Frontier Airlines - he began as a Station Agent in Salt Lake City, Utah and Denver, and held various managerial positions in Marketing, Traffic/Scheduling and Economic Planning. He thrilled his parents (like father, like son) by taking Joyce, a United Airlines stewardess/flight attendant, to the altar. Joyce Jeppesen recently retired after 38 years with United. After leaving Frontier, Jim worked with Stearns-Roger Corporation as Assistant Secretary and Martin Marietta as an Engineering Administrator to the Titan IV program. "What goes around, comes around," said Jim, after hearing that the Boeing Co. was in the process of purchasing the company his father founded. He laughs and says that his dad, the Wright Brothers, and T. Wilson, a good friend of his father who once served as President and CEO for Boeing (all deceased), must have been playing golf and decided that it would be a "marriage made in Heaven" to have Jeppesen join Boeing. Although Jim suspected that Boeing, as well as several other companies, were interested in acquiring Jeppesen, he found out about the sale just as the deal was being announced. He also had the opportunity to meet Phil Condit, Chairman and CEO of Boeing, who was there to address the employees and welcomed them to the Boeing family. "It's a great fit," said Jim. "I'm glad it's over. There's been a lot of concern over what would happen to the company, and it couldn't have turned out any better. It's a good association for both companies; they complement each other. I was excited, and I think my father would have been excited too. He would have been honored and proud." Stories
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