Jeppesen Training

But how did the Jeppesen company come to be, and how did Jeppesen products become the standard by which all other aviation products are measured?

Glad you asked! The Jeppesen Company was founded by Elrey Borge Jeppesen, a true aviation pioneer. Jeppesen's early career began when Jeppesen purchased a Jenny, followed by an Alexander Eaglerock finally joining Tex Rankin's Flying Circus. Jeppesen then worked as an aerial photographer along the Mississippi Delta and Mexico.

Those of us who are pilots recognize the Jeppesen name because most of us have purchased Jeppesen products at one time or another as we worked our way from Student pilot to Private Pilot and beyond. Early pilots used road maps to navigate by, and when Jeppesen became an airmail pilot flying a mail route between Salt Lake City, Utah to Cheyenne, Wyoming and Oakland, California he began to gather information from anywhere he could - city & county engineers, surveyors, farmers, road maps and from his own observations.

Years later Jeppesen was asked why he had created these notebooks, and his answer was typical Jeppesen:

"I invented something to prevent me from getting killed"

You can read more about this amazing aviation pioneer below.

Elrey Borge Jeppesen

Jeppesen was born on January 28th, 1907 in Lake Charles, LA but grew up in Hood River, OR. After a long career as a pilot he died on November 26th, 1996. He began his flying career as most pilots of the era, flying anywhere and anything he could. The father of modern aeronautical charts started his careeer flying a war surplus JN4 "Jenny" as a barnstormer.

In 1930 Jeppesen eventually joined Boeing Air Transport eventually delivering mail in a Boeing 40B. Jeppesen used road maps like most pilots of those days, but Jeppesen understood that eventually someone would have to create flying charts to replace them. Realizing someone had to collect aviation data, Jeppesen began compiling information in the famous Jeppesen "Black Book". As Jeppesen flew his routes he added notes to his "Black Book" allowing Jeppesen to remember significant data about the various airports Jeppesen flew into... read more...>