About the Man:
Denver International Airport's terminal is named to honor pioneer aviator, E. B. Jeppesen.
"Elrey Borge Jeppesen (January 28, 1907 – November 26, 1996) was an aviation pioneer. He developed manuals and charts that allowed pilots worldwide to fly safely.
A graduate of the University of Denver, Jeppesen started in aviation by buying a Jenny and then an Alexander Eaglerock, and joined Tex Rankin's Flying Circus in Portland, Oregon. He went to Dallas and worked for Fairchild Aerial Surveys, photographing the Mississippi Delta surrounding New Orleans.
In 1930, he went to work for Varney in Portland, Oregon and then joined Boeing Air Transport as a co-pilot, he didn't get much flying time and he returned to Fairchild. Fairchild based him in Tampico, Mexico where he flew photographic mission to map that area of Mexico. When the Great Depression lifted, Jeppesen delivered mail in a Boeing 40B. Jeppesen realized that someone would have to develop flying charts to replace the road maps used by pilots. He realized someone had to be the collection center for aviation data. He compiled information on objects visible from the air. He designated landmarks, elevations of obstructions and airport runway information to help him on his mail runs. He designed en route procedures, approach procedures, missed approach procedures to be used when visibility was bad. After several pilots borrowed his information, he decided to print copies of the charts and allow pilots to buy the manual for $10 each. In 1936, he married Nadine Liscomb, a United Airlines stewardess and together they worked on the charts at their home in Salt Lake City. He moved to Denver in 1941, and rented office space to hold the expanding business. Jeppesen continued to fly for United Airlines while the manual business was growing.
During World War II, the US Navy adopted the "Jepp Charts" as its standard flight manual. Following the war, the newly-created United States Air Force and many commercial airlines also contracted for the manuals and air navigational charts. Jeppesen stayed with United Airlines until 1954. That year, he left the airline to concentrate on the chart business. In 1961, he sold his firm to the Times Mirror Publishing Company of Los Angeles but remained as president and later chairman of the board. Jeppesen Sanderson is now a worldwide company, selling flight information and navigation manuals." (from (
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I became familiar with E. Jeppesen when I was interviewed to join Jeppesen-Sanderson as a cartographer (didn't get the job) after college. I still love maps (hmmm....Maps, Waymarking, Geocaching - oh, I get it) and have a friend who is a pilot for United Airlines. He speaks highly of the ground-breaking work of Jeppesen and the understanding for the need for maps to allow the airline industry to both grow and maintain safety.
There is a life-size statue and many display cases as a tribute to E. B. Jeppesen in the main terminal that is free to the public. After 9-11, security zig-zag lines engulfed the statue. The display cases were moved away from the main floor. As of 2011, DIA is remodeling the south end of Jeppesen Terminal to allow for a consolidated display of his memorabilia and help travelers understand the great accomplishments of this aviation visionary.
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About the Building:
* The Jeppesen Terminal roof is 126 feet from the terminal floor to its highest point and is supported by 34 masts and 10 miles of steel cable. The two rows of masts are 150 feet apart. The roof system uses a catenary cable system similar to that of the Brooklyn Bridge and relies on design curvature and equalization of the fabric's internal stress fields for stability and the ability to support wind and snow loads. The roof membrane weighs less than two pounds per square foot, a total of approximately 400 tons.
* A quarry in Marble, Colorado, supplied the white marble used on areas of the terminal walls. This stone is from the same quarry that supplied marble for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Lincoln Memorial.
* The passenger bridge between the Jeppesen Terminal and Concourse A is 365 feet long, weighs 3,300 tons and the bottom of the bridge is 45.61 feet above the taxiway pavement at the highest point of its arc.
* Jeppesen Terminal has more than 1.5 million square feet of space. The Jeppesen Terminal roof is made of a Teflon-coated fiberglass material that is as thin as a credit card. (Note: All of DIA's Visitor Ambassadors in Cowboy Hats and leather vests have a sample of the roof material if you would like to touch it.) From (
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More about Denver International Airport:
* DIA's 327-foot FAA control tower is one of the tallest in North America. There are 548 stairs from ground level to the top and the average walking time is 20 minutes. The tower is engineered to sway only one-half inch in an 86-mile-per-hour wind.
* The airport site, though relatively flat, was lowered in some areas and raised in others, requiring the moving of 110 million cubic yards of earth. 110 million cubic yards is approximately one-third the amount of dirt moved during the Panama Canal project. This amount of earth, if dumped into a single pile, would cover 32 city blocks to a depth of one-quarter mile.
* The fueling system at DIA is capable of pumping 1,000 gallons of jet fuel per minute through a 28-mile network of pipes. Each of the six fuel farm tanks holds 65,000 barrels (2.73 million gallons) of jet fuel.
* The four busiest airports in the United States - Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles International, and Dallas Fort Worth - could all fit into DIA’s 53-square miles of land.
* Denver International Airport is one of the world’s greenest airports. We also have the largest solar farm at a commercial airport in the United States.
* The airport contributes over 22 billion dollars a year to Colorado’s economy.
* Denver International Airport was one of the first airports in the United States to integrate art into public spaces. During construction, artists worked with architects to integrate art into the airport.
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