Join the Captain Jepp Challenge

The first quarterly Captain Jepp Challenge kicks off July 26 at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and runs until Sept. 30. New challenges will launch in October and January, giving pilots the opportunity to participate and enter for a chance to win a gift card or trip to AirVenture 2017.

Pilots should visit the Captain Jepp Challenge page to register and peruse the various ways to enter the challenge. Taking qualifying AOPA Air Safety Institute educational online courses, videos, and safety seminars; attending an AOPA Regional Fly-In; or participating in Jeppesen Chart Clinic Confidential webinars all count as entries in this first quarterly challenge. Each activity will earn pilots an additional entry, with a total of 11 entries possible for the challenge. The safety programs highlight decision making, weather, charts, and more. The courses, videos, webinars, and in-person events that serve as entries for the challenge are free to attend.

Elrey Borge Jeppesen, whose pilot certificate was signed by Orville Wright in 1929, sought to improve aviation safety while he was an airmail pilot. So, he started designing charts for himself. “He drew diagrams and climbed smokestacks and other obstacles on his days off and measured their height with a sensitive altimeter. All this information went into Jeppesen's little black book. Other pilots heard about it and wanted copies. Jepp provided them,” Ralph Butcher wrote in “Instrument approach charts: Jeppesen charts,” chronicling the rise of the now ubiquitous charts.

The Captain Jepp Challenge continues the founder’s dedication to safety.

“The Captain Jepp Challenge combines the legacy of Captain Elrey B. Jeppesen providing flight critical navigation information with the philosophy of continuously elevating aviator skills,” said Jeppesen Director of General Aviation Client Management Reggie Arsenault. “We are creating an environment that encourages commitment to enhancing flight safety and rewards pilots for sharpening their knowledge.”

Jeppesen, AOPA’s newest strategic partner, also powers the AOPA Flight Planner and sponsors the Barnstormers Party at the association’s fly-ins across the country.