terryTerry L. Barnhart first lived in Greensburg, Pennsylvania—a suburb of Pittsburgh. When Terry was thirteen, his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Terry attended Arizona State University and the University of Colorado, majoring in business administration and electrical engineering. In 1974, Terry founded Barnhart Advertising & Public Relations.
In early 1980, Terry first took flying lessons at the Centennial Airport in Denver and became familiar with Jeppesen navigation charts. He went on to get his license and flew high performance, single engine aircraft for over fifteen years.
In the 1990s, Terry and the Jeppesen Corporation’s affiliation began, and so did Terry’s interest in writing the story of Elrey B Jeppesen, “Capt. Jepp.” Over lunch one day, Terry broached the subject with Jepp who stated, “I suppose what you want to do is make a movie and make a bunch of money.” Sadly, and despite his vehement denial and reiteration in having only an interest in writing Jepp’s life story, Terry was never able to personally interview Jepp.
In 2005, Terry teamed up with Flint Whitlock, and the two friends combined their passions for history and flying into a best-selling book, the rags-to-riches story of Elrey Jeppesen, the Father of Aerial Navigation. Readers of Capt. Jepp and the Little Black Book will find themselves highly entertained with thrilling stories of daredevil barnstormers and wing-walkers, the fledgling beginnings of the giant aviation companies, and the gentle, charismatic man who lived and loved those early days of flight and went on to found the Jeppesen Corporation–a company without equal in the field of aviation.