Ingo Renner

Ingo Renner OAM (born in Hude, Germany) is an Australian glider pilot who has won the World Gliding Championships four times. [http://www.flugplatz-oerlinghausen.de/index.php?id=14&idp=79 Flugplatz Oerlinghausen / Neue Westfälische (in German)] - accessed 2008-01-11] [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/1998/06/27/etglid127.xml&page=2 " Gliding basics"] , "The Telegraph", June 27, 1998. Accessed January 24, 2008. "Resident coach Ingo Renner is four times World Champion."]

He started gliding in 1954 [http://www.flugplatz-oerlinghausen.de/index.php?id=14&idp=79 Flugplatz Oerlinghausen / Neue Westfälische (in German)] - accessed 2008-01-11] at the LSV Hude (gliding club of Hude) of which he is a honorary member, now. [http://www.lsv-hude.de/Verein_History.htm LSV Hude: Vereinsgeschichte (in German)] - accessed 2008-01-21] In 1967 he moved to Australia and was granted Australian citizenship in 1971. He has done almost 30,000 flying hours [ [http://www.mbfc.org.au/ Murray Border Flying Club - accessed 2008-08-06] .

Occupation as a glider instructor

He joined Bill Riley's [http://soaring.eu/?m=200611 Soaring: 29 November 2006] - accessed 2008-01-21 ] Sportavia Soaring Centre, a commercial gliding operation in Tocumwal (NSW), as flight instructor shortly after moving to Australia. [http://www.sahof.org.au/hallOfFame/memberProfile/index.php?memberID=188&memberType=athlete SAHOF: Ingo Renner] -accessed 2008-01-21] From 1974, he worked during the European summers as a flight instructor at the Oerlinghausen training centre and at its branches in southern Europe, such as at Sondrio [http://www.sportfliegerclub.de/fluglager/2004/sondrio.html Fluglager Sondrio 2004 (in German)] - accessed 2008-01-11] . Each year he returned to the Australia for their summer. However at the age of 65, he retired after working thirty seasons at Oerlinghausen. [http://www.flugplatz-oerlinghausen.de/index.php?id=14&idp=79 Flugplatz Oerlinghausen / Neue Westfälische (in German)] - accessed 2008-01-11] . In 2006, Sportavia closed but the Murray Border Flying Club extended its operations to include gliding [http://soaring.eu/?p=12 Soaring: July 25, 2006] - accessed 2008-01-23] . Ingo Renner is now its chief flying instructor for gliding. [http://www.gfa.org.au/cgi-bin/contact.pl?username=Murray%20Border%20Flying GFA: Murray Border Flying Club] - accessed 2008-01-21] .

Dynamic soaring

He reported to have utilized the dynamic soaring technique with a Glasflügel H-301 Libelle at Tocumwal in 1974 and later flights in a Eiri-Avion PIK-20 successfully.Helmut Reichmann (1978): Cross-Country Soaring, Soaring Society of America, ISBN 1883813018 ]

Records and FAI Badges

In addition to several Australian records [http://www.aus-soaring.on.net/recoz.htm Australian soaring: Australian records] - accessed 2008-01-21] , he established two world records. In setting one record in 1975, he flew a straight distance of 970.4 km/h from Bendigo airport to Langley (Australia) in a two-seater glider Caproni Vizzola Calif A-21 with Hilmer Geissler. For his other record in 1982, he flew a triangular course of 100 km at an average speed of 195.30 km/h from Tocumwal airfield, NSW (Australia) in a Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-3 [http://records.fai.org/pilot.asp?from=gliding&id=71 FAI: world records of Ingo Renner] - accessed 2008-01-11] . In addition to his FAI Gliding Gold badge with Three Diamonds, he earned the 27th FAI 1000 Kilometer Badge by a 1,015.50 km flight in a Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-2 from Tocumwal airfield, NSW (Australia) in 1980. [http://www.fai.org/gliding/badges/pilot_details.asp?pilot=71 FAI badges of Ingo Renner] - accessed 2008-01-11]

Achievements in competitions

In 1976 he won the World Gliding Championships in the Standard Class. In 1983, 1985 and 1987 he was World Champion in the Open Class. [http://www.ssa.org/UsTeam/ust_champs.htm SSA: World Soaring Champions] - accessed 2008-01-11] He also received the Dr. Mervyn Hall Trophy by the GFA as the Australian (Open Class) Champion in 1971/72, 1972/73, 1979/80, 1981/82, 1982/83, 1983/84 and 1991/92 [http://www.gfa.org.au/trophies/mervyn.php Dr. Mervyn Hall Trophy by the GFA] - accessed 2008-01-11] , and the GFA Shield (Team Trophy) in the seasons 1971/72, 1984/85, 1985/86, 1988/89, 1989/90, 1990/91 and 1998/99 [http://www.gfa.org.au/trophies/gfashield.php GFA Shield Trophy] - accessed 2008-01-11] . To date he has been Australian National Champion nineteen times [http://www.flugplatz-oerlinghausen.de/index.php?id=14&idp=79 Flugplatz Oerlinghausen / Neue Westfälische (in German)] - accessed 2008-01-11] .

He is still taking part in the decentralized soaring competition OLC. [http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0/para/getScoring.html;?scoringId=200&pilotId=9661 OLC: Flights of Ingo Renner 2008] - accessed 2008-01-11]

Other awards and honours

In 1988, he was awarded the FAI Lilienthal Gliding Medal [http://www.fai.org/awards/recipient.asp?id=223 FAI Lilienthal Gliding Medal] - accessed 2008-01-11] and the Medal of the Order of Australia. In 2000 he was awarded the Australian Sports Medal. [http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?breif=false&page=1&search_view=~all~&view=10&search_type=simple Australian Honours received by Ingo Renner] - accessed 2008-01-22]

Family

His wife Judy is a talented glider pilot, too. [http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/skyhigh-hustings/2007/03/09/1173166944024.html The Sidney Morning Herald: Greens candidate Judy Renner] - accessed 2008-01-21] They have four daughters and eight grandchildren. [http://www.nsw.greens.org.au/state-election-2007/candidates/electorates/murray-darling Greens candidate of the 2007 New South Wales for Murray-Darling] - accessed 2008-01-23]

References