John Lindblom – Record-Bee staff
MIDDLETOWN ? Lake County glider pilot Rick Indrebo has been selected to a six-man team to represent the United States in the 29th World Gliding Championships, June 5-17, in Eskilstuna, Sweden.
The first-time honor comes for Indrebo after nine years of competing in the U.S. Championships and is the fulfillment of a quest that started 34 years ago when he soloed in a glider for the first time at age 14. He qualified for the team on the basis of his finishes in the last two national championships, which included a victory in the 18-meter division.
“Anyone who has ever gone to the nationals, that”s the goal; to get on the U.S. team,” Indrebo said. “It”s a little overwhelming because I”m going to a different country under a wholly different set of soaring conditions and another set of rules.”
Indrebo, an American Airlines pilot who flies domestic routes to Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis and Atlanta, estimated that he flew 200 hours for the airline last year and 300 hours as a glider pilot. Overall, he said, he has soared for more than 6,000 hours.
This is partly because he is a member of the Indrebo family that has operated glider facilities for the past 38 years. Currently, they are operating Crazy Creek Gliders, between Middletown and Hidden Valley Lake.
As a measure of just how hard earning the national team is to do, Jim Indrebo, Rick”s father, has never achieved it despite years of trying. Jim Indrebo says he is as proud as a father can be of his son”s success, but admits with a grin that he is also a little envious.
Nor is reaching the level Rick Indrebo has attained an inexpensive proposition. When he leaves for Europe on May 24, he plans to stop by Germany to pick up a new racing glider being built for him at a cost of $100,000. He estimates the trip will cost another $9,000.
Indrebo said he essentially spends his life in the air.
“It takes a lot of time,” he said. “It”s not something you do every month; you have to do it weekly.
“There is so much to know,” he added. “Every time you go up there, you learn something new. It”s like a musical instrument or anything else. It has to become second nature. You don”t do it for two or three months, you lose your competitive edge. The only way to do it is to fly ? and compete. You”ve got to push yourself.”
At age 48, Indrebo is the second youngest member of the U.S. team. Also flying in the 18-meter class with him will be Sam Zimmerman, 65, a retired neurologist of Steamboat Springs, Colo. and Greenville, S.C.; David Mockler, 44, of Texas. Gary Ittner, 49, a Los Angeles design engineer, will fly the 15-meter division. Doug Jacobs, 57, a retired financial executive from Rhode Island, will fly the standard class, and John Godfrey, 56, a retired software from State College, Pa., is the team captain and an 18-meter entrant.
Indrebo says the World Championships will be the first time that he has flown commercially or in a glider outside the U.S.
Contact John Lindblom at jlwordsmith@mchsi.com
