Fly-by honour for crash pilot

Mark of respect at funeral for a ‘legend of the skies’

A FORMATION of helicopters will honour veteran pilot Roger Corbin at his funeral service today in Hobart.

The 57-year-old died last Tuesday when his helicopter crashed at Hobart Airport.

The other occupant, 33year-old pilot John Osborne, miraculously survived and is recovering well.

Mr Corbin’s service will be held at Hobart Regatta Grounds at noon.

Mr Corbin ran Rotor-Lift, a company that provides aerial support for emergency services. He has been remembered as a legend of the skies.

Mr Corbin is survived by wife Allana and their three daughters.

Sergeant Damian Bidgood, the Tasmania Police crew chief with Rotor-Lift, knew the pilot for 18 years.

“Roger was just, there isn’t any other way to put it, an absolutely exceptional pilot,” he said. “The only thing he cared about more than delivering helicopter services was his family.”

Kelvin Howe, of Caveside, was rescued by Mr Corbin after a harrowing helicopter crash in Tasmania’s remote Great Western Tiers in 2002.

“To Roger, I owe my life,” he told the Mercury last week.

“My thoughts are now with Allana and their daughters. Just an amazing man, what they must be going through now is terrible, devastating”.

It is not known who was piloting the crashed helicopter.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators said Mr Osborne was receiving flight training from Mr Corbin on the Squirrel AS350 helicopter.

ATSB investigators came to Hobart last week to gather evidence and are expected to provide a preliminary crash report within a month. The full investigation could take a year.

The Corbins moved to Tasmania from Sydney in 2000, setting up Rotor-Lift and building the first 24-hour helicopter base.

Mrs Corbin was badly hurt in a plane crash in 1990 but learnt to walk again and became a motivational speaker.

She was the first woman to circumnavigate mainland Australia solo in a helicopter.