OUR DAD THE HERO

Corbin’s kids reflect on their tragic loss

TO his daughters, Roger Corbin was just dad. It was not until his funeral this week that they fully understood his legacy as hero.

The 11-year-old twin girls have been inundated with support since the tragic death of their father – a decorated rescue pilot – in the helicopter crash at Hobart Airport last week. And the girls have chosen the

Mercury today to say thank you. “At the funeral, there were people coming up to us saying ‘you don’t know me but your dad saved my life once’,” daughter Isabella said.

“People we don’t even know have been so caring.”

TO his daughters, Roger Corbin was Dad. But to many, the helicopter pilot was a hero.

His 11-year-old twin girls have been inundated with support since their dad’s sudden and tragic death in a helicopter crash last week.

“People we don’t even know have been so caring,” Isabella said.

People have reached out because they have been touched by Mr Corbin’s generosity and touched by his aviation genius.

Some have come forward because they owe their lives to the rescue-chopper veteran.

“At the funeral, there were people coming up to us saying: ‘You don’t know me but your dad saved my life once’,” Isabella said.

Showing the courage of their dad, Mr Corbin’s twin girls want to say a big public “thank you”.

Despite their grief, the Corbin girls have noticed — and noted — every gesture of kindness.

They are surrounded by the sympathy cards, they have counted every one of the 52 floral bouquets and they are holding firm to the teddy bears handmade by a boy at Indiana’s school.

“I bring my bear everywhere — to the shops, to school to dance,” Indiana said.

“It’s so comforting, and so fluffy,” she said

Isabella, searching through a drawer overflowing with handwritten cards, pulls out a silver brooch.

“When we turned up to dance on Wednesday, some of the girls gave us these little angel pins.”

The angels are pinned to a card, which reads: “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and loved by more than you know”.

Roger Corbin’s family has endured one of their toughest ever weeks, but sentiments like those have helped ease the pain.

The outpouring of kindness has been deeply felt, and deeply appreciated.

The girls’ mum Allana Corbin, Roger’s wife, said people had been a huge comfort since the crash at Hobart airport on November 7.

She said it was clear their family’s loss was shared by many.

“Roger was a big personality and the most generous man on the planet,” Mrs Corbin said. “There are hearts broken all around the country and the world.

“When he was home, he was just dad, but we willingly shared him with the world because he had so much to give.”

He is survived by three daughters, his twins in Grade 6, and 20-year-old Sophia who is studying at university.

Mrs Corbin said she was struggling to keep up with all the messages of support, not only from around Australia but from the aviation community around the world.

The New Zealand-born Mr Corbin had flown and trained pilots in many countries, and was once shot at while piloting in Papua New Guinea.

In 2007, Mr Corbin won the National Search and Rescue Award for his work in more than 700 rescues across Tasmania and the surrounding oceans. In his 35 years’ experi- ence, he clocked up 14,000 flying hours.

Mrs Corbin said the aviation community was closeknit, and that community had been greatly affected by the death. “It was a tragic loss for us and a tragic loss for the industry,” she said.

“I have not kept up with all the messages but, in some quiet time in the next few weeks, I’ll get through the letters, emails and the well wishes.”

The couple arrived in Tasmania from Sydney in 2000 to set up RotorLift, the state’s emergency helicopter service.

Mrs Corbin said she knew 17 years ago, that Tasmania would be her home — and the past week had reinforced that decision.

Speaking from the family home on Hobart’s Eastern Shore, Mrs Corbin said she was committed to ensuring her husband’s work and dedication lived on.

“It’s been such a huge honour to service the community, and that will keep going.

“Our staff are second to none — and the doors are open and it’s business as usual at RotorLift.”

The family also wants to stay true to Mr Corbin’s family dreams, by following through with plans to rebuild their home on a stretch of riverfront that was a treasured hideaway for the rescue pilot.

“He loved it here,” said Mrs Corbin, looking across a wide green paddock that meets a rocky foreshore.

“The new house will be a big focus for us, that will be part of our healing. Roger had planned it.

“We have no intention of moving from Hobart. This is our home.”

After the funeral at the Hobart Regatta Grounds on Tuesday, family and close friends came to the river’s edge at the family home.

“We have this family tradition of floating the wilted flowers down a river after a funeral,” Mrs Corbin said.

There were hundreds of flowers floating down Mr Corbin’s favourite stretch of water on Tuesday night.

“There were 52 bouquets. I know because I counted them all,” Isabella said.

The girls have also noticed the details on their comfort teddy bears, made by Year 7 student Campbell Remess, who makes teddy bears for charity.

“Mine is so fluffy,” Indiana said.

“It was really nice because

When he was home he was just dad, but we willingly shared him with the world because he had so much to give ALLANA CORBIN

we have never met him … it was amazing to get these bears from a complete stranger,” she said.

They are also grateful for the school friends and teachers who attended their dad’s funeral, from St Michael’s Collegiate School and The Friends’ School.

The twins went back to school late last week, and back to their dance lessons at Jenina’s Dance Workshop. Sophia is back at university. The twins are also in the process of planning a birthday party, because they turn 12 on Wednesday. But it will be hard to beat last year’s party.

“For our birthday last year, Dad flew our friends in a helicopter and we went to high tea,” Isabella said.

The girls said they loved flying with their dad.

Isabella said she wanted to learn to fly as soon as she was old enough.

“Dad was going to teach me,” she said.

The flying dream lives on, and she hopes to work towards a licence when she is 16.

“I want to be the youngest person to fly a helicopter.”

Her mum smiles with pride and encouragement.

Mrs Corbin said they would all keep working towards their dreams, as Roger would have wanted.

In the short term, that means ensuring the comforting cogs of normal life keep turning. “I’m trying to keep the routines in place. I’m staying strong — for them.”