A pioneering air rescue pilot was remembered at a funeral service on Tuesday for tireless work which had saved many Tasmanian lives.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Rotolift managing director Roger Corbin died one week ago in a helicopter crash during a training exercise at Hobart Airport.
His co-pilot, John Osborne, was seriously injured in the incident.
Mr Corbin’s wife Alanna spoke of an “amazing outpouring” over the past week from people all over the world.
“If you think about the measure of a man, this is it,” she said, pointing out the size of the gathering, filled with family, friends, and state emergency services colleague.
“Ours was a love story, for sure. It was filled with adventure, fun, enormous love and very bad dancing.”
Mrs Corbin said her husband’s driving ambition in the early days of Rotolift, which he started in 1999, was to blaze a trail.
“There are many people alive today because of this,” she said.
“Roger would often say to me ‘nobody gets left behind’; it was pretty simple for him.
“Rog, my darling, it’s been a really wild ride.
“I know you were tired so now it’s time to rest in peace, my beautiful boy.”
His daughter Isabella said he always made time for his three children despite a heavy workload.
“Dad had a talent of making the ordinary moments special,” she said.
“When I think of my dad, there is one thing that I’ll always remember and it was that we were loved.”
Retired Tasmanian Police inspector, Lee Renshaw, described Mr Corbin as pioneering, stubborn, charming, and tenacious.
“Second best wasn’t good enough – it was first grade or no grade,” he said.
Tasmanian Police Commissioner Darren Hine said Mr Corbin’s involvement in some 700 rescue incidents earned him a national search and rescue award in 2007.
This was followed by Tasmania Police Commissioner's Commendation for saving seven people stranded at Mount Strzelecki on Flinders Island after an air crash in 2010.