76 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION DECEMBER 2017
Rotor Torque PAUL SADLER
Industry veteren lost in fatal
Squirrel crash
The Australian Transport Safety
Bureau (ATSB) is investigating a
fatal helicopter accident at Hobart
Airport on November 7 which
claimed the life of Roger Corbin,
prominent Australian helicopter
industry veteran, highly experienced
pilot and managing director of
Hobart-based RotorLift Aviation.
Corbin and 33-year-old student
pilot John Osborne were conducting
a training sortie in AS350 BA
Squirrel VH-BAA when the
accident occurred. It is understood
the pair was making an approach to
Hobart Airport when the helicopter
collided with terrain.
Osborne was extracted from the
wreckage by emergency services
and transported to the Royal Hobart
Hospital in a serious condition.
“The accident seems to have
occurred as the aircraft has
approached the vicinity of the
aerodrome, and come in for
a landing-type manoeuvre,”
the ATSB’s Transport Safety
Investigator David Grambauer told
a media briefing on November 9.
“They have lost control of the
aircraft, and it has impacted the
terrain.”
Grambauer said a preliminary
factual report is expected to be
released in December.
Corbin was 57 and leaves behind
wife Allana and daughters Isabella,
Indiana and Sophia.
Australian Aviation wishes to
express its sincere condolences to
the family and friends of Roger
Corbin and to the team at Rotorlift.
QGAir orders new AW139s
The Queensland government has
ordered two new Leonardo AW139
helicopters for aeromedical retrieval,
SAR and policing operations
with Queensland Government Air
(QGAir).
The new AW139s are part of
a $47 million purchase of aerial
assets for north Queensland
announced on October 22 and will
replace two older Bell 412s. Both
new helicopters will be based in
Townsville.
The government has also
ordered a new Cessna 208B Grand
Caravan EX, to be based in Cairns
from March 2018, for policing
operations.
“The two new AW139
helicopters replace two ageing Bell
helicopters which are more than
20-years-old,” said Police, Fire and
Emergency Services Minister Mark
Ryan.
“They will have the ability to
work with police and all emergency
services, including aerial
surveillance, search and rescue,
and hospital patient transfers [and
are] able to travel further and faster,
providing more coverage for more
Queenslanders.”
Both helicopters are expected to
enter service by December 2018,
joining three AW139s already in
service with QGAir.
QGAir operates five helicopters
and seven fixed-wing aircraft
from bases located in Brisbane,
Townsville, Cairns, Mt Isa and
Horn Island.AHIA appoints Paul Tyrrell as CEO
The board of the Australian
Helicopter Industry Association
has appointed Paul Tyrrell as its
inaugural chief executive.
Tyrrell, a former Regional
Aviation Association of Australia
(RAAA) chief executive, brings
a wealth of in-depth aviationknowledge and management
experience to the new role,
including an extensive familiarity
with government procedures and
protocols.
“We welcome Paul to the AHIA
and look forward to the continued
growth of our Association for the
benefit of the Australian Helicopter
Industry,” said AHIA president
Peter Crook.
“Living and working in Canberra
for many years, Paul will be the
initial point of contact for concerns
from the helicopter sector.”
Tyrrell took up the position on
November 13.Army Tigers to resume flying?
The Australian Army’s fleet of
22 Airbus Helicopters Tiger
ARHs could resume flying within
weeks according to Chief of
Army Lieutenant General Angus
Campbell.
Responding to questions from
the Senate’s Foreign Affairs,
Defence and Trade committee on
October 25, LTGEN Campbell said
the Tiger’s “operational pause”, put
in place following the fatal crash of
a German Army Tiger helicopter in
August, should soon be lifted.
“With regard to when [flying
will resume], we believe it might
be in a matter of weeks,” Chief of
Army told the committee. “But
I’m awaiting advice from theForces Commander, Major General
McLachlan, on that issue.”
LTGEN Campbell said an
Australian Army test pilot was
sent to Germany to help with
investigations into the accident.
“We have sent a qualified Tiger
test pilot to Germany, greatly and
very positively received by the
Germans, to assist in their work in
investigation of the accident,” he
said. “We’re liaising very closely
with other Tiger user partners as
well as the manufacturer on the
issue. There are a couple of issues
still at play, and the investigation
remains open, but we think we’re
coming to the end of the pause.”
While the Tiger is not flying,
LTGEN Campbell noted aircrews
are continuing to train in the Tiger
simulators and “also work on some
other helicopter types to maintain
general aviation skills.”Rescue 651 crew recognised at
SAR awards
An RAC Rescue helicopter
crew has been recognised with
a Commendation Award at the
National Search and Rescue
Council’s annual awards for a 12
hour marathon offshore retrieval
mission over remote waters near
Esperance, Western Australia.
Crewed by pilot Craig Bowman,
aircrewman Garth Fitzgerald and
St John Ambulance paramedic
Ben Harris, the RAC Rescue
Bell 412EP, callsign Rescue 651,
was called out on the evening
of November 6 2016 to winch a
27-year-old crayfisherman off the
vessel Fatal Attraction, which
was off the coast near Israelite
Bay, 114 nautical miles east of
Esperance.
In high winds and with the
fishing boat battling a heavy
swell, Harris was winched aboard
the vessel to splint the injured
man’s broken leg. Harris and the
crayfisherman were then winched
aboard the helicopter before Rescue
651 flew to Esperance. There
the patient was transferred to an
awaiting Royal Flying Doctor
Service PC-12 for onward transfer
to Royal Perth Hospital.CHC Group became the first operator of the Leonardo AW189 super-medium helicopter in Australia
when it began flying three of the type from its Karratha base to support Woodside operations on the
North-West Shelf in November. CHC GROUP