THE widow of a Burrumbuttock pilot killed in a plane crash last year has made the heartbreaking decision to close his business as the family continues to seek answers over his death.
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Father-of-two Kris Barr died when his Cessna 182L light aircraft struck power lines and crashed into a field at Burrumbuttock on July 20.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau staff arrived at the scene after the crash and have compiled a report, which is being reviewed and is expected to be released to interested parties in two weeks.
The report is likely to be publicly released in a month.
Mr Barr’s wife, Toni, said the family was still struggling to deal with the pain of the incident, and said the decision to today close her late husband’s engineering business of 21 years was the hardest aspect of the tragedy.
Kris Barr Engineering has continued to operate since his death, but Mrs Barr said it was too hard to continue without him.
She wants to thank the staff, customers and suppliers who had made it a success ahead of today’s closure.
“After much consideration and sadness, we thought this was probably the best thing,” she said.
“It’s heartbreaking.
“I didn’t want to sell it as Kris Barr Engineering.
“He had very high standards and I didn’t want someone else using his name, I didn’t want to see it continue as a running business.
“Closing the business is undoubtedly the hardest thing I’ve had to do so far, especially as Kris had built it from nothing to become what it is now.”
Mrs Barr said her and daughters Samantha, 16, and Nikki, 18, had been fortunate to have the support of friends and the Jindera and Burrumbuttock communities.
“We’re still struggling to be honest,” she said.
“It’s been hard on everybody.
“I really want to thank the staff who have been fantastic, and we’ve had a lot of good suppliers and customers at the business.
“We want to let everyone know what’s happening.”
Mr Barr started the company from the back shed of the couple’s house in Lavington before moving to other locations in North Albury, before moving to an industrial estate in Jindera.
The couple had earlier moved from Tasmania, where they had married, and had stopped in Lavington to visit family while on a road trip and never left.
Kris had worked for JC Butko Engineering before starting his own business, and had been flying since the late 1990s.
