When Max Hazelton arrived at a country NSW airport to fly to Sydney, he was told there were no seats left on his own airline.
The plane landed in the city and when workers opened the baggage hold, they found the aviation legend sitting gingerly on top of a suitcase.
"This is doing things differently," Rex Airlines deputy chair John Sharp told Mr Hazelton's memorial service at Orange airport on Friday morning.
"You wouldn't do it today, but you did it then, and Max was the person who did it."
Mr Hazelton, a founding father of the national regional carrier Rex, died in April aged 95.
At the public memorial in central west NSW, hundreds gathered to remember him as a rule-breaker, innovator and explorer.
Born in the tiny village of Toogong, Mr Hazelton worked on his family farm and was a mechanic before he founded Hazelton airlines with one single-engine Auster Aiglet in 1953.
The airline was largely a freight and agriculture company - carrying newspapers and spraying crops - before it began passenger flights in the mid-1970s. It became part of Rex in 2002.
In the early 1950s, Mr Hazelton survived a plane crash near Oberon, sparking a large-scale search involving 30 RAAF and civilian aircraft.
He hiked though tough terrain in heavy fog and rain for six days, living on grass and berries, before timber workers found him.
Mr Hazelton's son Toby said there were countless tales about his maverick father, who remained humble despite his status.
He would greet the fuel delivery driver at the company headquarters in Cudal in rain, hail or shine to help him unload, his son remembered.
"One day the somewhat baffled driver said to him, 'I know he's probably very busy ... but I'd really like to meet Max Hazelton'," he said.
"From the top of the truck, with a cheeky grin, dad replied, 'well sir, you're looking at him.
"That was typical of dad, he loved nothing more than being involved in all aspects of business."
Mr Hazelton was behind an evolving aviation industry, pioneering crop spraying, night flying and advocating for aerial firefighting.
His nephew, Peter Hazelton, said there were never angry words from "the boss", but he came close once when he pulled his ute up behind his work truck, then promptly backed the truck into the ute.
"He leapt out of the truck and called out ... 'why didn't you tell me that ute was there?'"
Mr Hazelton's jet blue bicycle sat in one corner at the service, while two of his favourite planes were on display.
"Max was famous for riding his bike around the airstrip at Cudal and if you could find the bike, you knew Max was nearby," Mr Sharp said.
"But the thing he was also famous for was he'd ride it backwards.
"Isn't that reflective of the way Max approached most things? He did it differently to everybody else."
