An Australian coroner inquiry into the death of the pilot and seven passengers on board a King Air 200 that crashed in September 2000 has adjourned the hearing until July to gather further evidence. The aircraft had departed for a 300-nm trip to Leonora, a small mining town northeast of Perth, where it was based. It crashed more than five hours later on the other side of the Australian continent after those on board were believed to have succumbed to hypoxia as a result of a cabin pressurization failure.
After departure the twin turboprop continued to climb past its assigned altitude of 25,000 ft, and controllers reported that the pilot’s speech was significantly impaired and he appeared unable to respond to ATC instructions. An open microphone over the next six minutes revealed the progressive deterioration of the pilot toward unconsciousness. The aircraft reached an altitude of 35,000 ft before crashing.
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