What happened
On 4 September 2000, a Beech Super King Air 200, registered as VH-SKC, began a charter flight from Perth, Western Australia, bound for Leonora. The aircraft was carrying one pilot and seven passengers at the time of departure.
During the initial stages of the flight, all communications and aircraft operations remained standard. However, after the aircraft reached its designated altitude, the pilot's ability to communicate with Air Traffic Services began to decline. Radio transmissions indicated that the pilot's speech was becoming increasingly impaired, and he was unable to follow instructions from controllers.
For approximately eight minutes, an open microphone transmitted audio that documented the pilot's progressive loss of consciousness. During this period, no sounds of passengers or crew activity were heard. Following this period of silence, no further human responses were detected from the cockpit or cabin for the rest of the flight duration. Five hours after the initial takeoff, the aircraft struck the ground near Burketown, Queensland. The impact resulted in the total destruction of the aircraft and eight fatalities.
Findings
Radio transmissions captured via an open microphone indicated a progressive deterioration of the pilot's physical state leading to unconsciousness while the aircraft was still in flight.