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Pilot flying too low, fast, Lockhart River inquest told
A coronial inquest into the events surrounding one of Australia's worst air disasters has heard the pilot in question was flying lower and faster than he should have been.
State coroner Michael Barnes is examining the deaths of 15 people in a plane crash at Lockhart River in far north Queensland two years ago.
In his opening address the counsel assisting the coroner, Ian Harvey, said a crucial question was why the pilot of the Transair Metroliner was flying lower and faster than he should have been before the plane slammed into a ridge.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report into the crash will be a crucial piece of evidence.
Mr Harvey said the ATSB had found pilot Brett Hotchins was flying below the minimum safe altitude and 100 kilometres an hour faster than he should have been as he approached the runway at Lockhart River.
He said Mr Hotchins was an experienced pilot but the ATSB had found he had a history of conducting similar landings at higher than accepted speeds.