The crash of Trans Australia Airlines Flight 538, also known as the TAA Fokker Friendship disaster, was the second largest loss of life in an Australian aircraft accident, with 29 deaths. It occurred on 10 June 1960 at Mackay, Queensland

Mackay, Queensland

Mackay is a city on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia, about north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River. Mackay is nicknamed the sugar capital of Australia because its region produces more than a third of Australia's cane sugar....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The twin-engined Fokker Friendship passenger aircraft operated by Trans Australia Airlines

Trans Australia Airlines

Trans Australia Airlines or TAA, was one of the two major Australian domestic airlines between its inception in 1946 and its sale to Qantas in May 1996. During that period TAA played a major part in the development of the Australian air transport industry...

 (TAA), registration VH-TFB, was conducting Flight 538 from Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

. While on final approach to land at night and in foggy conditions, it flew into the ocean south-east of Mackay.