On 31 December 1968 a Vickers Viscount aircraft departed from Perth, Western Australia for a flight of 724 nautical miles (1 341 km) to Port Hedland. The aircraft crashed 28 nautical miles (52 km) short of its destination with the loss of all twenty-six people on board. More than half of the right wing, from outboard of the inner engine to the wingtip, including the outer engine and its propeller, broke away from the rest of the aircraft in flight and struck the ground a significant distance from the main wreckage. Investigation by the Australian Department of Civil Aviation and British Aircraft Corporation concluded that a mysterious action during maintenance led to extensive fatigue cracking in the right wing spar. This accident remains the third worst in Australia's civil aviation history. The flight MacRobertson Miller Airlines Flight 1750, a Vickers Viscount registered VH-RMQ, took off from Perth Airport at 08:36 am local time. On board were two pilots, two air hostesses and twenty-two passengers. The aircraft climbed to an altitude of for the 189-minute flight. At 11:34 am the pilot advised that the aircraft was 30 nautical miles (56 km) short of its destination and passing altitude on descent to Port Hedland airport. No further radio transmission was received from the aircraft. Four seconds after completion of this transmission half of the right wing separated from the aircraft. Twenty-six seconds later the aircraft fuselage struck the ground. As the aircraft was falling two people are known to have observed it from distances of and but because of intervening high terrain neither saw it strike the ground. When the crew of the aircraft failed to respond to further radio calls a Cessna 337 aircraft was despatched from Port Hedland airport at 12:12 pm to investigate. Eleven minutes later the pilot of the Cessna reported sighting the burning wreckage. A ground party from Port Hedland arrived at the accident site an hour later and confirmed that none of the occupants had survived the impact. Wreckage The aircraft crashed on Indee Station on level rocky ground vegetated with spinifex grass and some stunted trees. Wreckage was spread over an area about long and wide. Accident investigators immediately observed that half of the right wing, its outer engine and propeller were close together about from the main wreckage. The half-wing had been driven into the rocky ground by the impact but it was clear