On This Date 17 Years Ago - Pan Am Flight 103

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[Pyro7480]

Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up as it flew over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988, when 12–16 oz of plastic explosive was detonated in its forward cargo hold, triggering a sequence of events that led to the rapid destruction of the aircraft. Winds of 100 knots scattered passengers and debris along an 88-mile corridor over an area of 845 square miles. Two hundred and seventy people from 21 countries died, including 11 people on the ground.

Known as the Lockerbie bombing and the Lockerbie air disaster in Britain, it became the subject of that country's largest criminal inquiry, led by its smallest police force. It was widely regarded as an assault on a symbol of the United States, and with 189 of the victims American, it stood as the deadliest attack on American civilians until September 11, 2001.

After a three-year joint investigation by the Scottish Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, during which 15,000 witness statements were taken, indictments for murder were issued on November 13, 1991, against Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines (LAA), and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, the LAA station manager in Luqa airport, Malta.

[bmwcyle]

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[bmwcyle]

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[bmwcyle]

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[Apple Blossom]

Not sure if you'd be interested in this or who is on bmwcyle's ping list.

Our church choir was asked to sing for this 17th memorial service. The blessing was ours. What an honor to be part of such an event that is so meaningful and relevant...even today. This was our first real taste of airline terrorism and sadly, not our last.

Very special day for us. Check out link to the pictures... never know exactly where someone in the DC Chapter will turn up, but it was nice to record an event we should never forget.

[Veto!]

I wasn't on that flight thanks to a frustrating computer glitch at my travel agent in San Francisco.

One of the worst casualties of the day was Pan Am, world's greatest airline, that never recovered financially from the attack plus their decision a few months earlier to sell their Asian routes and keep their European routes. Right after the crash, travel to Europe dwindled, Asia routes prospered, sayonara PanAm.

[bmwcyle]

I met the families yesterday. I'm glad I did not hear your name read.

[freema]

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