It seems hard to believe that it was almost a quarter of a century ago that a terrorist attack brought a Scottish village to everyone's attention. The village's name was Lockerbie, and it claimed 270 lives. The Boeing 747 was only 38 minutes into its journey from London to New York when it exploded in midair. This is a brief look at the Pan Am flight 103 air crash investigation.
As the explosion took place at 31,000 feet the wreckage and debris was spread over a wide area. The area was so vast that not only were surveys conducted by helicopter, but also satellite imagery was used. In one way it was fortunate that the aircraft's departure had been delayed, as that meant that the wreckage was recoverable. Had it been on time then the debris would have fallen over the ocean and the ensuing analysis would have been severely hampered.
More than ten thousand items of debris were collected. Every single one was tagged and logged into a computer program. Even some major structures which had fallen on or around Lockerbie itself. The flight data recorder was discovered the next day, by a pair of boys who found it near to some woods.
More than a thousand people became involved with this analysis, it was a huge operation and a large part of southern Scotland was searched. Even the military were called on to help with manpower and equipment. Any item which was recovered went to the local school's gymnasium. There it was subjected to x-rays and looked at with a gas chromatograph.
In the early stages there were no clues about what had caused the incident. From material collected over the next couple of days it became clear that an explosion had occurred. Traces of a Semtex like substance were being detected. It is also claimed that pieces of an electronic timing device were located amongst the wreckage.
With more to work with the fuselage section was slowly pieced back together by members of the UK's Air Accident Investigation Branch. Through their efforts they determined that an area on the fuselage, approximately 20 square inches in size had been near to the seat of the explosion. It was an area next to the forward cargo hold.
The baggage containers were mainly consistent with damage that would be expected from a fall of great height. However two of them showed unusual damage patterns. Their exact positions were found from the loading records. Tests were carried out in America to determine the exact quantity and location of explosives to cause the same damage.
From all of this information it was possible for the investigators to identify which suitcase held the suspect device, and even what it contained. It had begun its journey in Malta, as identified from some items of clothing. They even managed to trace the merchant in Sliema in Malta. He identified one of the chief suspects as the man he had sold the clothes to.
After 3 long years the Pan Am flight 103 air crash investigation came to a close. It had involved many different agencies from various countries, although it had been primarily a UK/US operation. Due to all of the care, and attention to detail, throughout the 3 years the perpetrators had to stand trial in the Netherlands, which was deemed a neutral country.
As the explosion took place at 31,000 feet the wreckage and debris was spread over a wide area. The area was so vast that not only were surveys conducted by helicopter, but also satellite imagery was used. In one way it was fortunate that the aircraft's departure had been delayed, as that meant that the wreckage was recoverable. Had it been on time then the debris would have fallen over the ocean and the ensuing analysis would have been severely hampered.
More than ten thousand items of debris were collected. Every single one was tagged and logged into a computer program. Even some major structures which had fallen on or around Lockerbie itself. The flight data recorder was discovered the next day, by a pair of boys who found it near to some woods.
More than a thousand people became involved with this analysis, it was a huge operation and a large part of southern Scotland was searched. Even the military were called on to help with manpower and equipment. Any item which was recovered went to the local school's gymnasium. There it was subjected to x-rays and looked at with a gas chromatograph.
In the early stages there were no clues about what had caused the incident. From material collected over the next couple of days it became clear that an explosion had occurred. Traces of a Semtex like substance were being detected. It is also claimed that pieces of an electronic timing device were located amongst the wreckage.
With more to work with the fuselage section was slowly pieced back together by members of the UK's Air Accident Investigation Branch. Through their efforts they determined that an area on the fuselage, approximately 20 square inches in size had been near to the seat of the explosion. It was an area next to the forward cargo hold.
The baggage containers were mainly consistent with damage that would be expected from a fall of great height. However two of them showed unusual damage patterns. Their exact positions were found from the loading records. Tests were carried out in America to determine the exact quantity and location of explosives to cause the same damage.
From all of this information it was possible for the investigators to identify which suitcase held the suspect device, and even what it contained. It had begun its journey in Malta, as identified from some items of clothing. They even managed to trace the merchant in Sliema in Malta. He identified one of the chief suspects as the man he had sold the clothes to.
After 3 long years the Pan Am flight 103 air crash investigation came to a close. It had involved many different agencies from various countries, although it had been primarily a UK/US operation. Due to all of the care, and attention to detail, throughout the 3 years the perpetrators had to stand trial in the Netherlands, which was deemed a neutral country.
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