Most people over a certain age clearly remember exactly what they were doing and who they were with the day they were told that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. Many people today remember feeling the same numb shock when a passenger jet fell from the sky onto the quiet village of Lockerbie, Scotland. Although many who remember the tragedy are aware that the Libyan government ultimately accepted responsibility for the disaster. What may not have been clear was that the Pan Am Flight 103 air crash investigation determined that Pan American Airlines was guilty of wilful misconduct because they had failed to match each piece of luggage in the hold with the right passenger.
There had been no suggestion that there was a fault with the plane before it took off from Frankfurt. There was other evidence that the plane had been brought down by an explosive device from within. Bombs, which are typically placed in the baggage hold, are not the only external threat to which airline passengers are exposed.
It is not always a bomb that brings a commercial passenger airliner crashing to the ground. Since the 1940s, passenger aircraft have been shot down using major artillery. Not a decade has gone by since then without at least one report of an airliner being brought down in this way.
The cause of a 2007 Balad crash which involved an Antonov An-26 airliner, leaving 34 people dead and one seriously injured, remains in dispute. The incident occurred when the plane was attempting to land at an American military base in Balad, Iraq. While the official explanation is that the plane went down in bad weather, there are those who claim it was shot down by a missile.
In 1993, three Transair Georgia airliners were shot down within three days of each other during the month of September. On September 21, a flight from Sochi in Russia was hit by a surface-to-air missile and crashed into the Black Sea. All five crew and 22 passengers were killed. On September 22, another airliner, reportedly carrying soldiers from the Georgian army, was shot down and crashed on the runway. Of 132 souls on board, 108 perished. The last crash, on September 23, was the result of an artillery or mortar attack as passengers were boarding. A crew member was killed.
An Iranian Air Force C-130, carrying Iranian embassy staff, was shot down in 1994 by American military forces. All 19 passengers and 13 crew, perished. That same year, the presidents of the African states of Burundi and Rwanda were reportedly shot down in the same plane near the Rwandan capital. The plane is believed to have been shot down by rocket fire.
In 1980, a DC-9-10/15 transporting 81 passengers landed in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Napolean coast near the island of Ustica. The then-president of Italy believed the attack had been carried out by French nationals. It wasn't until 2013 that a criminal court in Italy found that the flight had been clearly shot down by a missile.
The earliest incident on record was a Finnish civilian transport that was shot down between Tallinn in Estonia on its way to Helsinki, Finland. This attack took place on June 14, 1940, three months after what was called the Winter War. The plane was shot down by two Soviet torpedo bombers.
There had been no suggestion that there was a fault with the plane before it took off from Frankfurt. There was other evidence that the plane had been brought down by an explosive device from within. Bombs, which are typically placed in the baggage hold, are not the only external threat to which airline passengers are exposed.
It is not always a bomb that brings a commercial passenger airliner crashing to the ground. Since the 1940s, passenger aircraft have been shot down using major artillery. Not a decade has gone by since then without at least one report of an airliner being brought down in this way.
The cause of a 2007 Balad crash which involved an Antonov An-26 airliner, leaving 34 people dead and one seriously injured, remains in dispute. The incident occurred when the plane was attempting to land at an American military base in Balad, Iraq. While the official explanation is that the plane went down in bad weather, there are those who claim it was shot down by a missile.
In 1993, three Transair Georgia airliners were shot down within three days of each other during the month of September. On September 21, a flight from Sochi in Russia was hit by a surface-to-air missile and crashed into the Black Sea. All five crew and 22 passengers were killed. On September 22, another airliner, reportedly carrying soldiers from the Georgian army, was shot down and crashed on the runway. Of 132 souls on board, 108 perished. The last crash, on September 23, was the result of an artillery or mortar attack as passengers were boarding. A crew member was killed.
An Iranian Air Force C-130, carrying Iranian embassy staff, was shot down in 1994 by American military forces. All 19 passengers and 13 crew, perished. That same year, the presidents of the African states of Burundi and Rwanda were reportedly shot down in the same plane near the Rwandan capital. The plane is believed to have been shot down by rocket fire.
In 1980, a DC-9-10/15 transporting 81 passengers landed in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Napolean coast near the island of Ustica. The then-president of Italy believed the attack had been carried out by French nationals. It wasn't until 2013 that a criminal court in Italy found that the flight had been clearly shot down by a missile.
The earliest incident on record was a Finnish civilian transport that was shot down between Tallinn in Estonia on its way to Helsinki, Finland. This attack took place on June 14, 1940, three months after what was called the Winter War. The plane was shot down by two Soviet torpedo bombers.
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