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.
Due to the incident happening so high up, 31000 feet, the ensuing debris and wreckage landed over a vast area. The surveys had to be carried out by military helicopters as the area to be covered was so big, even satellite pictures were used. In an odd way a stroke of luck meant that the plane's departure at London was delayed. So instead of the wreckage falling out to sea it fell on land.
After finger tip searches more than ten thousand bits of debris were collected. Each one was listed and entered into a computer. Several major pieces came down on or near to this Scottish village. Two local boys found the black box voice recorder the next day 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.
There were no immediate indications as to what brought the plane down. It was soon becoming clearer that the incident had been the result of an explosion, as small traces of Semtex were being detected. Also there were parts of what was identified as a timing device found in the wreckage.
Through painstaking efforts by air accident investigators the fuselage was slowly reconstructed. It was discovered that a 20 inch square section of fuselage had been severely damaged by an explosion. This was in an area adjacent to the forward cargo hold.
The recovered baggage containers all had damage expected following their fall from altitude. However there were two which also had some other unusual damage. By using the loading records they were able to determine their actual positions within the hold. Tests were carried out to see how much explosives would be needed to create the same damage, and also where it would be placed.
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.
The Pan Am flight 103 air crash investigation took more than 3 years to complete. Agencies from various countries assisted throughout, but it was mainly overseen by those from the UK and America. Thanks to their diligence the suspects were sent for trial, which was held in Holland.
Due to the incident happening so high up, 31000 feet, the ensuing debris and wreckage landed over a vast area. The surveys had to be carried out by military helicopters as the area to be covered was so big, even satellite pictures were used. In an odd way a stroke of luck meant that the plane's departure at London was delayed. So instead of the wreckage falling out to sea it fell on land.
After finger tip searches more than ten thousand bits of debris were collected. Each one was listed and entered into a computer. Several major pieces came down on or near to this Scottish village. Two local boys found the black box voice recorder the next day 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.
There were no immediate indications as to what brought the plane down. It was soon becoming clearer that the incident had been the result of an explosion, as small traces of Semtex were being detected. Also there were parts of what was identified as a timing device found in the wreckage.
Through painstaking efforts by air accident investigators the fuselage was slowly reconstructed. It was discovered that a 20 inch square section of fuselage had been severely damaged by an explosion. This was in an area adjacent to the forward cargo hold.
The recovered baggage containers all had damage expected following their fall from altitude. However there were two which also had some other unusual damage. By using the loading records they were able to determine their actual positions within the hold. Tests were carried out to see how much explosives would be needed to create the same damage, and also where it would be placed.
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.
The Pan Am flight 103 air crash investigation took more than 3 years to complete. Agencies from various countries assisted throughout, but it was mainly overseen by those from the UK and America. Thanks to their diligence the suspects were sent for trial, which was held in Holland.
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