Pan Am 103

Below is a summary timeline of major events in the Pan Am 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster. I am deeply indebted to the Syracuse University Archives, Lockerbie Library, and Sgt. Lee Black of the Lockerbie Police Dept. for the information gathered here.
  • On December 21, 1988 at 7:02pm, Pan Am Flight 103, a Boeing 747, exploded 31,000 feet above Lockerbie, Scotland.
  • The plane was called Clipper Maid of the Seas.
  • The plane was enroute from London Heathrow to New York JFK.
  • 270 people died: 259 passengers on board as well as 11 people on the ground. Of those, 17 peoples' remains were never found.
  • 35 victims were students coming home from a travel abroad semester through Syracuse University in upstate New York.
  • The Helsinki Warning: On December 5, 1988, the US Embassy in Helsinki, Finland received a threat that a Pan Am Airlines flight from Frankfurt, Germany would be attacked with a bomb that month. The US government notified airlines, airports, and embassies around the world, but no other action was taken, as the threat was unsubstantiated.
  • Pan Am 103 originated in Frankfurt, Germany before landing in London Heathrow for a change of planes.
  • On December 28, 1988, British investigators concluded a bomb in the forward luggage compartment of the plane caused the explosion. A world-wide investigation into who planted the bomb and how airline security failed to detect it commenced.
  • The bomb which brought down the plane was made of Semtex, a plastic explosive.
  • In July 1989, the FAA issued a regulation that all airlines should install plastic-explosive detection devises. Only 40 airports worldwide complied with the regulation, including London Gatwick and JFK.
  • In Sept. 1989, the FAA levied a fine of $630,000 against Pan Am for repeatedly disregarding security protocols the day of the disaster.
  • In May 1990, Pan Am reached out of court settlements with 250 Scottish families whose family members were killed or injured because of the disaster. £16 million is the total amount of payouts.
  • In May 1990, Senate Resolution (US Senate) 326 passed, declaring December 21 a “Day of Observance for the Victims of Terrorism”
  • In October 1990, The Aviation Security Improvement Act of 1990 passed the US House of Representatives, implementing the 60 recommendations made by the Presidential Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism, which had been established as a direct result of Pan Am 103. Their subsequent report blamed a “seriously flawed” aviation security system and the FAA’s failure to enforce its rules for the Pan Am disaster.
  • In January 1991, Pan Am Corporation filed for bankruptcy.
  • In November 1991, A U.S. grand jury indicts two Libyans, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah for planting the bomb on Pan Am 103. Acting Attorney General William Barr said: "Today we charge that two Libyan officials, acting as operatives of the Libyan Intelligence Service along with other co-conspirators, planted and detonated the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103...” al-Megrahi will eventually (in 2001) be convicted of mass murder and sentenced to life in prison in a trial governed by Scottish judges and law held at a court in the Netherlands. Fhimah is found innocent and freed. Police from Lockerbie are a regular fixture at the 10 year trial in the Netherlands.
  • December, 1991. Pan Am Airlines ceases operations.
  • July 1992. Pan Am Airlines is found guilty of willful misconduct in the bombing of Flight 103. A jury rules that the accident would not have occurred had it not been for the airline’s negligence.
  • September 2001. Terror attacks in New York City, Washington D.C. and over a field in Pennsylvania replace Lockerbie as the deadliest aviation terror event in U.S. history.
  • 2009. al-Medgrahi, after protesting his innocence for years, is released from prison on compassionate grounds after he is diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. He will not die until 2012.
  • 2011. Libyan rebels oust Muammar Gaddafi from Libyan rule and execute him. The next year, Abdullah al-Senussi is caught and extradited to Libya. Formerly Gaddafi’s spy chief, he is suspected of being the mastermind behind the Pan Am 103 bombing. Seven other co-conspirators in Gaddafi’s secret service are eventually named, leading US and UK authorities to believe Gaddafi himself ordered the bombing.
  • 2013-Current. The new Libyan government has insisted on investigating and prosecuting the Lockerbie case themselves and refuse to release former Gaddafi officials. It remains stalled in Libya.