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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 0004.PDF
iestroyed Pan Am 747 \X' , -t •A* - • c5^-rf^--: *.-> ^^Jfc The nose section of Pan Am 747 Clipper Maid of the Seas fell three miles short of the main body of wreckage Bombc Traces of explosive on parts of a metal luggage pallet framework recovered from* the wreckage of the Pan American World Airways 747 which crashed on the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, killing 270 people, indicate that the aircraft was destroyed by a bomb. US airlines serving points in Britain have been advised to step up security measures. Late last week consideration was being given to increasing vigilance on all international flights by US carriers. The moves follow a detailed exami nation by British scientists of debris from the accident, which involved a Frankfurt-London- New York flight. According to the UK Depart ment of Transport's Air Acci dents Investigation Branch (AAIB), two parts of the pallet framework "show conclusive evidence of a detonating high explosive. The explosive's resi dues recovered from the debris have been positively identified, and are consistent with the use of a high-performance plastic explosive." The AAIB says it has yet to establish the nature of the explosive device, its location in the aircraft, and the sequence of events immediately following its detonation. Bomb suspected A terrorist bomb was imme diately suspected when the Pan Am Boeing 747-121 (regis tration N739PA) disintegrated at high altitude, its wreckage falling on and around the town of Lockerbie in southern Scotland, just after 1900 local time on December 21. All on board (16 crew and 243 passengers) were killed, and 11 people on the ground died. Evidence collected by the AAIB, including that from the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder and from the wreckage trail on the ground, suggests that the explosion occurred soon after flight PA103 crossed the Scottish border and while cruising at 31,000ft. Primary radar tapes reportedly show the aircraft breaking into five sections. Major parts of the aircraft were still missing late last week. AAIB investigators found no evidence of structural failure, which had initially been feared, given the 747's age. The aircraft, Pan Am's seventh 747, entered service in February 1970, less than a month after the type began transatlantic services. It was the 15th 747 off Boeing's prod uction line and had flown 72,000hr and logged 16,500 flight cycles. In 1987 the airline "had the aircraft modified for service with the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF)—a fleet of large civil aircraft upon which the US military can call at a time of national emergency. At the time this structural strengthening work was done, the full "Section 41 job" was also carried out, according to Pan Am. The latter work, carried out on the part of the aircraft which includes the flightdeck "bulge" (Section 41), was ordered by the US Federal Aviation Adminis tration in 1986 as one method of dealing with the threat of fatigue cracks in that area; cracks which had been discov ered in some older 747s during maintenance. The other FAA- approved method, for 747s with more than 8,000 flight cycles, was inspection for cracks every 3,000 additional cycles. With this particular airframe Pan Am had elected to go for the full Section 41 rework. The CRAF modification does not involve beefing up the whole airframe: a side-loading cargo door is installed, and the main deck and deck-mountings strengthened to enable armoured vehicles to be carried if required. The work was carried out at Boeing's Wichita workshops. Wreckage and bodies from the aircraft were initially reported to be in six main and widespread locations. Most of the wreckage fell to the east of the A74 Glasgow-Carlisle road (see map), stretched over a six- to-eight-mile east-west path about a mile wide. The front fuselage section, containing little more than the flightdeck, was surprisingly intact, and fell about three miles short of the other wreckage. When those aircraft sections which came down on Lockerbie hit the ground they demolished many houses and other build ings, struck cars and set them alight, and caused at least one large crater. Warning received Warning of a threatened bomb attack against a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt to the USA had been given more than two weeks before the December 21 accident. US Embassy staff in Moscow were advised by the Federal Aviation Administration that, on December 5, an unidentified caller had notified the US embassy in Helsinki of an impending attack. However, the message said that the attack would happen within two weeks (before December 20). 2 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 7 January 1989
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