

Détails:
Flight PA103 departed London-Heathrow runway 27R for New York at 18:25. The aircraft levelled off at FL310, 31 minutes later. At 19:03 Shanwick Oceanic Control transmitted an oceanic clearance. At that time an explosion occurred in the aircraft's forward cargo hold at position 4L. The explosive forces produced a large hole in the fuselage structure and disrupted the main cabin floor. Major cracks continued to propagate from the large hole while containers and items of cargo ejected through the hole, striking the empennage, left- and right tail plane. The forward fuselage and flight deck area separated when the aircraft was in a nose down and left roll attitude, peeling away to the right at Station 800. The nose section then knocked the no. 3 engine off its pylon. The remaining aircraft disintegrated while it was descending nearly vertically from 19000 feet to 9000 feet. A section of cabin floor and baggage hold (from approx. Station 1241-1920) fell onto housing at Rosebank Terrace, Lockerbie. The main wing structure struck the ground with a high yaw angle at Sherwood Crescent, Lockerbie causing a massive fire.
The Semtex bomb which caused the explosion had probably been hidden in a radio cassette player and was transferred to PA103 from a Pan Am Boeing 727 flight, arriving from Frankfurt.
After a three-year joint investigation by the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation indictments for murder were issued on November 13, 1991, against Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines (LAA), and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, the LAA station manager in Luqa Airport, Malta. United Nations sanctions against Libya and protracted negotiations with the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi secured the handover of the accused on April 5, 1999.
On January 31, 2001, Megrahi was convicted of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges, and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Fhimah was acquitted.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The in-flight disintegration of the aircraft was caused by the detonation of an improvised explosive device located in a baggage container positioned on the left side of the forward cargo hold at aircraft station 700."
» Aviation Week & Space Technology 2.1.89 (28-32)
» ICAO Circular 260-AN/154 (p.133-188)
accident date: 21-12-1988
type: Boeing 747-121A
registration: N739PA
accident date: 21-12-1988
type: Boeing 747-121A
registration: N739PA
accident date: 21-12-1988
type: Boeing 747-121A
registration: N739PA
accident date: 21-12-1988
type: Boeing 747-121A
registration: N739PA
| Statuts: | Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
| Date: | mercredi 21 décembre 1988 |
| Heure: | 19:03 |
| Type/Sous-type: |  Boeing 747-121A |
| Compagnie: | Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) |
| Immatriculation: | N739PA |
| Numéro de série: | 19646/15 |
| Année de Fabrication: | 1970-01-25 (18 years 11 months) |
| Heures de vol: | 72464 |
| Cycles: | 16497 |
| Moteurs: | 4 Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A |
| Equipage: | victimes: 16 / Ã bord: 16 |
| Passagers: | victimes: 243 / Ã bord: 243 |
| Total: | victimes: 259 / Ã bord: 259 |
| Victimes au sol: | victimes: 11 |
| Dégats de l'appareil: | Détruit |
| Conséquences: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Lieu de l'accident: | Lockerbie ( Royaume Uni)
|
| Phase de vol: | En vol (ENR) |
| Nature: | Transport de Passagers Intern. |
| Aéroport de départ: | London-Heathrow Airport (LHR/EGLL), Royaume Uni |
| New York-John F. Kennedy International Airport, NY (JFK/KJFK), Etats-Unis d'Amérique | |
| Numéro de vol: | PA103 |
Flight PA103 departed London-Heathrow runway 27R for New York at 18:25. The aircraft levelled off at FL310, 31 minutes later. At 19:03 Shanwick Oceanic Control transmitted an oceanic clearance. At that time an explosion occurred in the aircraft's forward cargo hold at position 4L. The explosive forces produced a large hole in the fuselage structure and disrupted the main cabin floor. Major cracks continued to propagate from the large hole while containers and items of cargo ejected through the hole, striking the empennage, left- and right tail plane. The forward fuselage and flight deck area separated when the aircraft was in a nose down and left roll attitude, peeling away to the right at Station 800. The nose section then knocked the no. 3 engine off its pylon. The remaining aircraft disintegrated while it was descending nearly vertically from 19000 feet to 9000 feet. A section of cabin floor and baggage hold (from approx. Station 1241-1920) fell onto housing at Rosebank Terrace, Lockerbie. The main wing structure struck the ground with a high yaw angle at Sherwood Crescent, Lockerbie causing a massive fire.
The Semtex bomb which caused the explosion had probably been hidden in a radio cassette player and was transferred to PA103 from a Pan Am Boeing 727 flight, arriving from Frankfurt.
After a three-year joint investigation by the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation indictments for murder were issued on November 13, 1991, against Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines (LAA), and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, the LAA station manager in Luqa Airport, Malta. United Nations sanctions against Libya and protracted negotiations with the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi secured the handover of the accused on April 5, 1999.
On January 31, 2001, Megrahi was convicted of murder by a panel of three Scottish judges, and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Fhimah was acquitted.
Probable Cause:
PROBABLE CAUSE: "The in-flight disintegration of the aircraft was caused by the detonation of an improvised explosive device located in a baggage container positioned on the left side of the forward cargo hold at aircraft station 700."
Accident investigation:

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|
Sources:
» Air Safety Week 12 April 1993 (p. 3)» Aviation Week & Space Technology 2.1.89 (28-32)
» ICAO Circular 260-AN/154 (p.133-188)
Opérations de secours
AAIB issued 5 Safety Recommendations
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Photos
accident date: 21-12-1988
type: Boeing 747-121A
registration: N739PA
accident date: 21-12-1988
type: Boeing 747-121A
registration: N739PA
accident date: 21-12-1988
type: Boeing 747-121A
registration: N739PA
accident date: 21-12-1988
type: Boeing 747-121A
registration: N739PA
Plan
Ce plan montre l'aéroport de départ ainsi que la supposée destination du vol. La ligne fixe reliant les deux aéroports n'est pas le plan de vol exact.
La distance entre London-Heathrow Airport et New York-John F. Kennedy International Airport, NY est de 5499 km (3437 miles).
Accident location: Approximate; accuracy within a few kilometers.
La distance entre London-Heathrow Airport et New York-John F. Kennedy International Airport, NY est de 5499 km (3437 miles).
Accident location: Approximate; accuracy within a few kilometers.
Les informations ci-dessus ne représentent pas l'opinion de la 'Flight Safety Foundation' ou de 'Aviation Safety Network' sur les causes de l'accident. Ces informations prélimimaires sont basées sur les faits tel qu'ils sont connus à ce jour.
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