Air accidents Investigation Branch
Aircraft Accident Report No 2/90 EW/C1094
Operator: Pan American World Airways
Aircraft Type: Boeing 747-121
Nationality: United States of America
Registration: N 739 PA
Place of Accident Lockerbie, Dumfries, Scotland
Latitude 55 07' N
003 21' W
Date and Time(UTC) 21 December 1988 at 19.02:50hrs
All times in this report are UTC
Synopsis
The accident was notified to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch at 19.40 hrs on the 21
December 1988 and the investigation commenced that day. The members of the AAIB team are
listed in Appendix A.
The aircraft, Flight PA 103 from London Heathrow to New York, had been in level crusing
flight at level 310 (31,000 feet) for approximately seven minutes when the last secondary
radar return was received just before 19.03 hrs. The radar then showed multiple primary
returns fanning out downwind. Major portions of the wreckage of the aircraft fell on the town
of Lockerbie with other large parts landing in the countryside to the west of the town. Lighter
debris from the aircraft was stewn along two trails, the longest of which extended some 130
kilometres to the east coast of England. Within a few days items of wreckage were retrieved
upon which forensic scientists found conclusive evidence of a detonating high explosive. The
airport security and criminal aspects of the accident are the subject of a seperate investigation
and are not covered in this report which concentrates on the technical aspects of the
disintergration of the aircraft.
The report concludes that the detonation of an improvised explosive device led directly to the
destruction of the aircraft with the loss of all 259 persons on board and 11 of the residents of
the town of Lockerie. Five recommendations are made of which four concern flight
recorders, including the funding of a study to devise methods of recording violent positive and
negative pressure pulses associated with explosions. The final recommendation is that
Airworthiness Autorities and aircraft manufacturers undertake a systematic study with a view to
identifying measures that might migate the effects of explosive devices and improve the tolerance
of the aircraft's structure and systems to explosive damage.
Link to full Aircraft Accident Report
