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Its a few days
before Christmas...
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...the residents
of a small Scottish town
prepared for the holidays.
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Danger is
fast approaching.
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The street was on fire,
lawns were on fire,
and houses were on fire.
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I had never seen
anything like that.
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Christmas is just
going to be remembered
for all the wrong reasons.
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00:00:42,724 --> 00:00:45,344
A devastating
plane crash shatters a village
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00:00:45,448 --> 00:00:48,310
and captures
the attention of the world.
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It was one of the
most significant terrorist
attacks in history.
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00:00:52,965 --> 00:00:55,655
The mystery
is finally cracked
by a piece of debris
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smaller than a fingertip.
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Mayday, mayday...
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October the 26th,1988,
near Dusseldorf.
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For weeks,
German police have been
following a group of
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suspected terrorists around
the ancient town of Neuss.
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Today,
they'll make their move.
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In the trunk of their car,
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police make an
unusual discovery.
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Police raid apartments
used by the two men.
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They find a number
of blank passports,
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and a small arsenal of weapons.
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When police closely examine
the radio recovered
from their car,
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they find
it's wired with explosives.
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00:02:46,103 --> 00:02:51,379
Those devices
used a combination of an
improvised barometric device
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and a timer,
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a short delay timer.
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All of these devices were,
in fact, supposed to go
onto an aircraft.
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A barometric timer
is set off by changes
in altitude.
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It's triggered when it
reaches a certain height.
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Since that guarantees
a plane will be in the air
when the bomb goes off,
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it's a favorite device
for those targeting
passenger jets.
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The two men arrested in Germany
work for a well-known
terrorist organization,
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the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine.
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The leader of the
PFL-PGC Ahmed Jabril
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made a speech in Libya in 1986,
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and one of the things
he said was that
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until there's peace
in the Middle East,
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there would be no safety
for anyone traveling on an
American or an Israeli airliner.
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Hafez Dalkamouni
is shipping weapons
to Syria and Lebanon.
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00:03:49,965 --> 00:03:52,758
Marwan Kreeshat
is a notorious bomb maker,
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responsible for bringing down
at least one passenger jet.
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It's just a couple of months
until the busy
Christmas travel season.
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With the two men under arrest,
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German police have made
commercial aviation
a little safer.
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Two months later,
Pan Am Flight 103 is on its way
from London to New York.
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00:04:22,931 --> 00:04:25,448
The jet has just taken off
from Heathrow Airport.
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There are 259 people on board.
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Most of the passengers
are American.
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Charles McKee actually works
for the U.S. government.
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Khalid Jaafar
lives in Detroit
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and is returning home
from a trip to
Lebanon and Germany.
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The first part of the trip to
the United States takes the
plane northwest over Scotland.
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The so-called Daventry departure
is one of six preset routes
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that jets follow on their way
out of Heathrow.
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Lockerbie is one of
several small towns
the plane will pass over.
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Tucked away
in the Scottish Lowlands,
residents are barely aware
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that they live below
a busy aerial highway.
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Pan Am calls this 747
"Clipper Maid of
the Seas."
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As it levels off at 31,000 feet,
the crew gets in touch
with Air Traffic Control.
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Good evening, Scottish.
Clipper One Zero Three.
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We are level at three one zero.
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One Zero Three.
You are identified.
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Captain James
MacQuarrie is 55 years old.
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Like many passengers
on this pre-holiday flight,
he's heading home.
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Five miles below,
the people of Lockerbie
prepare for Christmas.
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Michael Gordon is
chatting with a friend
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when a strange rumbling noise
fills his house.
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Hang on. There's
something odd outside here.
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The weather
that night was a bit wild.
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So there was a fairly strong
westerly wind.
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Um, I could hear it hitting
the window in front of me.
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From my window I can see
Lockerbie because my house
sits up on the hill.
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And I heard this noise
which was above
the noise of the wind.
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And the noise sounded like
thunder and the noise got
louder and louder.
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And I could hear the noise
then got to the stage of
being similar to a jet fighter.
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And at that time we had
a lot of military aircraft
passing through the area.
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However, I saw dark objects,
dark things falling from the sky
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against the lights
of Lockerbie.
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I could see these black objects
coming down.
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And then from my right,
quite high on my right,
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I could see a long,
thin black object,
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which had a fire on the upper
surface coming in
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and it was making its way
towards Lockerbie.
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When it hit, it was a
most horrendous explosion,
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and I could hear the tiles
on the roof of my house lifting.
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Hello? Hello?
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When the explosion
took place, the telephone line
stopped functioning.
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Lockerbie is burning.
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00:08:07,310 --> 00:08:09,758
Enormous flames
reach into the night sky.
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00:08:12,965 --> 00:08:15,896
Michael Gordon races
to the neighborhood
that is hardest hit.
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The street was on fire,
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The lawns were on fire
and houses were on fire,
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and it was difficult
to go without
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finding my trousers burning
and my shoes burning.
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You had to jump about
quite a bit because
everything was on fire.
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But I remember,
at that point, finding an
airline ticket
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and it was perfectly intact.
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There was no damage
by fire or, uh, fuel,
or contamination of any sort.
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And the airline ticket said
London Heathrow to JFK.
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Somehow,
Pan Am Flight 103
has fallen from the sky
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and smashed
into Lockerbie, Scotland.
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In the daylight, the full horror
of the crash of
Pan Am Flight 103 is obvious.
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Several houses on the ground
have simply vanished,
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vaporized when the plane
smashed into them.
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An enormous crater is torn
through the southern edge
of the town.
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Fifteen hundred tons of rock
and earth have been blasted out
of the ground.
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Eleven people from Lockerbie
are dead...
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along with all 259 people
who were on board.
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As far as I know,
I've lost my brother-in-law,
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uh, my sister-in-law
and their house is just,
is just a 30-foot crater.
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In the ruins
of their homes,
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they search for
the bodies of the
aircraft's passengers.
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Such a catastrophe, so sudden,
so great a shock
for a quiet town.
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It looked like a scene
out of hell. This whole
road was ablaze.
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We didn't know what it was
and then we rushed outside
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and just all this
debris coming down.
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Air crash
investigators have arrived
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in Lockerbie within hours
of the crash.
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00:10:26,275 --> 00:10:28,275
Mick Charles
is the Lead Inspector
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00:10:28,379 --> 00:10:31,965
for the British Air Accidents
Investigation Branch, the AAIB.
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One of the first sites
we went to was the
site of the crater
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that was still smelling
very much of aviation fuel
for a start.
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And scattered all around
were bits of debris,
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and in some cases
human tissue as well.
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00:10:51,310 --> 00:10:54,482
Charles quickly
gathers his team to
begin looking for clues.
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It was all heaving,
it was happening,
there were loads of people
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and it was to some extent chaos.
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You'll be organized into groups,
headed by
an AAIB inspector.
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Does anyone have
any questions?
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The sooner we start the better.
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More than a thousand
police officers and 600
members of the military
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pour into Lockerbie.
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You always have
this sense of wanting
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to get to grips with what it is.
It was quite clear that whatever
it was, was colossal.
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Any debris
that's found is put into
clear plastic bags
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and left to be collected later.
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00:11:48,413 --> 00:11:50,689
Dark bags are used
to store human remains.
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It's just days before Christmas,
but the holiday spirit
has been shattered.
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At the start
of the investigation,
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what we were doing
was finding out which bits
of the airplane were where,
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00:12:11,724 --> 00:12:13,551
actually finding
all of the airplane.
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The sheer scale
of the disaster
is difficult to comprehend.
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00:12:20,275 --> 00:12:23,655
Chris, the RAF have
offered us a helicopter.
Can we use it?
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Absolutely.
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00:12:25,689 --> 00:12:29,758
With so much wreckage
being found, investigators
need to get a bird's eye view
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00:12:29,862 --> 00:12:32,413
and locate the largest
fields of debris.
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00:12:32,517 --> 00:12:36,310
The maps of that area
were in very short supply
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00:12:36,413 --> 00:12:38,448
and we ran out
of them very quickly.
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00:12:38,551 --> 00:12:42,344
So we had to use
black and white
photocopies initially.
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Investigators bring
local police officer Michael
Gordon with them,
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00:12:45,896 --> 00:12:47,241
to help in the search.
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The intention was for me
to be able to identify
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00:12:50,758 --> 00:12:55,758
geographic landmarks
and identify parts
of the aircraft.
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They soon
get a better sense
of their enormous task.
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When we were
in the helicopter,
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00:13:01,413 --> 00:13:05,827
we could see
the wreckage came out on,
in a cone shape,
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00:13:05,931 --> 00:13:08,344
emanating from Lockerbie.
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00:13:08,448 --> 00:13:12,413
And the cone shape
got wider and wider
the further from Lockerbie.
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00:13:12,517 --> 00:13:17,862
The principal feature that
I was looking for was to try
to establish some pattern
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00:13:17,965 --> 00:13:22,482
of, of the wreckage,
which showed...
Which would basically help
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00:13:22,586 --> 00:13:27,172
me direct
the ground investigators.
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They're shocked
by what they find.
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00:13:29,551 --> 00:13:33,620
Pieces of the plane are
scattered over an area larger
than all of London...
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00:13:35,413 --> 00:13:37,965
more than 2,000
square kilometers.
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It quickly becomes clear that
Pan Am 103 was coming apart
long before it hit the ground.
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Normally, you're seeing
a fairly contained
accident site.
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In Lockerbie, it was
nothing like that because
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00:13:53,724 --> 00:13:58,620
um, initially the police
had identified half a dozen
discrete sites.
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A 747 is made up
of more than six million parts.
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In the mangled remains
of the jet,
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00:14:08,137 --> 00:14:12,310
investigators need to find
the one that will tell them
what happened.
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The plane's cockpit is eerie
proof that Pan Am Flight 103
broke apart in mid-air.
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Severed from
the rest of the plane,
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it's four kilometers
east of the city.
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00:14:25,896 --> 00:14:27,275
When looking at the cockpit,
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00:14:27,379 --> 00:14:31,862
I was looking at
the roof of it, and the windows
were intact,
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00:14:31,965 --> 00:14:36,103
the actual nose part
had cracked open,
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00:14:36,206 --> 00:14:41,000
but it was as if
it had been chopped off
just after the cabin,
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00:14:41,103 --> 00:14:46,241
and you could walk around
the back and look into the
cabin section from the back.
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Inside the cockpit,
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00:14:49,068 --> 00:14:52,103
investigators note
the positions of various
switches and controls.
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00:14:55,034 --> 00:14:59,172
They find the autopilot is on,
and the oxygen masks
are still stowed.
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00:14:59,275 --> 00:15:04,689
This is a fairly standard
procedure which we would do
in any such investigation.
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00:15:04,793 --> 00:15:10,034
Um, the end result was that
there was nothing at all
untoward found in the cockpit.
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00:15:10,137 --> 00:15:14,413
It was... Everything was
consistent with cruising flight.
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00:15:14,517 --> 00:15:18,689
Soon, investigators
discover why the damage to
Lockerbie was so devastating.
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00:15:21,034 --> 00:15:25,931
The main wreckage which fell
on the town of Lockerbie
was the wing,
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00:15:26,034 --> 00:15:30,862
which is basically both the left
and right wing complete
with a structure in the middle.
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00:15:30,965 --> 00:15:36,310
Investigators estimate
that the plane was loaded down
with 90,000 kilograms of fuel.
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00:15:41,758 --> 00:15:43,482
A hundred and fifty tons
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00:15:43,586 --> 00:15:46,310
descending
essentially vertically
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00:15:46,413 --> 00:15:49,448
at up to about 500 knots speed,
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00:15:49,551 --> 00:15:51,827
and there's an
awful lot of energy in that,
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00:15:51,931 --> 00:15:53,448
and that's what
created the crater.
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To find the cause
of the crash however,
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00:15:57,862 --> 00:15:59,758
investigators will have
to look elsewhere.
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00:16:03,103 --> 00:16:05,689
They need to examine
wreckage found
south of Lockerbie.
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00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:10,448
These pieces would
have come off at the beginning
of the disaster.
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00:16:15,586 --> 00:16:18,827
While the painstaking
work of collecting
evidence continues,
200
00:16:18,931 --> 00:16:21,275
investigators comb through
maintenance records.
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00:16:22,758 --> 00:16:25,448
Those records raise concerns
with the plane's age.
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00:16:27,724 --> 00:16:32,137
Clipper Maid of the Seas
was the fifteenth 747
ever built by Boeing.
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00:16:34,310 --> 00:16:37,724
This was one of
the older Boeing 747s.
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00:16:37,827 --> 00:16:42,827
It was built in 1970,
so it was 18 years old
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00:16:42,931 --> 00:16:47,413
and had got something
like 75,000 flying hours.
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00:16:47,517 --> 00:16:50,689
Perhaps some critical part of the plane
had given way
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00:16:50,793 --> 00:16:52,275
as it flew over Lockerbie.
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00:16:55,931 --> 00:16:59,758
The two obvious
possibilities were
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that it was a straightforward
structural failure,
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00:17:02,793 --> 00:17:06,137
or it was possibly
the result of sabotage.
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00:17:06,241 --> 00:17:09,482
Mick Charles?
Tom Thurman, FBI.
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00:17:09,586 --> 00:17:12,137
Good to meet you Tom.
I was expecting you.
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00:17:12,241 --> 00:17:15,000
While the investigators are searching
for possible answers
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00:17:15,103 --> 00:17:17,448
in the history of the plane,
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00:17:17,551 --> 00:17:21,034
the second possibility,
sabotage, is also being pursued.
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00:17:22,586 --> 00:17:25,965
We were there
to provide
technical expertise to
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00:17:26,068 --> 00:17:31,413
the Scottish investigators into
explosives and explosive damage,
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00:17:31,517 --> 00:17:35,517
and the tell-tale sign
that it could be a bomb.
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00:17:40,241 --> 00:17:42,724
Just three
and a half years
before Lockerbie,
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00:17:42,827 --> 00:17:46,482
a bomb had brought down
an Air India jet
just off the Irish coast.
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00:17:49,931 --> 00:17:54,241
In that case the plane,
and vital clues sunk deep
to the bottom of the sea.
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00:17:58,482 --> 00:18:01,689
But the wreckage of
the Pan Am flight litters
the Scottish Lowlands.
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00:18:03,724 --> 00:18:08,275
If it was a bomb,
there's a chance that important
evidence can be found.
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00:18:08,379 --> 00:18:10,965
What kind of logistical effort
is it going to take
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00:18:11,068 --> 00:18:13,344
to find everything,
and I mean everything,
226
00:18:13,448 --> 00:18:15,206
and bring it back
to the location
227
00:18:15,310 --> 00:18:18,551
to be able to look at it
and come to some conclusion.
228
00:18:21,172 --> 00:18:26,137
With the fragments that
we found on the ground,
we were picking those up.
229
00:18:26,241 --> 00:18:30,689
We were looking for blast damage
on these pieces of metal.
230
00:18:32,413 --> 00:18:36,862
But until we found something
that said it was a bomb,
physical evidence,
231
00:18:36,965 --> 00:18:37,827
it was an accident.
232
00:18:39,241 --> 00:18:41,758
We were very mindful
of the fact that
233
00:18:41,862 --> 00:18:46,655
there was plenty of reports
in the media about it
being a terrorist act.
234
00:18:46,758 --> 00:18:51,793
It's a question of what evidence
you find and which direction
to take the investigation.
235
00:18:57,758 --> 00:18:59,793
In the first 24 hours,
236
00:18:59,896 --> 00:19:03,379
four separate groups
have claimed responsibility
for bombing the jet.
237
00:19:05,241 --> 00:19:08,551
We the guardians
of the Islamic revolution
are undertaking
238
00:19:08,655 --> 00:19:14,103
this heroic execution in revenge
for the blowing of the Iranian
airplane by America.
239
00:19:17,724 --> 00:19:20,896
Dick Marquise is an expert
on international terrorism
240
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,068
working for the American FBI.
241
00:19:24,172 --> 00:19:27,517
A number
of organizations
either claimed credit for
242
00:19:27,620 --> 00:19:30,620
or were given credit,
including groups from Iran
243
00:19:30,724 --> 00:19:35,000
and the Palestinian groups
and one Irish group also
claimed responsibility for it.
244
00:19:35,103 --> 00:19:40,517
Six months earlier,
the U.S. Navy shot down
an Iranian passenger jet.
245
00:19:45,586 --> 00:19:48,448
Two hundred and ninety
people were killed.
246
00:19:48,551 --> 00:19:52,724
The American government
claims it was an accident,
but Iran has vowed revenge.
247
00:19:59,896 --> 00:20:04,068
Other threats had been made
in the weeks before the crash.
248
00:20:04,172 --> 00:20:09,137
The American embassy in Helsinki
received an anonymous warning
that a bomb would soon be put
249
00:20:09,241 --> 00:20:11,689
on a Pan Am flight
leaving from Frankfurt.
250
00:20:15,034 --> 00:20:19,827
Officials eventually discounted
the threat, but a notice was
posted in American embassies.
251
00:20:24,448 --> 00:20:27,275
Many of the passengers
who boarded Flight 103,
252
00:20:27,379 --> 00:20:30,310
had come from Frankfurt
on a connecting flight.
253
00:20:32,206 --> 00:20:33,793
Right. Excellent work, everyone.
254
00:20:33,896 --> 00:20:37,965
Then on Christmas Eve,
just three days after
the crash of the plane,
255
00:20:38,068 --> 00:20:40,344
the investigation gets
an enormous break.
256
00:20:40,448 --> 00:20:45,620
Everyone clear on what
they need to do this evening.
Terrific. Tom, can I see you?
257
00:20:45,724 --> 00:20:46,586
Absolutely.
258
00:20:52,068 --> 00:20:54,862
Here. You might like to put your
gloves on, I think for this.
259
00:20:54,965 --> 00:20:59,206
Mick Charles had a bag
and had a piece
of metal in the bag.
260
00:20:59,310 --> 00:21:00,931
What is it?
261
00:21:01,034 --> 00:21:03,379
We think
it's a piece of luggage rail.
262
00:21:03,482 --> 00:21:07,034
It helps guide the cargo
containers into place.
263
00:21:07,137 --> 00:21:11,379
Inspectors in the field
discovered items
which they recognized as
264
00:21:11,482 --> 00:21:14,896
being not part of a normal
failure sequence
that you would expect
265
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:16,896
if it had been
a structural failure.
266
00:21:18,724 --> 00:21:20,206
Mick, this has been very
near an explosion.
267
00:21:22,206 --> 00:21:23,413
That's what
we thought as well.
268
00:21:25,827 --> 00:21:29,068
Small marks
have been made on the metal.
269
00:21:29,172 --> 00:21:33,655
Craters that are the tell-tale
signs of a bomb.
270
00:21:33,758 --> 00:21:39,413
The hot gases
of the combustion process
of the explosion hits a piece
271
00:21:39,517 --> 00:21:44,793
of particular metal,
and it puts pits in it,
like you would take a blowtorch.
272
00:21:44,896 --> 00:21:47,896
You take a blowtorch
and you have a piece of metal
and you just barely touch
273
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,103
the piece of metal,
it will make a little hole down
into the metal.
274
00:21:53,137 --> 00:21:56,206
It's the first piece
of wreckage from outside
the town of Lockerbie
275
00:21:56,310 --> 00:21:58,586
to show any signs
of being damaged by fire.
276
00:22:00,758 --> 00:22:01,827
Where did you find it?
277
00:22:01,931 --> 00:22:03,241
I'll take you out
in the morning.
278
00:22:04,689 --> 00:22:06,655
The Scottish
countryside is about to become
279
00:22:06,758 --> 00:22:09,275
the largest crime scene
in the world.
280
00:22:13,620 --> 00:22:16,241
It's Christmas Day, 1988.
281
00:22:16,344 --> 00:22:20,655
But in Lockerbie, Scotland,
people are still reeling from
a devastating plane crash.
282
00:22:24,448 --> 00:22:26,862
Christmas is just
gonna be remembered
for all the wrong reasons.
283
00:22:29,241 --> 00:22:31,896
It's just tragic for everybody.
284
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,206
I'll never believe in God again.
285
00:22:37,034 --> 00:22:39,103
For air crash investigators,
286
00:22:39,206 --> 00:22:43,620
December the 25th
is treated like any
other day at work.
287
00:22:43,724 --> 00:22:47,862
That was in my mind the most
distinguishing characteristic
of Lockerbie.
288
00:22:47,965 --> 00:22:49,793
And although
it's over Christmas,
289
00:22:49,896 --> 00:22:53,275
you just, you just stay there
and you do what you have to do.
290
00:22:53,379 --> 00:22:56,827
Investigators converge on a farmer's field
outside of the town.
291
00:22:58,206 --> 00:23:00,310
Over here!
292
00:23:00,413 --> 00:23:03,241
Keep yelling.
We can't see you!
293
00:23:05,034 --> 00:23:07,103
Over here!
294
00:23:07,206 --> 00:23:11,827
The weather had turned horrible.
Foggy, kinda misting rain.
295
00:23:11,931 --> 00:23:14,724
You couldn't see 10 feet
in front of you,
296
00:23:14,827 --> 00:23:20,103
and there was debris literally
all over the place.
297
00:23:20,206 --> 00:23:22,896
Another piece
of the baggage compartment rail
had been found.
298
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,068
That looks like the piece
that you showed me last night.
299
00:23:31,586 --> 00:23:34,241
About 20 inches is just gone.
300
00:23:34,344 --> 00:23:38,724
And lo and behold,
that was the other piece
of the skid rail
301
00:23:38,827 --> 00:23:41,275
that was literally
sticking in the ground.
302
00:23:43,137 --> 00:23:46,482
We made some photographs.
It was like...
It was a Christmas present.
303
00:23:46,586 --> 00:23:48,620
That we could go out there
to this farm and find
304
00:23:48,724 --> 00:23:50,793
the other piece of metal that
had been blown off.
305
00:23:50,896 --> 00:23:52,655
Now we were not fascinated,
we were pumped.
306
00:23:54,172 --> 00:23:56,724
This piece also
has pits and craters in it,
307
00:23:56,827 --> 00:23:59,275
indications that it was
close to an explosion.
308
00:24:06,655 --> 00:24:09,724
The pieces
of wreckage are part
of the southern debris field,
309
00:24:09,827 --> 00:24:12,758
and near the beginning of it.
310
00:24:12,862 --> 00:24:18,482
The placement suggests
they were some of the first
parts to break off the plane.
311
00:24:18,586 --> 00:24:22,482
We were very suspicious
that it was a bomb which had
caused this destruction.
312
00:24:22,586 --> 00:24:25,862
Um, but we were not prepared
to say anything
313
00:24:25,965 --> 00:24:29,137
until we'd had those details
confirmed by
the forensic experts.
314
00:24:31,068 --> 00:24:33,758
A British
forensics lab has made
the critical link.
315
00:24:36,206 --> 00:24:39,379
Traces of two chemicals
used to make plastic explosive
316
00:24:39,482 --> 00:24:42,000
are found on the debris
recovered near Lockerbie.
317
00:24:44,172 --> 00:24:47,655
On December the 28th,
just seven days after the crash,
318
00:24:47,758 --> 00:24:52,689
investigators have their proof,
and announce it to the world.
319
00:24:52,793 --> 00:24:54,241
It has been established
320
00:24:54,344 --> 00:24:58,344
that two parts of the metal
luggage pallet's framework
321
00:24:58,448 --> 00:25:03,448
show conclusive evidence
of a detonating high explosive.
322
00:25:03,551 --> 00:25:08,689
The crash
of Pan Am Flight 103
is now officially a crime.
323
00:25:08,793 --> 00:25:12,896
Our mandate with regard
to Lockerbie was find out
who did it and prove it,
324
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,896
uh, because what we wanted to do
was bring someone to justice
325
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:18,413
and make them answer
for killing 270 people.
326
00:25:20,034 --> 00:25:24,310
With terrorism
now the official cause,
rumors start to fly.
327
00:25:26,379 --> 00:25:30,000
Speculation eventually focuses
on two passengers.
328
00:25:30,103 --> 00:25:34,482
Charles McKee works for
the U.S. Department of Defense.
329
00:25:34,586 --> 00:25:39,344
Charles McKee was returning
from the Middle East
where he was working,
330
00:25:39,448 --> 00:25:45,034
uh, trying to free hostages that
had been taken in the Middle
East during the mid-1980s.
331
00:25:45,137 --> 00:25:49,172
The hostages McKee
was trying to release were
being held in Lebanon.
332
00:25:51,482 --> 00:25:55,034
In 1988, a civil war was tearing
that country apart.
333
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:02,137
Americans were seen
as useful bargaining chips.
334
00:26:02,241 --> 00:26:06,172
There was speculation
in the media that Charles McKee
may have been targeted
335
00:26:06,275 --> 00:26:08,793
by terrorists because
of the work he was doing.
336
00:26:08,896 --> 00:26:12,448
McKee isn't the only
passenger who captures
the attention of the media.
337
00:26:14,344 --> 00:26:16,827
Khalid Jaafar
was 20 years old,
338
00:26:16,931 --> 00:26:21,241
and was returning home
to the U.S. after a trip
to Lebanon and Germany.
339
00:26:21,344 --> 00:26:24,413
Perhaps a bomb was carried
on board the aircraft by someone
340
00:26:24,517 --> 00:26:26,931
who may have had a
Middle Eastern-sounding name.
341
00:26:27,034 --> 00:26:30,793
Jaafar was examined
as a potential suspect.
342
00:26:30,896 --> 00:26:34,137
The story makes it
as far as the U.S. Congress,
343
00:26:34,241 --> 00:26:36,965
but no proof can be found
that Jaafar was involved
344
00:26:37,068 --> 00:26:38,896
or that McKee
was the intended target.
345
00:26:40,620 --> 00:26:44,758
We looked at every single
passenger on the plane
346
00:26:44,862 --> 00:26:47,896
to see if, in fact, someone
could have given them a bomb.
347
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:49,620
The evidence proved
that not to be the case.
348
00:26:52,965 --> 00:26:55,965
In Lockerbie,
investigators from the AAIB
349
00:26:56,068 --> 00:26:59,413
continue to sort through
the tons of tangled metal.
350
00:27:01,793 --> 00:27:05,517
We could, I suppose, in theory
have just stopped.
351
00:27:05,620 --> 00:27:10,344
But we thought we know
it's a bomb, we have all
of the wreckage over land,
352
00:27:10,448 --> 00:27:15,448
it's an ideal opportunity
to recover it all
and to understand it properly.
353
00:27:15,551 --> 00:27:19,517
We knew it was a small bomb
but we didn't understand
the explosive processes.
354
00:27:21,482 --> 00:27:25,793
Investigators are particularly interested
in the hull of the aircraft.
355
00:27:25,896 --> 00:27:29,172
They move pieces of it
to a military hangar
just outside of town.
356
00:27:34,724 --> 00:27:37,482
It was
a five-acre shed,
357
00:27:37,586 --> 00:27:41,551
uh, in which was long
enough that we could
358
00:27:41,655 --> 00:27:43,965
plan to lay the fuselage out,
359
00:27:44,068 --> 00:27:47,206
opened up like a clam shell,
360
00:27:47,310 --> 00:27:54,551
using the bottom center line
of the aircraft
as our sort of core line.
361
00:27:54,655 --> 00:27:59,034
The fuselage
of an airplane is bolted
to a series of frames,
362
00:27:59,137 --> 00:28:04,862
and each frame is numbered
based on how far it is
from the front of the aircraft.
363
00:28:04,965 --> 00:28:08,137
Before we laid out
the wreckage two dimensionally,
364
00:28:08,241 --> 00:28:11,586
we put lines and tapes
on the floor
365
00:28:11,689 --> 00:28:15,586
to give us a grid,
and this grid related to
the geometry of the airplane.
366
00:28:18,172 --> 00:28:21,310
They begin
to re-assemble it, like an
enormous jigsaw puzzle.
367
00:28:24,206 --> 00:28:28,137
A lot of the structure
bears characteristic shapes
368
00:28:28,241 --> 00:28:32,137
that you can say immediately,
"This looks like a doorframe."
369
00:28:32,241 --> 00:28:35,724
A lot of the stuff has
unique part numbers
370
00:28:35,827 --> 00:28:38,206
which can help you identify
371
00:28:38,310 --> 00:28:43,344
small and fairly,
what you would call,
unidentifiable bits.
372
00:28:45,241 --> 00:28:46,965
As the work continues,
373
00:28:47,068 --> 00:28:50,310
more pieces of the plane
are found that show
tell-tale blast damage.
374
00:28:51,965 --> 00:28:57,137
Right. The location
is 8-1-7-2-0-4.
375
00:29:00,482 --> 00:29:03,551
When they gather
the pieces that are near
the front of the plane,
376
00:29:03,655 --> 00:29:06,586
investigators make
a chilling discovery.
377
00:29:06,689 --> 00:29:10,000
This is where the bomb had
started ripping the plane apart.
378
00:29:12,275 --> 00:29:18,068
It became apparent
that there was an area
of the aircraft which,
379
00:29:18,172 --> 00:29:22,344
in which the damage, was really
different from the rest.
380
00:29:24,310 --> 00:29:28,517
The fuselage
in this section isn't torn,
but blasted to pieces.
381
00:29:30,517 --> 00:29:33,586
The fuselage structure
in the area of the explosion
382
00:29:33,689 --> 00:29:36,172
was blackened and sooted.
383
00:29:36,275 --> 00:29:39,275
The fractures were very rapid
and jagged,
384
00:29:39,379 --> 00:29:42,344
unlike normal tearing
fractures of skin.
385
00:29:43,724 --> 00:29:47,344
Frame 700 runs
right around here...
386
00:29:47,448 --> 00:29:50,241
Not only
do investigators now know
it was a bomb,
387
00:29:50,344 --> 00:29:53,758
they know where it blasted
through the fuselage
of the plane...
388
00:29:55,689 --> 00:29:58,137
...just outside of
the forward luggage compartment.
389
00:30:02,931 --> 00:30:06,517
Peter Claiden
is responsible for reassembling
the cargo containers
390
00:30:06,620 --> 00:30:09,827
that were directly behind
the shatter zone.
391
00:30:09,931 --> 00:30:15,137
The latent goal I had
was to identify
the baggage container
392
00:30:15,241 --> 00:30:17,620
that contained the device.
393
00:30:17,724 --> 00:30:23,275
We had maybe
20 baggage containers
of a similar construction,
394
00:30:23,379 --> 00:30:27,482
so we like, it's like having
20 jigsaw puzzles
all mixed up.
395
00:30:27,586 --> 00:30:30,586
The investigators
concentrate on the cargo
containers that were found
396
00:30:30,689 --> 00:30:35,068
in the southern debris field,
wreckage that was ejected
shortly after the explosion.
397
00:30:42,275 --> 00:30:45,137
We concluded there were
only two on the aircraft,
398
00:30:45,241 --> 00:30:47,689
one made of aluminum
and one made of fiberglass.
399
00:30:47,793 --> 00:30:51,241
And they had been adjacent
to each other on the aircraft,
400
00:30:51,344 --> 00:30:55,689
and they were the only two
that exhibited evidence
401
00:30:55,793 --> 00:30:59,275
of an improvised explosive
device having detonated.
402
00:30:59,379 --> 00:31:04,724
The metal container,
AVE 4041, is of
particular interest.
403
00:31:06,517 --> 00:31:09,275
It was resting directly
behind frame 700,
404
00:31:09,379 --> 00:31:10,931
where the blast damage
is the worst.
405
00:31:15,413 --> 00:31:19,482
The damage caused
to the metal container
was quite severe.
406
00:31:19,586 --> 00:31:23,620
The damage to the adjacent
fiberglass container,
407
00:31:23,724 --> 00:31:26,344
I think you might call it
collateral damage.
408
00:31:26,448 --> 00:31:28,965
Investigators create a simple framework
409
00:31:29,068 --> 00:31:31,862
and attach the pieces of
the real cargo container to it.
410
00:31:34,586 --> 00:31:41,034
As they do it becomes clear,
AVE 4041 carried the bomb
that brought the plane down.
411
00:31:45,068 --> 00:31:48,724
Closely examining damage
to the floor and the side
of the container,
412
00:31:48,827 --> 00:31:52,413
investigators are also
able to pinpoint
the height of the bomb...
413
00:31:54,034 --> 00:31:56,241
...where it was in the container
when it exploded.
414
00:31:58,275 --> 00:32:04,172
What that said to me was
that the device was
probably in a suitcase,
415
00:32:04,275 --> 00:32:07,172
and that suitcase
was probably not on the floor
of the container.
416
00:32:07,275 --> 00:32:09,000
It looked like
it was one level up.
417
00:32:12,034 --> 00:32:13,758
According to luggage records,
418
00:32:13,862 --> 00:32:17,344
it means that the bag containing
the bomb had come
from a connecting flight.
419
00:32:21,379 --> 00:32:24,448
While investigators
are assembling a piece
of the metal container,
420
00:32:24,551 --> 00:32:27,448
they discover a fragment of
wreckage that doesn't belong.
421
00:32:29,827 --> 00:32:33,724
When looking at it,
I saw a little piece of debris
trapped in one of the folds.
422
00:32:33,827 --> 00:32:37,413
So gently flexing this apart,
it fell out.
423
00:32:37,517 --> 00:32:40,413
And I looked at it
and I could see
it was a fragment
424
00:32:40,517 --> 00:32:43,000
of a printed circuit board,
an electronic circuit board.
425
00:32:44,482 --> 00:32:47,137
Can you bring me a camera
and an evidence bag, please?
426
00:32:53,206 --> 00:32:54,206
Let's get this to the lab.
427
00:32:56,517 --> 00:32:59,034
I didn't know whether
it was a bomb, part of
the airplane really or what.
428
00:32:59,137 --> 00:33:01,620
It could have been somebody's
shaver for all I know.
429
00:33:01,724 --> 00:33:05,413
Eventually,
forensic experts in Britain
determine that the circuit board
430
00:33:05,517 --> 00:33:07,724
was a piece of a specific
brand of radio.
431
00:33:10,689 --> 00:33:13,034
News of the discovery
makes its way to Washington.
432
00:33:15,586 --> 00:33:20,379
It reaches Tom Thurman,
who's returned
to his office there.
433
00:33:20,482 --> 00:33:27,275
And lo and behold,
an identification was made
into a Toshiba SL16 radio,
434
00:33:27,379 --> 00:33:31,689
and ironically enough,
the name on
the side of that radio,
435
00:33:31,793 --> 00:33:36,620
just as a brand name I guess,
was called a BomBeat radio.
436
00:33:36,724 --> 00:33:40,620
The radio cassette
player had hidden the bomb.
437
00:33:40,724 --> 00:33:44,034
It's very similar to the one
that was recovered
by German police
438
00:33:44,137 --> 00:33:47,724
when they cracked
the Palestinian terrorist cell
two months before the bombing.
439
00:33:50,517 --> 00:33:53,689
Had German police somehow
missed something?
440
00:33:53,793 --> 00:33:56,655
Had a bomb made here been used
on the Pan Am flight?
441
00:34:03,448 --> 00:34:05,103
When the bombing happened,
442
00:34:05,206 --> 00:34:10,551
one of the initial suspects
certainly was the PFL-PGC
cell in Germany.
443
00:34:10,655 --> 00:34:16,862
The intelligence told us
the that PFL-PGC was probably
responsible for this.
444
00:34:16,965 --> 00:34:20,724
Forty-nine passengers
who eventually boarded
the Pan Am flight
445
00:34:20,827 --> 00:34:23,517
started their journey
in the German city of Frankfurt.
446
00:34:24,931 --> 00:34:27,758
Their bags were placed
onto Flight 103 in London.
447
00:34:29,689 --> 00:34:33,758
But the airline did not ensure
the passengers
who checked in the bags
448
00:34:33,862 --> 00:34:35,034
actually got onto the plane.
449
00:34:37,517 --> 00:34:39,413
Perhaps a bomb made in Germany
450
00:34:39,517 --> 00:34:41,586
had slipped through
the cracks at Heathrow,
451
00:34:41,689 --> 00:34:43,689
while the terrorist walked away.
452
00:34:45,862 --> 00:34:48,482
We had to then,
if that was the case, prove it.
453
00:34:50,586 --> 00:34:54,896
As the investigation continues,
there's a puzzling discovery.
454
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,965
While made by the same company,
the cassette player used
455
00:34:58,068 --> 00:35:00,000
in the Lockerbie bombing
is slightly different
456
00:35:00,103 --> 00:35:03,000
from the one that was seized
in Germany.
457
00:35:03,103 --> 00:35:07,413
Both were contained
in Toshiba radios but one
was a one-speaker model
458
00:35:07,517 --> 00:35:10,793
and the one that blew up
the Lockerbie plane
was a two-speaker,
459
00:35:10,896 --> 00:35:13,931
a more updated model radio.
460
00:35:18,275 --> 00:35:21,793
The difference
in the model of radio
being used raises doubts.
461
00:35:23,758 --> 00:35:26,620
Perhaps the terrorists in
Germany are not responsible.
462
00:35:30,448 --> 00:35:33,413
You can look at the way
a device is put together
463
00:35:33,517 --> 00:35:37,862
and say, "Hey, I know
who put this together because
I've seen this before
464
00:35:37,965 --> 00:35:41,034
"and this is the way
that this bomb builder
puts a bomb together."
465
00:35:44,275 --> 00:35:45,827
They call it
a "bomber's signature."
466
00:35:47,689 --> 00:35:50,793
Law enforcement officials
need more clues
467
00:35:50,896 --> 00:35:52,172
to figure out
who had built the bomb.
468
00:35:57,862 --> 00:36:01,137
Perhaps the suitcase
it was packed in
can provide those clues.
469
00:36:04,655 --> 00:36:07,137
Studying small pieces
of wreckage,
470
00:36:07,241 --> 00:36:11,931
British forensic experts
find that the suitcase was
a hard-sided Samsonite 4000.
471
00:36:14,310 --> 00:36:17,689
Samsonite made only a few
thousand of these suitcases
472
00:36:17,793 --> 00:36:19,310
and sold all of them
in the Middle East.
473
00:36:22,896 --> 00:36:25,620
Several pieces of clothing
have also been identified
474
00:36:25,724 --> 00:36:27,206
that were very close
to the explosion...
475
00:36:29,379 --> 00:36:31,482
...likely in the suitcase
that concealed the bomb.
476
00:36:35,103 --> 00:36:38,517
Most of these clothes were
made by a single manufacturer,
477
00:36:38,620 --> 00:36:42,482
and were only sold
on the tiny island of Malta.
478
00:36:42,586 --> 00:36:47,896
So Malta became the focus
of the investigation because
of the manufacturer
479
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,793
and eventually distribution
of some of the clothing
that was found at Lockerbie.
480
00:36:53,689 --> 00:36:57,724
Investigators find the shop in Malta
where the clothes were sold.
481
00:36:57,827 --> 00:37:00,793
The owner gives them
another clue.
482
00:37:00,896 --> 00:37:05,827
The key thing
that he told us was the person
had a Libyan accent.
483
00:37:05,931 --> 00:37:09,793
Something we didn't really
have evidence yet
that tied Libya to the bombing.
484
00:37:11,827 --> 00:37:15,000
It was just two weeks
before the attack
on the Pan Am flight.
485
00:37:17,620 --> 00:37:22,793
In 1988, Libya was reeling
from a number of confrontations
with the American military.
486
00:37:24,517 --> 00:37:27,827
Economic sanctions
had been imposed.
487
00:37:27,931 --> 00:37:31,620
The country was isolated,
and its leader,
Muammar Qaddafi,
488
00:37:31,724 --> 00:37:34,448
aggressively anti-American.
489
00:37:34,551 --> 00:37:37,241
Perhaps the bombing
of the Pan Am flight
was an attack
490
00:37:37,344 --> 00:37:39,241
by Libya against
the United States.
491
00:37:41,103 --> 00:37:43,758
Pouring through baggage records
for the Pan Am flight,
492
00:37:43,862 --> 00:37:46,103
police discover one piece
of luggage
493
00:37:46,206 --> 00:37:49,000
that had been carried
from Malta to Frankfurt
earlier that day.
494
00:37:51,379 --> 00:37:55,931
Bag number B8849 had then
been sent through
to Britain's Heathrow Airport.
495
00:37:58,413 --> 00:38:04,137
Once there, it was placed
on the second level
of cargo container AVE 4041.
496
00:38:06,448 --> 00:38:10,206
It was the Samsonite case
investigators now know
carried the bomb.
497
00:38:15,517 --> 00:38:17,413
More than a year
after the crash,
498
00:38:17,517 --> 00:38:21,758
a new discovery
in Lockerbie helps simplify
the confusing series of clues.
499
00:38:23,448 --> 00:38:25,793
Forensic experts discover
another circuit board
500
00:38:25,896 --> 00:38:28,000
from among the clothes
that came from Malta.
501
00:38:32,862 --> 00:38:34,965
It doesn't come
from that circuit board
502
00:38:35,068 --> 00:38:37,172
that was in the SL16 radio.
503
00:38:37,275 --> 00:38:40,655
And this circuit board
is half the size
of your thumbnail.
504
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:46,896
A photo
of the circuit board is sent
to Tom Thurman.
505
00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:49,724
He believes it could be
a piece of the timer
from the bomb.
506
00:38:52,551 --> 00:38:58,655
I spent months
literally looking through
all of the files of the FBI
507
00:38:58,758 --> 00:39:04,551
on other examinations
that we had conducted over
many, many, many years.
508
00:39:07,068 --> 00:39:11,206
The FBI has photos
of timers used to detonate bombs
around the world.
509
00:39:15,689 --> 00:39:18,793
But Thurman can't find any
that match the piece found
at Lockerbie.
510
00:39:18,896 --> 00:39:22,655
No... [CLEARS THROAT] Next...
511
00:39:22,758 --> 00:39:25,689
After a period
I just I ran out of leads,
512
00:39:25,793 --> 00:39:31,862
and at that point it was like,
okay, now we need to go outside
the physical FBI laboratory.
513
00:39:33,793 --> 00:39:36,344
Thurman eventually
takes the photo of the circuit
514
00:39:36,448 --> 00:39:39,344
to the
Central Intelligence Agency.
515
00:39:39,448 --> 00:39:41,448
I called a contact of mine
516
00:39:41,551 --> 00:39:43,793
and I said I need to bring
something over
for you to look at.
517
00:39:45,689 --> 00:39:50,275
Sifting through
reports on various bombings,
Thurman finds a match.
518
00:39:50,379 --> 00:39:51,517
Wait a second.
519
00:39:53,172 --> 00:39:54,551
That could be the same.
520
00:39:56,206 --> 00:39:57,275
Do you have this timer?
521
00:40:00,827 --> 00:40:06,482
When Thurman closely
examines the timer captured
by the CIA, he's stunned.
522
00:40:06,586 --> 00:40:11,551
Within a few minutes,
literally, I started
getting cold chills.
523
00:40:11,655 --> 00:40:15,275
And right now
as I talk about it,
cold chills start on me,
524
00:40:15,379 --> 00:40:19,586
'cause I can still
see that moment
so vividly in my mind
525
00:40:19,689 --> 00:40:21,413
that I'm looking
at a circuit track
526
00:40:21,517 --> 00:40:24,000
that's just like what I'm seeing
in the photograph.
527
00:40:26,344 --> 00:40:28,724
This is what
we're looking for.
528
00:40:28,827 --> 00:40:32,758
The timer the CIA
has was seized in Africa
a few years earlier.
529
00:40:34,068 --> 00:40:36,172
Two Libyan men
were trying to get it,
530
00:40:36,275 --> 00:40:39,275
and several pounds
of explosives,
past airport security.
531
00:40:41,586 --> 00:40:45,103
It's identical to the timer
used to bring down Flight 103,
532
00:40:46,620 --> 00:40:49,137
and wouldn't be set
off by changes in pressure,
533
00:40:49,241 --> 00:40:52,724
like the barometric switch
discovered in Germany.
534
00:40:52,827 --> 00:40:57,068
This device was set to go off
at a certain time,
not at a given altitude.
535
00:41:02,482 --> 00:41:03,586
This is the timer.
536
00:41:03,689 --> 00:41:08,931
This is a long delay timer
that brought down that aircraft.
537
00:41:09,034 --> 00:41:11,965
But now we want to know,
okay, where'd this come from?
538
00:41:12,068 --> 00:41:14,241
The Lockerbie bomb
used a different timer
539
00:41:14,344 --> 00:41:16,793
and a different radio than
the bomb found in Germany.
540
00:41:18,655 --> 00:41:21,000
Someone else was behind
the destruction of the jet.
541
00:41:23,206 --> 00:41:26,655
This was not made in
somebody's home laboratory.
542
00:41:26,758 --> 00:41:33,000
This was a extremely
professionally made timer.
543
00:41:34,620 --> 00:41:37,448
While the criminal investigation
becomes murkier,
544
00:41:37,551 --> 00:41:40,655
the accident
investigation is becoming
increasingly clear.
545
00:41:44,517 --> 00:41:49,000
The investigation eventually
moves from Scotland
to Farnborough, England.
546
00:41:49,103 --> 00:41:51,310
Well known for
its aeronautics industry,
547
00:41:51,413 --> 00:41:53,655
the town is home to the AAIB.
548
00:41:55,448 --> 00:41:59,379
Several months after the crash
of Pan Am Flight 103,
549
00:41:59,482 --> 00:42:01,793
investigators launch
a massive endeavor.
550
00:42:04,655 --> 00:42:07,931
They begin to rebuild
a 20-meter section
of the fuselage
551
00:42:08,034 --> 00:42:09,137
from the ruined jet.
552
00:42:11,310 --> 00:42:13,206
They hope that it would
give them information
553
00:42:13,310 --> 00:42:15,206
their two-dimensional
reconstruction couldn't.
554
00:42:21,448 --> 00:42:25,689
They can see that the explosion
tore a one and a half
by five-meter hole
555
00:42:25,793 --> 00:42:26,827
in the side of the plane.
556
00:42:29,793 --> 00:42:33,965
Chris Protheroe is a senior
inspector of air accidents
at the AAIB.
557
00:42:35,724 --> 00:42:38,620
What was very difficult
to understand was
558
00:42:38,724 --> 00:42:42,068
the fact that this area
of direct damage
was effectively a pinprick
559
00:42:42,172 --> 00:42:45,034
in relation to the size
of the aircraft as a whole,
560
00:42:45,137 --> 00:42:49,965
and it was very difficult
to understand how this pinprick
of damage had
561
00:42:50,068 --> 00:42:55,068
resulted in such a comprehensive
destruction of the,
of the aircraft.
562
00:42:55,172 --> 00:43:00,137
The bomb that brought
the plane down had less than
half a kilogram of explosive.
563
00:43:00,241 --> 00:43:03,862
Yet its destructive power
was immense.
564
00:43:03,965 --> 00:43:09,793
Investigators want to learn more
about how shockwaves
behave inside a jet.
565
00:43:09,896 --> 00:43:15,034
It's rather like a freeze frame
on a video footage.
566
00:43:15,137 --> 00:43:17,758
If you can capture that point
as the thing is coming apart,
567
00:43:17,862 --> 00:43:21,620
it tells you a great deal about
the way it's coming apart.
568
00:43:21,724 --> 00:43:24,551
What they discover
is that the initial blast wave
569
00:43:24,655 --> 00:43:26,413
wasn't the only one
to damage the plane.
570
00:43:29,758 --> 00:43:33,034
A large section of the ceiling
of the aircraft
has been pushed up
571
00:43:33,137 --> 00:43:37,344
with so much force that
the rivets connecting it
to the plane's frame popped.
572
00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:43,517
It wasn't torn apart
but blasted by a shock wave.
573
00:43:43,620 --> 00:43:47,620
The other features
that the 3D reconstruction
allowed us to identify
574
00:43:47,724 --> 00:43:51,068
were areas of remote
pressure damage
575
00:43:51,172 --> 00:43:56,241
on the crown skin
and other areas
where explosive shock
576
00:43:56,344 --> 00:43:59,827
had been channeled
through the internal spaces
in the aircraft.
577
00:43:59,931 --> 00:44:03,137
The inside of a jet
acts like an echo chamber,
578
00:44:03,241 --> 00:44:06,620
bouncing the shockwaves
of the bomb around.
579
00:44:06,724 --> 00:44:10,000
They gather strength
until they encounter
a weak spot in the skin.
580
00:44:11,586 --> 00:44:13,206
When they do,
they blast through.
581
00:44:18,172 --> 00:44:20,551
The work in Farnborough
is powerful proof
582
00:44:20,655 --> 00:44:22,965
of how destructive
even a small bomb can be.
583
00:44:27,344 --> 00:44:30,482
And how vital it is
to track the bombers down.
584
00:44:33,620 --> 00:44:36,551
Almost two years after
the Lockerbie disaster,
585
00:44:36,655 --> 00:44:41,068
the criminal trail of evidence
brings investigators to Zurich.
586
00:44:41,172 --> 00:44:42,965
The timer that
detonated the bomb
587
00:44:43,068 --> 00:44:45,379
is traced to a Swiss company
called MEBO.
588
00:44:47,758 --> 00:44:50,655
One of the owners of the company
admits to building it.
589
00:44:52,758 --> 00:44:55,724
The timer was given
to the Libyan government,
590
00:44:55,827 --> 00:44:59,275
a total of 20 of them were made,
all delivered
to Libyan officials.
591
00:45:00,827 --> 00:45:03,413
Early in the investigation,
focus was directed
592
00:45:03,517 --> 00:45:07,241
at the Palestinian terrorist
group in Germany.
593
00:45:07,344 --> 00:45:13,379
Now, there's growing proof
that they had nothing to do
with the downing of Flight 103.
594
00:45:13,482 --> 00:45:16,724
There were
any number of suspects
and it wasn't until we kept
595
00:45:16,827 --> 00:45:22,310
putting everything in one pile
and the pile kept stacking up
and it spelled Libya.
596
00:45:22,413 --> 00:45:27,206
Criminal investigators
have linked the timer that
detonated the bomb to Libya.
597
00:45:27,310 --> 00:45:30,413
They know that a Libyan
bought the clothes
that were in the suitcase.
598
00:45:32,931 --> 00:45:36,931
And they know that Libya
has a recent history of military
confrontation with America.
599
00:45:38,896 --> 00:45:41,379
All they need now
is the bomber himself.
600
00:45:43,068 --> 00:45:47,000
In 1999, they finally have him.
601
00:45:47,103 --> 00:45:51,103
At the time of the disaster,
Abdel al-Megrahi
was an intelligence officer
602
00:45:51,206 --> 00:45:52,068
for the Libyan government.
603
00:45:53,724 --> 00:45:56,448
He's arrested and charged.
604
00:45:56,551 --> 00:45:59,000
He was a high-ranking
Libyan official.
605
00:45:59,103 --> 00:46:02,827
Uh, he certainly
could have access
to whatever he wanted.
606
00:46:02,931 --> 00:46:08,965
Our investigation determined
that Megrahi also had
a front company at MEBO.
607
00:46:09,068 --> 00:46:11,137
He had been there many times,
they certainly knew each other.
608
00:46:11,241 --> 00:46:13,551
When you start to see
all the connections
609
00:46:13,655 --> 00:46:20,000
and these things just start
fitting together it made it
easier to accept our evidence.
610
00:46:20,103 --> 00:46:23,862
In 2001,
Scottish judges
sentence him to life
611
00:46:23,965 --> 00:46:27,931
for the murder of 270 people.
612
00:46:28,034 --> 00:46:33,206
Two years later, the government
of Libya officially accepts
responsibility for the bombing
613
00:46:33,310 --> 00:46:36,620
and pays $2.7 billion
to the families involved.
614
00:46:40,482 --> 00:46:44,068
Anger is also aimed
at Pan Am for the role
it played in the disaster.
615
00:46:46,379 --> 00:46:50,586
A Scottish inquiry
points a finger at the company.
616
00:46:50,689 --> 00:46:56,689
The passenger who checked
the bomb onto Flight 103
did not get on board.
617
00:46:56,793 --> 00:47:03,000
It's a fact that Pan Am could
have discovered, had it been
following proper procedures.
618
00:47:03,103 --> 00:47:08,241
One of the things we discovered
when we looked into the bombing
of Pan Am Flight 103
619
00:47:08,344 --> 00:47:14,310
was that there were several bags
on that plane that did not
correspond to passengers.
620
00:47:17,344 --> 00:47:20,896
One of the changes
that came about as a result
of the Air India bombing
621
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:23,068
was that airlines were forced
to make sure
622
00:47:23,172 --> 00:47:26,758
no bag was put on a plane
without a passenger
accompanying it.
623
00:47:28,379 --> 00:47:31,172
It's called passenger-baggage
reconciliation.
624
00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:36,896
Without proper notification,
625
00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:41,965
Pan Am had stopped matching
passengers and baggage
at Heathrow airport.
626
00:47:42,068 --> 00:47:47,517
So that rule that said all
passengers and luggage have to
be matched was not followed.
627
00:47:47,620 --> 00:47:50,724
The company
was eventually found guilty
of willful misconduct.
628
00:47:59,551 --> 00:48:03,551
After the crash
and the court ruling,
Pan Am declared bankruptcy.
629
00:48:08,137 --> 00:48:12,137
Twenty years after the bombing
of Pan Am Flight 103,
630
00:48:12,241 --> 00:48:15,827
its shattered fuselage
still stands
in Farnborough, England.
631
00:48:17,724 --> 00:48:21,103
Those pieces may soon
be used to train investigators
632
00:48:21,206 --> 00:48:22,448
here and
around the world.
633
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:27,827
A critical aid in case
terrorists strike again.
634
00:48:30,758 --> 00:48:34,896
The enduring feeling
I have as a result of Lockerbie,
635
00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:39,827
is the tremendous level
of cooperation we had
from all the agencies.
636
00:48:39,931 --> 00:48:43,862
And considering that there
were about two and half thousand
people with the military,
637
00:48:43,965 --> 00:48:48,448
the police and so on
involved in this,
I think that's a great tribute.
638
00:48:50,310 --> 00:48:56,724
Lockerbie was
a rare occasion that we felt
honored to be a part of
639
00:48:56,827 --> 00:48:59,586
to help make,
to help make this happen.
We played small roles,
640
00:48:59,689 --> 00:49:04,034
but everybody played small roles
to make big contributions
to an overall success.
641
00:49:06,896 --> 00:49:08,241
In the town of Lockerbie,
642
00:49:08,344 --> 00:49:10,655
there's little
evidence today of the horror
643
00:49:10,758 --> 00:49:12,827
that exploded from the sky
20 years ago.
644
00:49:14,965 --> 00:49:19,000
In a small church
near where the dying plane's
cockpit landed,
645
00:49:19,103 --> 00:49:22,448
is a stark reminder
of the toll of terror,
646
00:49:22,551 --> 00:49:25,482
and the importance of bringing
the guilty to justice.