NBC News Clip: Pan Am Flight 103, Lockerbie (December 21, 1988) 

I worked for Boeing for 19 years and we used to do modification work on the 747's in Wichita, KS. We modified several of them for the U.S. military called the Civil Reserve Air Fleet. Basically an agreement between Pan Am and the military. They were converted so that the seats could be removed quickly and replaced with military cargo. The floors were beefed up and a big cargo door was added. Pam Am would continue to use them as commercial, but in the event of war or something else, the military would take possession of them and haul supplies. One Sunday I was working and the mod hangar was empty, and there sat the Clipper Maid of the Seas (Pan AM 103). I remember seeing that name painted on the cockpit area and thought it was a strange name. We were doing the mod work on her around April - Sept 1987. Anyway, I couldn't resist walking around in the big bird, the whole interior was torn out and lots of mod work going on, wires hanging everywhere, I went upstairs and peaked into the cockpit, etc. So, then one night, Dec 21st, 1988, about a year later, I was watching the news and saw this airplane had been blown up by a terrorist. I jumped and pointed at the TV and told my wife that was plane that I had told her about the year before. It was a surreal feeling knowing that I had been in that airplane. Such a tragedy and a loss of innocent souls.

Different Decade Same Problems....Pan Am 103. Thank you for sharing.

RIP To the passengers and crew of Pan Am Flight 103 and the 11 people on the ground

May God Bless you all in the US today and the families of those who lost their lives xx

Justice still needs to be served on those responsible...This was the end for Pan Am.

Kids, this is what "news" once looked like.

I was flying home from college when this happened. It was on the TVs in the airport as I waited for my delayed flight which just happened to be 103!! Imagine if this happened today everyone would lose they damn minds. Tom Brocaw was so calm talking about “carnage.”

I was in a pet store that day at noon here in Canada when I heard about the crash on the news.

Very impressive professional reporting, with all of their details reported accurately. Obviously it was too early to get the details of the crash right, but everything else is accurate. It turned out that it crashed over land because the plane was running late. It was supposed to have blown up over the Atlantic. And the plane was on fire due to the nose of the plane knocking off one of the engines as it fell away. The rest of the plane tumbled out of the sky without catching fire, with bits breaking off as it spiralled out of control. It only exploded once the centre section with all the fuel onboard hit the town.

Hard to believe it's been 35 years. I wasn't even born back then, as I was born in '04.

I think that was before they started matching luggage with passengers. If they began using that method before that flight it wouldn’t have happened.

Its sad that the plane crashed before christmas

I was staying at the YMCA in midtown Manhattan & remember the news flash on the tv that night. Horrible images of people breaking down in tears at JFK airport.

That map 0:48 when did New York City move to New Brunswick?

Scottish politicians shame for letting the murderer out of jail

If Pan American followed established rules and matched on board luggage with passengers on the plane, this crash wouldn't have happened.

Dreadful

I remember it well ! Terrible news at the time !