On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was seven minutes into level cruise over southern Scotland when the cockpit voice recorder captured a single loud sound and stopped. What happened over the next three seconds is one of the most precisely reconstructed events in aviation history — and almost none of it came from the black boxes. Join Alice and Zach for the story of the people aboard Clipper Maid of the Seas, the thirty-eight minutes of a completely ordinary flight, and the night a small Scottish town became the largest crime scene in the world. Part one of two.

Sources:

• Aircraft Accident Report 2/90: Report on the accident to Boeing 747-121, N739PA at Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, Scotland on 21 December 1988 — Air Accidents Investigation Branch, UK Department of Transport
• Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 — victim registry and memorial records
• Remembering Pan Am 103 — Syracuse University
• The Crew of Pan Am Flight 103 — Confessions of a Trolley Dolly
• Mayday: Air Disasters, Season 7, Episode 2 — "Lockerbie"

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online:

• Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com
• Email: finalboardingcallpodcast@gmail.com
• Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod
• Facebook: Final Boarding Call

Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.