Most people over a certain age clearly remember exactly what they were doing and who they were with the day they were told that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. Many people today remember feeling the same numb shock when a passenger jet fell from the sky onto the quiet village of Lockerbie, Scotland. Although many who remember the tragedy are aware that the Libyan government ultimately accepted responsibility for the disaster. What may not have been clear was that the Pan Am Flight 103 air crash investigation determined that Pan American Airlines was guilty of wilful misconduct because they had failed to match each piece of luggage in the hold with the right passenger.
There had been no prior indication of trouble with the aircraft before it left Frankfurt. Bombs are a recurring nightmare for everyone in the commercial aviation industry. Most bombs tend to be hidden inside luggage in the hold.
History has recorded at least one incident in every decade since 1940 where passenger aircraft have been shot down. SAMs, missiles and other artillery has been used in these occasions.
In 2007, a plane that was coming for a landing at a U. S. Military base in Balad, Iraq, crashed. Thirty-four people were killed and one was seriously injured when the Antonov An-26 came down. Officials tried to pass it off as a result of bad weather, but there was evidence to suggest to some people that the aircraft had been attacked by a missile.
One really nasty incident took place over three days in September 1993. One Transair Georgia airliner after another was shot down by SAMs (surface-to-air missiles) on September 21, 22 and 23. The first one, a flight from Sochi carrying 22 passengers and 5 crew, ended up in the Black Sea. All souls aboard perished. The next day, an airliner carrying Georgian soldiers, crashed on the runway after being shot down. The final episode in the trilogy ended with the death of a crew member when the plane was struck by a mortar or some other type of artillery.
Also in 1994, American military forces shot down an Iranian Air Force C-130 as it was transporting diplomatic staff. All 13 crew and 19 passengers were killed. In a separate incident that same year, the presidents of two African states, Rwanda and Burundi, were sharing an aircraft when they were shot down by rocket fire close to the capital of Rwanda.
In 1980, a DC-9-10/15 transporting 81 passengers landed in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Napolean coast near the island of Ustica. The then-president of Italy believed the attack had been carried out by French nationals. It wasn't until 2013 that a criminal court in Italy found that the flight had been clearly shot down by a missile.
The earliest recorded incident of a civilian passenger airliner being shot down was Finnish civilian transport and passenger plane on its way from Tallinn, Estonia, to Helsinki in Finland, on June 14, 1940. This was three months after the Winter War. The aircraft was intercepted and shot down by two Soviet torpedo bombers.
There had been no prior indication of trouble with the aircraft before it left Frankfurt. Bombs are a recurring nightmare for everyone in the commercial aviation industry. Most bombs tend to be hidden inside luggage in the hold.
History has recorded at least one incident in every decade since 1940 where passenger aircraft have been shot down. SAMs, missiles and other artillery has been used in these occasions.
In 2007, a plane that was coming for a landing at a U. S. Military base in Balad, Iraq, crashed. Thirty-four people were killed and one was seriously injured when the Antonov An-26 came down. Officials tried to pass it off as a result of bad weather, but there was evidence to suggest to some people that the aircraft had been attacked by a missile.
One really nasty incident took place over three days in September 1993. One Transair Georgia airliner after another was shot down by SAMs (surface-to-air missiles) on September 21, 22 and 23. The first one, a flight from Sochi carrying 22 passengers and 5 crew, ended up in the Black Sea. All souls aboard perished. The next day, an airliner carrying Georgian soldiers, crashed on the runway after being shot down. The final episode in the trilogy ended with the death of a crew member when the plane was struck by a mortar or some other type of artillery.
Also in 1994, American military forces shot down an Iranian Air Force C-130 as it was transporting diplomatic staff. All 13 crew and 19 passengers were killed. In a separate incident that same year, the presidents of two African states, Rwanda and Burundi, were sharing an aircraft when they were shot down by rocket fire close to the capital of Rwanda.
In 1980, a DC-9-10/15 transporting 81 passengers landed in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Napolean coast near the island of Ustica. The then-president of Italy believed the attack had been carried out by French nationals. It wasn't until 2013 that a criminal court in Italy found that the flight had been clearly shot down by a missile.
The earliest recorded incident of a civilian passenger airliner being shot down was Finnish civilian transport and passenger plane on its way from Tallinn, Estonia, to Helsinki in Finland, on June 14, 1940. This was three months after the Winter War. The aircraft was intercepted and shot down by two Soviet torpedo bombers.
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