Issue Date: Thursday, December 22, 1988
About Syracuse Post Standard
OCR Text
No survivors were found from the Boeing 747 that was bound for New York City from London's Heathrow Airport. Authorities said the aircraft exploded into a huge destroying 40 homes and spreading burning wreckage for 10 miles... Ill-Fated Boeing Jetliner Had History of Cracks, Corrosion News Service Reports The Pan Am jumbo jetliner that crashed Wednesday in Scotland was the 15th 747 model delivered by the Boeing Co. and had a history of trouble that included cracks, corrosion, an on-board fire and smoke in the cabin, federal records show. of this characteristic of aging aircraft. The troubles are cited in service difficulty reports filed with the Federal Aviation Administration by Pan Am. A computer study of seven years' worth of these reports by the Los Angeles Times shows that since 1980, the Pan Am plane had experienced at least 24 mechanical difficulties severe enough to warrant official notation. Officials stress that it is still far too early to determine what caused Wednesday's crash, but aviation sources said the plane's abrupt disappearance from radar screens and the loss of radio contact at feet suggest the possibility of some sort of "catastrophic event" like a bomb explosion or sudden decompression caused by struc- tural failure. More than passengers and crew members of Boeing 747s had lost their lives in disasters involving the jumbo jet before Wednesday's crash, but Boeing said none of those deaths had been attributed to mechanical failure. "We've never had an incident yet that we know of that's been caused by mechanical said spokeswoman Elizabeth V. Reese. She added, however, that the cause of a South African Airways 747 crash off the coast of Africa in November 1987 has not been determined. Jack Gamble, a Boeing spokesman, said the plane that crashed Wednesday night was taken out of service between April 11 and Sept. 27, 1987, when it underwent substantial modifications at Boeing's facilities in Wichita, Kan. Gamble said the 1987 modification "invalidates'' the prior service difficulty reports, because any structural deficiencies would have been repaired at that time. The aircraft was put into the "civil reserve air fleet" program, an Air Force program that modifies civilian jetliners for iuiure use in war or national emergency. The plane was substantially disassembled and major structural parts were reinforced, Gamble said. For example, floor beams were reinforced to allow cargo to be carried.

  https://newspaperarchive.com/syracuse-p … -1988-p-1/
На 9 странице еще пишут, что самолет-то был старенький, на нем находили трещины, коррозию и были возгорания, но весной и летом предыдущего года он прошел ремонт и был как новенький.

И еще, пишут о потере хасидских бриллиантов на много миллионов

Diamond Dealers Believed on Flight New York Daily News NEW YORK As many as 15 Hasidic Jewish diamond dealers from Brooklyn possibly carry- ing millions of dollars in gems may have perished when Pan Am Flight 103 crashed into the Scot- tish countryside. Isaac Abraham, a prominent member of the Satmar Hasidic community, said he believes up to 15 Hasidic diamond dealers were returning from a weekly trading session in Belgium and Holland. He said several who were slated to be on the flight were saved when they missed the plane in London. Abraham said the dealers are believed to have been carrying millions of dollars in gems. He said the Hasidim make regu- tA HIHT ersll diamonds. They generally leave Brooklyn Sundays or Mondaysand return Wednesdays.

И вообще в газетах на следующий день вовсю утверждалось, что самолет был взорван бомбой.
Уверенность в этом аргументировалась сообщением, что в полицию звонили 13 декабря и предупреждали о бомбе именно на этом рейсе.
https://newspaperarchive.com/dixon-tele … ;pey=1988/
https://newspaperarchive.com/medicine-h … ;pey=1988/
И много других...