Monthly operational bulletin, Special Edition, December 21, 1988

              In-Flight Service
			
MO	NTH LY OPERATIONAL		BULLETIN1
	Mïm Wmmm WÊÊÊ		
SPECIAL EDITION
CORPORATE LIBRARY
FEB 2 1 1989
IN MEMORIAM
Pan Am Flight 103
December 21, 1988 PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS
Tribute by our Chairman
(Text of T.G. Plaskett at Memorial Services)
When someone we love dies as part of the natural sequence of nature, we grieve; we feel the pain and sorrow of the loss.
At the same time, we find the ability to accept such death with a certain amount of understanding; it is the order of things, we say, it is part of life’s natural plan.
But, the senseless murders of sixteen crew members of our Pan Am family, other Pan Am employees, innocent citizens of Lockerbie, Scotland, and hundreds of passengers who were on Flight 103 leaves little room for gracious acceptance. We are angry, and rightly so. This vicious and cowardly act not only killed decent and innocent men, women, and children, it violated all of us, each of you, me, and all good and caring human beings with whom we share this world. We are all angry at the assault this act of indiscriminate destruction makes upon mankind itself. A piece of every one of us died on December twenty-first. Future Christmases will never be quite the same again.
This tragedy occurred at an especially significant time of the year, a time filled with love of our fellow human beings and family, a time which is synonymous with peace on earth and good will towards men.
The three members of Flight 103’s cockpit crew, highly trained and skilled, carefully did what they’d done so well thousands of times before - guide an aircraft, that incredible monument to
man’s technological achievement, to a destination where those in their charge, our customers and fellow crew members, looked forward to celebrating the season with loved ones.
Thirteen skilled and proud Flight Attendants went about their duties in the professional and pleasant manner for which they were trained, something that came so naturally to them. Those who were based in New York would reunite, too, with family and friends. Members of the crew who were based in London would return the next day to celebrate with their loved ones at home.
Two hundred and forty-three passengers settled back in anticipation of arrival in New York, where family and friends waited. Spirits aboard Flight 103 surely were high. After all, this is the time of peace on earth and good will towards men.
Thousands of feet below, the men, women and children of Lockerbie, Scotland, a small Scottish town unknown in global terms, shared the joy of this season with each other, good people, loving people.
Flight 103, like every flight throughout our long history, lifted into the sky that night to bring people together from faraway places, to shrink the globe, to allow men and women of diverse cultures and beliefs to touch each other, to better understand each other. It was, like every other flight, launched in the spirit of peace.
But, someone does not understand this, or refuses to accept it, and, in that split second on a dark night, the high spirits
were shattered, and we were left with our shock, our anger, and with a profound sense of personal loss.
But, we also know, and feel deep inside ourselves, that simple anger cannot and must not be the legacy left us by our fellow Pan Am family members who lost their lives, and by the innocent men, women and children who perished with them in the sky and on the ground.
Those members of the Pan Am family who have gone before us were called upon, on occasion, to face adversity, and always showed their strength by taking the grief, the sorrow, the frustration and, yes, the anger they felt, and turning it into a positive and productive spirit in honor of those they’d lost. We can do no less for the victims of Flight 103. It is the single greatest way to honor their memory.
I have been with this proud company for just about a year. This is the first time I’ve been called upon to see firsthand the remarkable capacity for professionalism, love and human kindness you all possess - computer specialists volunteering to help grieving families, London-based employees opening their homes to those in need, Pan Am men and women calling in from all over the system and asking, “What can I do to help?”
At the same time, countless citizens of Lockerbie, Scotland, put aside their personal grief to be of help to others. The character and humanity of the people of Lockerbie is exemplary. We have been sustained by it, and we are extremely grateful.
(Continued on page 2)