PanAm 103: Sad Anniversary

With all the tragedy going-on, I forgot to remember the sad anniversary of the bombing of PanAm 103 back on Dec. 21,1988. I was teaching at the time and one of my students lost his dad in this tragedy. There was no mention of this yesterday by the news media but I was a spotter back then and remember seeing N739PA "Maid of the Seas" arriving on Rwy 22L back in July. Soon afterwards, visitors no longer could freely roam around the roof of Terminal 3 and barbed-wire fences were the result. Hopefully, this date will be mentioned for the 25th Anniversary next year. In retrospect, the JFK Tragedy as well as Pearl Harbor both got little or no mention.

Yep, I know the parents of Mark Tobin. His mother was very active in one of the country clubs I worked at womens' golf program and spoke of him all the time. This article highlights a lot of what the family goes through.

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/l...rsary-1.885683

Several years ago I had the privelege of meeting Bob Monetti, who lost his son Richard. The "Victims of PanAm Flight 103" support group that he helped to form is considered to be the precursor to the current National Air Disaster Alliance and Foundation, which is where I met Bob as I was completing my dissertation concerning this subject area.

http://www.victimsofpanamflight103.org/

http://www.planesafe.org/


I did see a little blurb about the anniversary on the news when I was up in NY over the past few days.