Lockerbie - Sky Atlantic

[witchycat2]

Is anyone watching this? Stars Colin Firth as Jim Swire.

The first episode was horrifying when they depicted the plane crashing down on Lockerbie. The bodies, the baby, the seats, the woman hanging in a tree... the little boy who went out for a bike ride and then returned to a crater where his house once was. His whole family gone.

I wasn't even born when it happened, but I've read quite a bit about the politics and events that have followed. This may be a controversial 'drama' but it does illustrate the real horrors of that night.

How terribly terribly sad.

That must have made it even worse for the families! That they could have survived, but of course it was freezing in December in Scotland. Also, surely it must have been freezing during the fall from such an unbelievable height?

surely it must have been freezing during the fall from such an unbelievable height?

That’s side of things is inevitably a bit grim, not sure of the figures for that night but it could quite possibly have been in the region of -50 Celsius at the sort of height the explosion happened.

The only saving grace is that various factors, most especially hypoxia, would probably meant very few of the victims would have had much awareness of events.

I read that a stewardess from around the nose cone had grass in her hand, as if she'd grabbed it

Surviving the fall IMHO is unlikely but being conscious is another matter.

No one survived the fall from the twin towers, the plane broke up at 22 times that height.

Not my idea of entertainment.

Fab, thanks for your contribution

Is it only on Sky Atlantic?

Wikki says it is on Now Tv

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockerbie:_A_Search_for_Truth

I think it's very likely some were conscious when they hit the ground. The cabin was pressurised when it started to break up so for any who blown out with the initial incident hypoxia wouldn't really have time to make them lose consciousness and as they fell the amount of oxygen would increase. Whether they then survived the impact is a different matter. I'm ex cabin crew, I've spent a fair bit of time discussing various scenarios.

[I guess if there’s appetite for some discussion of this I’ll make another comment, those not happy look away now]

Probably, to some extent,,,though of course in the event of a very rapid decompression the numbers you see in the standard tables on this matter are very much reduced.

For understandable reasons civil training on subject this tends centre on decompression in a relatively benign cabin…and there’s not much talk of the effect of almost instant exposure to minus a lot of degrees and certainly not on the potential effects of windblast…

@notimagain no that isn't discussed and aside from SEP any more general conversation would have been in CRM with FD or the galley not in specific training.

I honestly would like to believe that they were all unconscious and hope they were but it isn't a definite.

In regards to appetite for the discussion, I guess as I have friends who still fly, have had to train for the what ifs whilst at work previously and have had discussions about what may or may not happen, I don't feel as uneasy about it. My apologies to anyone who may have been upset by my post.

How patronising are you ?.

I think people have survived falls from planes where a parachute failed. Didn't the wife of the murderous police officer who tampered with her parachute survive with relatively small injuries (given the height)?

They have, but it's obviously (?) down to extreme luck in what they landed on or in: slopes, snow, trees, that sort of thing.

I think the record is something like 33000 feet (as I recall it that was a stewardess in eastern europe in an aircraft that was victim of bombing..)., she possibly got some protection from part of the aircraft structure, I can't remember the exact details.

Remember watching the coverage in the news with my Mum. She had old friends in Lockerbie and knew the town well so it was particularly affecting for her. It was days before Christmas.

Here's the article @sashh

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/267865.stm

Watched the recent documentary on it so don't think I'll watch the dramatisation.

I was at a friend's house in Wales when her mum who lived around 10 miles from Lockerbie, phoned to say they'd just heard a loud noise and could see the sky lit up but didn't know what had happened.
We turned on the news and minutes later we all knew.

A week or 2 later we drove up to visit my family in Glasgow and could see the crater on the side of the road.

The documentary is worth a watch. The kindness of the women in the town who spent weeks going through all the belongings of the victims. Washing and ironing the clothes to return them to the families.
That bit stuck in my head.

Patronising?! Not in the slightest. Facetious, yes.
Were you expecting anything different when you joined a serious thread about something you dont want to watch, simply to tell us it's not your idea of entertainment, which comes across as a sneery to those are interested?

amp.abc.net.au/article/101413154

People don't parachute from 6 miles up, so surviving is possible.

The flight attendant who survived was wedged between one of those food trollies and part of the plane. She broke multiple bones.

Changeitup81 thank you that is interesting.

So much on TV isn't entertainment anyway is it. The news for starters. With so much stuff just flooding multiple channels these days it always amazes me when something as high quality and well done as this comes to our screens. I think it will have a life long affect on me in a similar way to Mr Bates and the Post Office or the Russell T Davies drama It's a Sin.
I knew about the real life events but watching the stories unfold in front of you on a screen personalises it. Especially when a drama is so well done and powerful.

@sashh

People don't parachute from 6 miles up, so surviving is possible.

For info some actually do (either deliberately or are forced to due circumstances) but they usually have very specialist equipment in addition to parachutes to cope with the environment.

Maybe it deserves a different thread, but I have just started watching on BBC "The Bombing of Pan Am 103" and I had no idea that there was a passenger who had actually missed the plane by minutes because he was having a drink at the airport bar. I have never heard this before. I don't think any other Lockerbie dramas or documentaries mentioned him.

This is him: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7586498.stm

I had never heard about him either. Goodness, what a thing. I can't even imagine what he was thinking when he found out what had happened.