AAIB admits Lockerbie error - Air Accident Investigation Branch research being used to pinpoint aircraft bomb blast

Airline Industry Information, May 25, 2000

AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2000 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

The Lockerbie trial has heard key technical evidence today (25 May) from a senior inspector with the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB).

The court heard that a complex formula used to calculate 'blast wave effects' after an explosion was incorrectly applied in the AAIB's 1990 report on the disaster. The calculation was used to determine the exact whereabouts of the initial spark, and the AAIB expert admitted in court this morning that the bomb which destroyed the Boeing 747 might have exploded closer to the fuselage skin than originally thought.

Much of the prosecution's case rests on a link between the two suspects and the supposed location of the bomb, inside a suitcase in a luggage container, and the defence team is hoping to cast doubts over the supposed point of detonation.

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