On Wednesday December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up while in flight. The plane had left London's Heathrow Airport (LHR) and was heading to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). The explosion killed all 243 passengers on board, all 16 crew members, as well as 11 local residents of Lockerbie where the pieces fell to earth. 'The event was thus named for the small village of Lockerbie in southern Scotland. After a lengthy investigation and trial, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi from Libya was convicted of involvement in the bombing.

UPDATE : On August 20, 2009, The Scottish government released him on compassionate grounds as he is suffering from terminal cancer. He arrives in Libya and is greeted by a cheering crowd. On August 21, 2009, World leaders and victims families express outrage over the release and scenes shown in media coverage of Al Megrahi's repatriation

1. December 5, 1988: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a security bulletin saying that on that day a man with an Arabic accent had telephoned the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki, Finland, and had told them that a Pan Am flight from Frankfurt, West Germany to the United States would be blown up within the next two weeks by someone associated with the Abu Nidal Organization.
2. December 13, 1988: An air travel warning was posted on bulletin boards in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, USSR and eventually distributed to the entire American community there, including journalists and businessmen.
3. December 21, 1988: Pan Am Flight 103 blows up over Lockerbie Scotland.
4. May 3, 2000: Trial of the two Libyans, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, accused of the 1988 PA103 bombing, begins.
5. January 31, 2001: Al Megrahi is convicted of murder, and is sentenced to life imprisonment. His co-accused, Fhimah, is found not guilty.
6. March 14, 2002: Al Megrahi's appeal against conviction is rejected.
7. June 28, 2007: Al Megrahi is granted a second appeal.
8. April 27, 2009: Al Megrahi's second appeal against conviction is to commence.
9. August 12, 2009: Sky News in Britain report that Al Megrahi will soon be freed on compassionate grounds; in consideration of his having terminal prostate cancer.
10. August 20, 2009: Al Megrahi is released and arrives in Libya.