Captain MacQuarrie had many years experience in flying
a 747 for Pan Am. He was an active member of his worker union and participated
actively in a series of successive strikes against the company few years
earlier.
Captain MacQuarrie had many years experience in flying
a 747 for Pan Am. He was an active member of his worker union and participated
actively in a series of successive strikes against the company few years
earlier.
I haven't been
able to find much information about the flight crew, i.e. pictures, background,
flight history etc. This proves, that whenever there happens an aircraft
disaster, focus is put on the passengers, despite that it is the flight
crew who often has the worst and hardest job of calming passengers, forgetting
their own fright and fear.....
Should anyone have something to tell about the flight crew, please send it to this Pan Am 103-e-mail box.
Captain J.B.MacQuarrie
Captain Herb Fisher writes:
writes:
"I was fortunate enough to know Jim MacQuarrie both as an ALPA Member
when he was MEC Chairman (President) of ALPA at Pan Am and as a Crewmember.
I flew First Officer for him a number of times on the L-1011- in fact,
he was the Captain on my last Pan Am Flight before I went to United Airlines
as part of the Pacific Route Sale.
Jim had the opportunity to go to United as well, which was the obvious choice for those of us considering security and advancement. We all loved Pan Am, but I guess Jim loved it more than most.
Jim exemplified the Union Movement at its best. He could be a very tough negotiator and, if necessary, a thorn in the side of "the Company", but he always had the long term best interests of Pan Am at heart. He understood that destroying the organization that wrote the paychecks was sometimes possible, occasionally popular, but never very smart. He performed an impressive balancing act in precarious times and predictably made enemies among Union and Company people.
Jim was an impressive guy. He could do a fair impression of a Teamsters' Shop Steward if necessary, but he was extremely intelligent and an exceptionally fine Airman. I know Jim had a Son who was flying off a Carrier in the Med in '86 and later ended up for Act III at Pan Am. If he reads this, I'm the guy who gave Jim the Mushroom Cloud "Now it's Miller Time" T- Shirt to send to you. Like to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Herb Fischer
Captain (Retired)
PAA/UAL
***********************************************************
KarinB364@aol.com writes:
I was a flight attendant for Pan
Am at the time of the bombing. I was usually sceduled to fly 103 because
I was language qualified. I knew Stacie Franklin fairly well. She graduated
in the training class about 2 months after I did.
She was only a flight attendant
for about 6 months before she died. She was a sweet, young girl and this
should never have happened to her. Like myself, she never wanted to be
anything eccept a flight attendant.
Jim MacQuarrie and I also flew together
often. When I first started with Pan Am we had to fly for 6 months as "Silver
Wingers". After our probation period we received our gold wings. When I
had passed my probation period it happend
to coincide with a flight to Frankfurt.
Jim took the crew to a restaurant which was always frequented by flight
attendants. The place was always packed. Jim stood up and announced to
the whole room that he had a special announcement. He presented my gold
wings to me in front of about 100 of my peers. I will never forget how
special he made this for me.
I am writing this to you because
I though that it ws important for people to know how special these people
were. Also how hard it is to put your life "on the line" every day. I quit
a few months after the crash. I just couldn't deal with it all. I hope
people never forget that this never had to happen. A crash is one thing,
but a bombing just never makes sense.
*************************************
Andrea Strickland writes:
I can't believe it has been 9 years
since this tragedy has occured. It still haunts me to this day! I
was watching
Nightline last night and saw a feature
on how the Scottish people dealt with the destruction and how they lended
a helping hand to all of the suffering victims (Great story). I have
always been interested with any information I can find about Pan Am flight103
because one of my closest friends was the youngest crew member on that
plane, Stacie Denise Franklin.
I
really don't know what information you are lookng for about the crew members
and frankly I have lost contact with her parents so I don't know want to
step on any toes saying things that the family doesn't want repeated.
But I will tell you this, I truly have still never known a more caring
and friendly individual in all of my life! Stacie was very determined
and always got what she wanted. As you can see, she was only 20 years
old and was a flight attendant on a major airline.
Stacie lived in Phoenix, Arizona up until she joined the crew with Pan Am and it was then her parents moved to San Diego. She was such a people person and she had so many friends that it was a hard adjustment for her and she was actually planning on quitting in May 1989 to attend a University. What Stacie didn't know, and what makes this tragedy much more harder to bear is that Stacie was on her way home to spend Christmas with her family and her boyfriend. Her longtime boyfriend, whom she loved and wanted to marry desperately, had bought her an engagement ring and was planning to ask her to marry him on Christmas (this was something she had always wanted).
After the crash, I collected every peice of literature I could find on the crash, and even put together a video tribute of her, which was shown at her memorial service (which happened to be the largest memorial service I have ever attended). Her death received a lot of press in Phoenix, and many from the community came to pay their tribute.
To this day I am still haunted by
her death. I always wonder how she died or where she landed.
Was she alive as she was falling? I'll never know. I just became
a member of the "internet surf club" and decided to check out any
sites pertaining to the crash. Yours is fabulous! And I thank you!
It is very hard to find anything out about the crew because your're right,
the focus is put on the passengers. I did one time see a clipping
from one of the wreckage pictures on some doucmentary and it was Stacie's
passport laying on the ground and blowing in the wind. The reporters
didn't comment on who it was, but I knew and it was at that moment when
the whole thing became very real to me!
**************************************
Robert Martin writes:
I was based in JFK at the time of
103. I was first hired back in 1973, and worked with Mary Murphy. Miss
Mary was not only my friend, but my mentor and teacher as well. I flew
on couple of flights with Mary and you could'nt ask for a more better friend
than her. When I got my gold wings after probation, Mary gave me a small
English tea pot when I passed probation as a gift for congratulating me
on getting my gold wings.
She was a very sweet lady who loved her job. She encouraged me to train for Purser and always had a kind word of encouragement. The last time I saw Mary was when my mum had to fly to London to bury her mother. Mary was on that flight and she took care of my mother all the way. In fact, mary took my mother from coach to first class where my mother could have some privacy and quiet. Needless to say, Mum was very glad to have Mary around.
When I was flying home from FRA to JFK, we all got word of 103. My heart sank,and I could'nt say what I wanted to say. I was so speechless. I also knew Stacie very well,and it broke my heart to loose two dear friends on that flight. Mary taught me everything there was to know about being a flight attendant. Always a smile, always a kind word,and never failed with her British sense of humor as well. To this day, I cannot look at the pictures of what happened. I am still in shock after all these years!!
I stayed on with Pan Am after 103 until the bitter end. When we landed in LAX, we found out we no longer had a job with Pan Am. The cabin strippers were already on board taking things out as the passengers were leaving. I still think about Mary and Stacie from time to time. I now work as a In-Service Flight Director for a charter airline out of MSP and due to step down in September after 23 years of flying. Pan Am is still dear and near to my heart!! Especially our fallen commrades on 103. Let us think about our Pan Am family that died so quickly and think about the love they left behind. Let us not ever forget 103.
Thank you for letting me share.
Sincerely,
Robert Martin
Class 12-1973
SFO
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