The Peter Dix Scholarship

Pam Dix writes: Peter Dix was one of 270 people killed in the bombing on 21 December 1988. A passenger on the aircraft, Peter was on his way to New York for a one-day business meeting in his role as a management consultant. The oldest of four children born in Dublin, Ireland, at 35 years old Peter had lived in Germany, New York, then London, bringing his personal flair and style to bear in his relationships and work life. An energetic and inspirational person, Peter had a wide range of interests, including sailing, in which he represented Ireland in the 1976 Olympics.

The Lockerbie disaster, as it is commonly referred to, presented a unique challenge to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), one that they met with both professionalism and integrity. They achieved this while maintaining a people-centred approach, inviting family members to Farnborough to see the reconstruction of Pan Am 103 and hear explanations of what had been learned through the investigation, explaining what had happened to the aircraft, and to the people. Their attention to detail, honesty and integrity were clear – however difficult the information they had to present to families, it was given with honesty, openness and compassion. The AAIB was a beacon of light at a time when others in authority struggled with how to treat families, restricting access to information and making judgements about our capacity to cope with the truth. It was a relief to have contact with those who understood the need to have our questions answered directly. The AAIB accepted this as a fundamental human right, which was ground-breaking at that time, setting the tone for accident investigators of the future.

Peter’s death catapulted the family into a shocking and painful world of catastrophe, dominated by a powerful sense of loss, but also a thirst for information. This led to joining other bereaved people as a group, not least to do all we could to help prevent such a disaster from happening again.

Speaking to students on the international Fundamentals of Accident Investigation courses at Cranfield provided an opportunity to illustrate what it truly means to be on the receiving end of a disaster and to consider ways to mitigate the impact.

The personal legacy of Peter Dix, and each life cut short by Lockerbie, lies in that they are remembered as individuals, but also in the recognition of the many strands that led to that tragedy. The consequences of decisions made in the aftermath, which can either worsen or alleviate the impact on the bereaved, are powerful – and are universally applicable whatever the circumstances of a disaster, or the background of those affected.

Accident investigators are necessarily at the heart of an event. They can be motivated and inspired by the fact that their work in keeping the human elements at the forefront alongside the technical investigation can have a life-long positive effect on those left behind.