I have a bizarre (in retrospect, embarrassing) initial memory of Pan Am 103. I was in the communications department at GE, one of the three major jet engine manufacturers. At the time, there had been several major plane crashes, and the engine manufacturer was always initially blamed for them (causing a huge amount of work for us). Therefore, my first task after any crash -- while the media was already calling -- was to determine whose engines were on the plane,. As soon as we determined it was a 747-121, we knew they were not GE engines. Shortly thereafter, the enormity of the tragedy became apparent (terrorism). And it was another day before I learned of all the SU students on the plane.
As I said at the outset, this is an embarrassing story, but it is reflective of how we sometimes live in our own little worlds... and see things through our own little prisms.