depressurize, and that hole will continue down the length of the plane. >> reporter: images of flight 9268 indicate a midair breakup, the tail section three miles from the main debris field. in the wreckage, you can make out the wings, the fuselage in front, noticeably missing the back of the passenger jet. in december 1988, pan am flight 103 was brought down by a suitcase bomb placed in a container with other luggage. the plastic explosives set on a timer exploded over lockerbie, scotland. the blast punched a 20-inch hole in the plane's left side just in front of the wings, the 747 disintegrated seconds after the blast. the plane's nose tore away. 259 on board and 11 people on the ground died. investigators eventually found pieces of the luggage that carried the bomb and a small fragment of a circuit board used as the timer, most importantly.