On 21 December 1988, shortly before Pan Am Flight 103 took off from London's Heathrow airport at 18:25 hours, FBI Assistant Director Oliver "Buck" Revell reportedly rushed out onto the tarmac and pulled his son and daughter-in-law off the plane. The Lockerbie bombing was not the first time authorities were warned of an impending terrorist attack. The situation would repeat itself five years later in New York City, and seven years later in Oklahoma. It was an all too eerie coincidence.
Typically, U.S. authorities disingenuously denied receiving any warnings, as they would later do in New York and Oklahoma. Yet, as in those cases, evidence of prior knowledge would eventually become known. "It subsequently came to me on further inquiries that they hadn't ignored [the warnings]," said a Pan Am security officer. "A number of VIPs were pulled off that plane. A number of intelligence operatives were pulled off that plane."
Due to the warnings posted in U.S. embassies by the State Department (but not forwarded to Pan Am), many government employees avoided the flight. In fact, the Boeing 747 jumbo jet was only two-thirds full that busy holiday evening. South African president P W Botha and several high-ranking officials were advised by state security forces to change their reservations at the last hour. The South African State Security forces have a close relationship with the CIA.