Speculation circulated that a bomb may have destroyed the aircraft . '' The Philadelphia Inquirer '' , citing wire services it did not identify , stated that " the search for a motive is difficult because politically neutral Austria has generally stayed out of most international conflicts – such as the Persian Gulf war – that have made other countries ' airlines the targets of terrorist attacks . " The flight data recorder was completely destroyed , so only the cockpit voice recorder was of use . Pradit Hoprasatsuk , the head of the Air Safety Division of the Thailand Department of Aviation , stated , " the attempt to determine why the reverser came on was hampered by the loss of the flight data recorder , which was destroyed in the crash " . Upon hearing of the crash , Niki Lauda traveled to Thailand . He examined the wreckage and estimated that the largest fragment was about by , which was about half the size of the largest piece in the Lockerbie crash . In Thailand , Lauda attended a funeral for 23 unidentified passengers , and then traveled to Seattle to meet with Boeing representatives
Lockerbie crash
Pan Am Flight 103
Lauda Air Flight 004