 A Pan Am Boeing 707-121 aircraft similar to the aircraft involved in the crash | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | December 8, 1963 |
| Summary | In-flight explosion and break up caused by lightning strike |
| Site | Elkton, Maryland, United States 39°36′47.8″N 75°47′29.7″W / 39.613278°N 75.791583°W |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 707-121 |
| Aircraft name | Clipper Tradewind |
| Operator | Pan American World Airways |
| IATA flight No. | PA214 |
| ICAO flight No. | PAA214 |
| Call sign | CLIPPER 214 |
| Registration | N709PA |
| Flight origin | Isla Verde International Airport |
| Stopover | Friendship Airport |
| Destination | Philadelphia Int'l Airport |
| Occupants | 81 |
| Passengers | 73 |
| Crew | 8 |
| Fatalities | 81 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Pan Am Flight 214 was a scheduled flight of Pan American World Airways from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Baltimore, and then to Philadelphia in the United States. On December 8, 1963, while flying from Baltimore to Philadelphia, the Boeing 707-121 crashed near Elkton, Maryland. All 81 passengers and crew on the plane were killed. The crash was Pan Am's first fatal accident with the 707, which it had introduced to its fleet five years earlier.
An investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board concluded that a lightning strike had probably ignited fuel vapor in one of the aircraft's fuel tanks, causing an explosion that destroyed the left wing. The exact manner of ignition was never determined, but the investigation increased awareness of how lightning can damage aircraft, leading to new regulations that resulted in safety improvements. The crash also inspired research into the safety of several types of aviation fuel and into ways of changing the design of aircraft fuel systems to make them safer in the event of lightning strikes.