Pan Am Flight 214

Pan Am Flight 214
Photograph of an aircraft parked at an airport
A Pan Am Boeing 707-121 aircraft similar to the aircraft involved in the crash
Accident
DateDecember 8, 1963
SummaryIn-flight explosion and break up caused by lightning strike
SiteElkton, Maryland, United States
39°36′47.8″N 75°47′29.7″W / 39.613278°N 75.791583°W / 39.613278; -75.791583
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 707-121
Aircraft nameClipper Tradewind
OperatorPan American World Airways
IATA flight No.PA214
ICAO flight No.PAA214
Call signCLIPPER 214
RegistrationN709PA
Flight originIsla Verde International Airport
StopoverFriendship Airport
DestinationPhiladelphia Int'l Airport
Occupants81
Passengers73
Crew8
Fatalities81
Survivors0

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.