Pan Am Flight 214

Pan Am Flight 214
	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 Isla Verde International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Friendship Airport near Baltimore, and then to Philadelphia International Airport. On December 8, 1963, while flying from Baltimore to Philadelphia, the Boeing 707-121 serving the flight crashed near Elkton, Maryland. All 81 occupants of 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 the probable cause of the crash was a lightning strike that had ignited fuel vapors 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.