Pan Am Flight 214

Infobox Airliner accident|name=Pan Am Flight 214
Crash

Image caption=The crashed Boeing 707 near Elkton, Md.
Date=December 8, 1963
Type= Lightning strike
Site= near Elkton, Maryland
Fatalities=81
Injuries=0
Aircraft Type=Boeing 707-121
Operator=Pan Am
Tail Number=airreg|N|709PA|disaster
Ship name="Clipper Tradewind"
Origin=Luis Munoz Marin International Airport
Stopover=Baltimore/Washington International Airport
Destination=Philadelphia International Airport
Passengers=73
Crew=8
Survivors =0

Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707-121 registered as airreg|N|709PA|disaster, was a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Baltimore to Philadelphia, which crashed on December 8, 1963 near Elkton, Maryland, after being hit by a lightning strike while in a holding pattern, killing all 81 persons on board.cite web|url=http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?file&fn=8&name=*P%3A%5CDOT%5Cairplane%20accidents%5Cwebsearch%5C120863.pdf|title= Pan Am Flight 214 CAB report (PDF) (Historical Aircraft Accident, 1963, Pan Am)]

Flight history

On December 8, 1963, Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707-121 four-engine turbojet named "Clipper Tradewind" by Pan Am, [Pan Am flights were called 'Clipper' by Air Traffic Control] took off from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 4:10 p.m. EST, for a flight to Philadelphia with 73 passengers and 8 crew on board. At 7:35 p.m. EST, Flight 214 made an intermediate stop at Friendship International Airport (now called Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, or BWI) for refueling. At 8:24 p.m. EST, Flight 214 departed. Due to high winds in the Philadelphia area, the crew chose to wait in a holding pattern with five other airplanes rather than attempt to land in Philadelphia.cite web | title=Aviation Safety Network | url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19631208-0 | accessdate=2006-06-12]

At 8:58 p.m. EST, while in the holding pattern, the aircraft was hit by lightning, which ignited fuel vapors in the number one (left) reserve tank, causing an explosion. The crew of Flight 214 managed to transmit a final message – "Mayday Mayday Mayday. Clipper 214 out of control. Here we go." – before it crashed near Elkton, Maryland. All 81 people on board were killed. cite web | title=Civil Aeronautics Board report | url=http://dnausers.d-n-a.net/dnetGOJG/081263.htm | accessdate=2006-06-12 ]

Investigation

The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) investigated the accident, and issued the following Probable Cause statement on March 3, 1965:

FAA reaction

As a result of the crash of Flight 214, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered lightning discharge wicks to be installed on all commercial jets flying inside U.S. airspace.cite web | title=Plane Crash Info Entry | url=http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1963/1963-54.htm | accessdate=2007-01-17]

Volatile fuel vapor recommendation

On December 17, 1963, nine days after the crash of Flight 214, Leon H. Tanguay, director of the CAB Bureau of Safety, sent a letter to the FAA recommending several safety modifications as part of future aircraft design. One modification related specifically to volatile fuel vapors that can form inside of partly empty fuel tanks, which may be ignited by various potential ignition sources and cause an explosion. Mr. Tanguay's letter suggested reducing the volatility of the fuel/air gas mixture by introducing an inert gas, or by using air circulation. Thirty three years later, [The full TWA 800 NTSB report was issued in 2000, but a safety recommendation regarding fuel vapor inerting was sent to the FAA on December 13, 1996, according to the NTSB report.] a similar recommendation was issued by the NTSB (the CAB's successor) after the TWA Flight 800 Boeing 747 crash on July 17, 1996, with 230 fatalities, which was also determined to have been caused by the explosion of a volatile mixture inside a fuel tank. [http://www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/2000/AAR0003.pdf TWA 800 NTSB AAR-00/03 Final Report, adopted August 23, 2000] ]

Guinness world record

The crash of Pan Am Flight 214 was registered in the Guinness Book of World Records (2005) as the "Worst Lightning Strike Death Toll". [http://web.archive.org/web/20051125201302/http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=53285 archive.org copy of] Guinness Book of World Records entry for Pan Am Flight 214] In 1971, LANSA Flight 508 was also brought down by a lightning strike, but has no mention in the Guinness Book of World Records, despite having more casualties (91 fatalities).

ee also

* Lists of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
* Air safety

Notes

External links

* [http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.net/ Civil Aeronautics Board reports] – digitized versions