CIVIL AERONAUTICS BOARD
AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT
PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS, INC
BOEING 707-121, N709PA
NEAR ELKTON, MARYLAND
DECEMBER 8, 1963
SYNOPSIS
A Pan American World Airways, Inc., Boeing 707-121, N709PA, Flight 214, crashed at 2059 e.s.t., December 8, 1963, near Elkton, Maryland.
Flight 214 was in a holding pattern awaiting an instrument approach to the Philadelphia International Airport when it was struck by lightning. Immediately thereafter, the aircraft was observed to be on fire. A large portion of the left wing separated in flight and the aircraft crashed in flames approximately ten nautical miles southwest of the New Castle, Delaware VOR. All persons aboard, 73 passengers and eight crew members, perished in the crash and the aircraft was destroyed.
The Board determines the probable cause of this accident was lightning-induced ignition of the fuel/air mixture in the No. 1 reserve fuel tank with resultant explosive disintegration of the left outer wing and loss of control.
Accident
Pan American Flight 214, a Boeing 707-121, N709PA, departed Friendship International Airport, Baltimore, Maryland, for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at 2024[1] December 8, 1963. The aircraft, with 73 passengers and a crew of eight, was on an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) clearance. Flight 214 reported over the New Castle, Delaware VOR at 2042 and was instructed to hold at 5,000 feet, west of the VOR. At 2058 a "MAYDAY"[2] transmission was heard from the flight. Shortly thereafter, the pilot of another aircraft broadcasted that "Clipper 214 is going down in flames."
Flight 214 crashed two miles east of Elkton, Maryland, at 2059. All persons aboard the aircraft were killed instantly. The aircraft was destroyed by explosion, impact, and fire.
