Flight History
On December 8, 1963, Pan American 214, operating as Clipper Tradewind departed Isla Verde International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 4:10pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) for a flight to Baltimore's Friendship Airport (now Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, or BWI), where 69 passengers disembarked.
At 8:24 p.m. EST, flight 214 departed for Philadelphia with 73 passengers and 8 crew members on board. Because of high winds in the area, the crew chose to wait in a holding pattern with five other airplanes rather than attempt to land in Philadelphia.
At 8:58 p.m. EST, while in the holding pattern, the aircraft was hit by lightning, which ignited fuel vapors in the No. 1 (left) reserve tank, causing an explosion that blew apart the outer portion of the jetliner's port wing. 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.
Read more about this topic: Pan Am Flight 214
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