Gilbert, then 15, was watching Bonanza with his younger sister when the news broke there had been a plane crash. In the days following the crash, area newspapers like the Delaware County Daily Times reported on the crash. The aberrations appearing in the traces of N709PA's readout at 32:15 after takeoff indicates the time of the explosion in the left wing. Years later when I had gone into the business and was hiring a sales engineer to take the place of one who was retiring, a guy came into my office to interview. It is located near the main impact point on Delancy Road, in a grassy center strip of Wheelhouse Drive, the entrance to Turnquist, a development that sprang up years afterward. The first, in November 1962, happened when a Los Angeles-bound Varig Airlines 707 struck a mountain. I am so sorry for your loss, Edwin. McCullers, Kenneth L., 45, captain, Sebastian, Fla . Onboard: 73 passengers and eight crew members. Other phenomena, of which less is known because of generation and measuring difficulties, that are considered potential ignition sources are plasma, shock waves and sparking due to induced voltages from extremely high current rise rates that occur. The history of this aircraft reveals no item that stands in casual relationship with the accident. 1. Certain phenomena associated with lightning discharges, some well defined, others more subtle and of which we have less finite information and which leave no physical evidence can ignite flammable mixtures. There was evidence of heat in the inlet of the ram air vent scoop. [1]:14[5] Witnesses of the crash described hearing the explosion and seeing the plane in flames as it descended. It was a 12-day recovery process. The fuselage had split in two, the cockpit was in a crater, that was covered in mud and engines flew further into yards past the field, it was like the people were put into a blender and fell in this muddy cornfield with one tree in the center. Notifications from this discussion will be disabled. Even though the aircraft was operating in precipitation at or near the freezing level, icing is not considered a factor. Memorial Day 1947, Eastern Airlines Flight 605 fell from the sky with 53 people on board, landing in a wooded area off Principio Road outside Port Deposit, according to records at the Historical Society. It was a natural response for the town to come together in a time of need. These streamers can have sufficient energy to ignite fuel vapors. Clipper 214 is going down in flames.. Flying to Puerto Rico meant several days at home before several days away. The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) investigated the accident, and issued the following Probable Cause statement on March 3, 1965: Probable Cause: Lightning-induced ignition of the fuel/air mixture in the no. Residents recalled their yards lighting up and houses shaking. The aircraft involved in the crash, N709PA, before being delivered to Pan Am, In-flight explosion and break up caused by. The fiery blast in the stormy Maryland sky caused the plane to break up in flight. Don't knowingly lie about anyone [15], The pilot was George F. Knuth, 45, of Long Island. 1 and 4 engines, pylons and sections of their cowling. It was shortly before dawn on Sept. 5, 1986, when approximately 400 passengers aboard Pan Am Flight 73 were taken hostage by four Palestinian terrorists. Four rivet heads and small areas of metal adjacent to the rivets were burned off the top surface near the trailing edge of the wing tip. I guess our minds do that.. There were three groups of golfers, the alumni from Northeastern University who took a winter vacation every year, two honeymoon couples and a young woman bringing her infant son to meet his grandparents for the first time. Some speculation arose that metal fatigue as a result of the aircraft's 1959 incident could be a factor, but the aircraft had undergone four separate maintenance overhauls since the accident without any issues having been detected. Thinking about the incident today, Shaffer questions whether it was easier for him to handle the situation than the older men in the fields, those who likely questioned what would happen to their families if they were killed in a horrific accident. Flight 214 crashed two miles east of Elkton, Maryland, at 2059. I think we have honored his memory in how we live our lives in a good way.. The flight was cleared to climb to 5,000 feet and recleared to the New Castle VOR. I was 6 at the time and my great uncle Bob, my name sake was kidled along with his wife Florence. The interior of the surge tank was heavily sooted on all sides and the sealant was burned inside. Crew list PanAm *Grubbs, Victor Captain *Bragg, Robert First Officer *Warns, George W. Flight Engineer *Cooper, John Observer in jump seat *Murillo Rivas, Juan Antonio Observer in jump seat *Kelly, Dorothy First class purser *Johnson, Carla J. Stewardess Use the 'Report' link on It would be two more days until Dr. Russell S. Fisher, state medical examiner, identified all the bodies. From the facts of the investigation, it has been determined that explosions occurred in the left reserve, center, and right reserve fuel tanks. My teenage years were horrible,when friends made reference to theyre Dads about what they did together I would walk away and cried cried cried !!! The exterior of the wing fuel tank ram vent was moderately sooted inboard of the recess in the bottom skin. Carol Knuth Sakoian is reminded of her father whenever she smells a cigar or hears classical music. Here we go." However, the turbulence in the area where N709PA was operating was light to moderate and was not of the strength normally associated with a loss of control or structural failure. [10] He had been involved in another incident in 1949 when, as pilot of Pan Am Flight 100, a Lockheed Constellation in flight over Port Washington, New York, a Cessna 140 single-engined airplane crashed into his plane. [1]:8, The recovery of the wreckage took place over a period of 12 days, and 16 truckloads of the debris were taken to Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, DC, for investigators to examine and reassemble. There was never a second thought about putting the Knuth children on planes after the crash. He died of a heart attack. Mae Grant, who was visiting her parents with her 3-month-old son at the Delancy Road family home at the time of the crash, recalled the dramatic moment in another previous interview with the Whig. Following the crash, firefighters worked to extinguish the burning wreckage off Delancy Road. SIGMET No. Be Truthful. Towns were abuzz about the Northeastern Expressway that President John F. Kennedy came to dedicate in a ceremony on Nov. 14. The long axis of the deposits varied from 18 degrees inboard to 4 degrees outboard. [21], Within days, investigators reported that the crash had apparently been caused by an explosion that had blown off one of the wing tips. This disaster remains the deadliest in . On December 8, 1963, the Boeing 707-121 serving the flight crashed near Elkton, Maryland, while flying from Baltimore to Philadelphia, after being hit by lightning. Decades later, the memories are still fresh for Elkton residents, although many who witnessed that night are now gone, and family and friends are still trying to find closure. Gilbert remembers his mother as jovial, with a good sense of humor. [15] He had 10,008 hours of flying experience, including 2,808 in Boeing 707 aircraft. At 7:35 p.m. EST, Flight 214 made an intermediate stop at Friendship . He always had a big garden, even when living on Long Island. Although the initial impact of the plane created a great blaze, by the time first responders arrived at the scene, the force of the plane falling to earth had buried pockets of fire into the ground. A radio call signifying an aircraft in distress. The paint had been discolored by heat and there was localized charring of the paint. An investigation by the Civil Aeronautics Board concluded that the 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 one of the wings. The largest single indication of lightning damage was an irregular shaped hole about 11/2 inches in diameter. In two small wreckage concentrations separate from the two previously mentioned paths, there were ten pieces, consisting of the Nos. Registered N454PA with manufacturer's serial number 19376/661, it had accumulated 21,625 airframe hours since its first flight in 1967. The aircraft involved was a Boeing 707-321B powered by Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B engines. The strange story of Pan Am Flight 914 is frequently shared by UFO blogs and . [13], In 1959, the aircraft had been involved in an incident in which the right outboard engine was torn from the wing during a training flight in France. Knuth, later called a hero pilot, was being too modest. They saw the Taj Mahal and the Buddhist temples in Thailand. This briefing included a discussion of SIGMET No. No links. The fiery blast in the stormy Maryland sky caused the plane to break up in flight. Meanwhile, the stroke leader continues on from the aircraft to another cloud or to the ground to complete the ionized channel for the electron avalanche. The Wilmington 2000 report had indicated a frontal passage at 1931. The stepped leader advances toward the ground in a series of discrete branching movements, forming an ionized path down from the cloud. The exact sequence and timing of the subsequent explosions and inflight fires are not known and are, in fact, somewhat academic with respect to the probable cause of the accident. Although much effort was expended, the physical evidence failed to disclose the precise mechanism of ignition which triggered the explosion in the left reserve fuel tank. In-flight fire damage was noted on the three steel tracks for the inboard flap on the track at the inboard end of the outboard flap, the inner end of the outboard flap, fragments of the spoilers, dump chute components, coverlip doors, and fragments of the fore flaps. On December 17, 1963, nine days after the crash of flight 214, Leon H. Tanguay, director of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Bureau of Safety, sent a letter to the FAA recommending several safety modifications as part of future aircraft design. [15] He had a total flying time of 6,066 hours, including 76 hours in the Boeing 707. Chris Knuth, son to the pilot, has found solace in digging through the details of the crash. Snopes previously debunked the story in 2019, the same year that a YouTube page called "Bright Side" breathed new life into the myth when it published a viral video that has been viewed more than 19.2 million times.. [2] Flight 214 left San Juan at 4:10pm. When relatives, friends and local witnesses gather in memory of the crash this weekend, members of the historical society will meet them privately to record their recollections. Although the circumstances and facts of the accident were applied in the planning of the research program, its scope and intent was to provide information that could be applied industry-wide and thus was not aimed at any specific aircraft. Thirty-eight mentioned an explosion at impact. The complete left wing tip, with portions of the left outer aileron and spar webs still attached, was found approximately 1.8 miles east-northeast of the main impact area. The discharge can also occur between oppositely charged regions within a cloud, or in different clouds. The detailed examination of surfaces, joints, rivets, screws, fittings, and fuel quality probes for physical evidence of ignition-producing sparks where ignitable fuel/air mixtures may normally be present disclosed no identifiable evidence of electrical arcing. Particular attention was devoted to fuel quantity probes, discontinuities in the structure which form the fuel tanks bonding, fuel tank access plates, filler cap assemblies, fuel vent outlets and also tank wall surfaces. [28], Many aircraft-design improvements emerged as a result of the new guidelines and regulations. A photo of the Pan American Boeing 707-121 prior to the crash on Dec. 8, 1963. 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. The then director of DuPonts engineering physics research laboratories told the paper he had once been on a plane struck by lightning and those inside the cabin hardly noticed; the metal skin of the airplane carried the lightnings current. For more information on this blog click here. To mark the passage of 50 years since the accident, the Historical Society of Cecil County held. Those waiting for loved ones to come home heard erroneous reports of a crash in Newark, Del., and began to worry. These streamers have been found to be in the duration and energy range required to ignite flammable mixtures. The Committee was informed currently on the investigative results and, conversely, persons responsible for the investigation were advised as information evolved from the research activities to the mutual benefit of all responsible parties. At first, he thought the glow was from a distant barn fire. [1]:2[3], As the flight approached Philadelphia, the pilots made radio contact with air traffic control near Philadelphia at 8:42pm. [22], Before this flight, lightning had not been known to cause a plane to crash, despite many instances of planes being struck. Most Americans were awakened to the reality of terrorism on September 11, 2001, but more than a decade earlier, a few days before Christmas in 1988, Pan Am Flight 103, bound to New York from. Sign up today! I certainly cant imagine anything worse, Scott said. But on Dec. 8, Gilbert had to call his grandparents to tell them his parents, Robert and Joyce, had died on Flight 215. At 8:24p.m. EST, flight 214 departed for Philadelphia with 73 passengers and 8 crew members on board. The crew of this flight observed a lightning strike on their aircraft while in the holding pattern. 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. Be Nice. I just found this article while trying to research the names of the four crew members on board that were NOT in the cockpit. At 2058 a "MAYDAY"[2] transmission was heard from the flight. The ends of the fracture curled up and were moderately sooted. The crash also spawned research into the safety of various types of aviation fuel and into methods of reducing dangerous fuel-tank vapors. However, these alloys could not be identified since the chemical composition of the deposits did not conform to any alloy used in the airplane. [28] The committee agreed to conduct both long-range and short-range studies of the impact of lightning on aircraft fuel systems, and potential measures to defeat such hazards. You werent obligated to do it, but you wanted to do it, you wanted to help your neighbor in need, he said. At 7:35 p.m. EST, Flight 214 made an intermediate stop at Friendship . Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. I was with security, Bainbridge, MD, USN, asleep, when we taken to the site, Elkton, Md, it was dark, cold and a wet cornfield. He provided the captain with copies of the 1900 east coast weather sequence reports. [1]:14, The CAB assigned more than a dozen investigators within an hour of the crash. The Board participated in this program by providing a member on the Committee organized to advise in the program planning and execution as well as to evaluate the results. On December 8, 1963, the Boeing 707-121 serving the flight crashed near Elkton, Maryland, while flying from Baltimore to Philadelphia, after being hit by lightning. Limits of a fuel/air mixture that will allow combustion to occur. Within a radius of 360 feet from the main impact crater, there were numerous pieces of dense wreckage including parts of the right wing and fuselage, right main landing gear, horizontal and vertical tail surfaces and the Nos. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17U.S.C. Flight 214 was in a holding pattern awaiting an instrument approach to the Philadelphia International Airport when it was struck by lightning. Pan Am provided the family with passes to travel. This opening encompassed the surge tank end of the vent passages from the fuel tanks. Choose wisely! This horrifying disaster, the worst in Cecil County history, is something that is seared into the collective memory of the community. Sherman and more than a dozen of his family members are coming this weekend. The worst part of the night was the constant realization that is was true, Carol said. And in Elkton, an unusual winter thunderstorm rattled the small town with pouring rain, wind and flashes of lightning.
pan am flight 214 passenger list
pan am flight 214 passenger list
pan am flight 214 passenger list