-=> Quoting Bill Wunsch to Jim Dawson <=-
 BW> Greetings, Jim!
 
 JD> The PanAm trip that had an inflight explosion of a fuel tank after a
 JD> lightning strike was in a holding pattern and the crew had time to send 

 JD> message describing their problem. Lightning hit the fuel tank vent
 JD> pipe.
 BW> I recall that as being Clipper 214.
        Actually Bill, Clipper 214 only had time to get a quick "Mayday"
off before going down.  It was National 16 that alerted ATC to Clipper
214's predictament.  Here's a excerpt on the accident from one of Rod
Serling's books...
        It was 8:45pm EST, on Decenber 8, 1963, when aviation found out
that the impossible was only too possible.  Lightning had apparently
destoryed a modern airliner.
        The plane was a Boeing B-707, Flight 214, Pan American World
Airways, enroute from San Jaun, Puerto Rico to Phildelphia with a
stop at Baltimore.  There were 81 people aboard when the jetliner
left Baltimore.
        Clipper 214 approached Baltimore and went into a holding pattern
over New Castle, Del., waiting for a severe squall line to clear
Philadelphia.  At 8:40pm, the flight radioed Philadelphia approach
control center, "We're ready to start an approach."
        Center: "Okay Clipper 214. Hold as instructed and I'll pull you
away as soon as I can.
        Clipper: "Roger, No hurry.  Just wanted you to know that we'll
accept a clearance."
        (National 16, A DC-8 was flying the same holding pattern as
Clipper 214, but 1000 feet higher.  Approach Control had just finished
asking National 16 if they had any turbulence in the area when the
following message was recieved...)
        Clipper 214: "Mayday...Mayday...Mayday...Clipper 214 out of
control.  Here we go"
        Center: "Clipper 214, did you call Philadelphia?"
        National 16:  "Clipper 214 is going down in flames."
        The jet fell into a cornfield near the Maryland-Delaware border,
missing a suburban home by 100'.  At first investigators discounted the
eyewitness accounts that seemed to agree on one thing:  The plane had
been struck by lightning and was a ball of fire when it hit the ground.
        Such decriptions had been heard many times before when an
accident occured during a thunderstorm.  And after all, lightning
couldn't harm a metal airliner any more than it could harm an
automobile.  But five days after the accident, the CAB issued the
following statement: "Investigators have found physical evidence
indicating a fuel/air mixture explosion in the left wing tanks.  Also,
Bureau of Safety investigators have found pronounced burning and pock-
marking of the left wingtip, indicative of a lightning strike."
                                    "Probable Cause, Rod Serling 1964."
        Christopher
... I'd rather be in the air.
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