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obscured the mountains to the west and northwest but that she could see blue sky toward the south.
After the hearing investigators for the Board further questioned[1] Mrs. Everhart as to the weather conditions during that day prior to the accident. She stated that the sun had been shining off and on during the forenoon and early afternoon at her home but that the sky was overcast when she saw the airplane pass. Mrs. Everhart testified that another stroke of lightning had preceded the one she saw while watching the airplane and she believed that the former had struck the chandelier in one of the rooms of her home. After this had occurred, she turned off the electricity in the house and went out on the back porch. She said that it was while she was on the back porch that she saw the airplane and the flash of lightning which blinded her. With the assistance of the investigators as described in Footnote 7 she estimated that the time intervening between the second lightning flash and the
- ↑ A number of witnesses residing in the vicinity of Lovettsville testified at the hearing that they had seen an airplane or heard sounds which they believed had come from an airplane in that vicinity at about the time of the accident and which they associated with it. After a consideration of their testimony subsequent to the hearing, it appeared that it would be in the interest of a full and complete investigation to secure more precise statements from them as to the weather conditions on the day of the accident, the position and altitude at which they had seen the airplane to which they referred, and the time intervals which elapsed between various events or sounds to which they had testified, such as the stroke of lightning, the sound of thunder and the sound of motors. For this reason investigators of the Board called upon these witnesses again, took additional statements from them, and in almost all cases attempted to assist them in estimating the elapsed time during particular periods in question by having them retrace the movements they had made during those periods and recording the time with a stop watch. In order to determine the position at which the witnesses stated they saw the airplane, they were requested to stand at the place at which they were standing when they saw it and indicate as best they could the point at which they had seen it. Then, through the use of a transit, the investigators determined the direction of this point from the witness and its angle above the horizontal.
