Page:CAB Accident Report, Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 19.pdf/39

 ceiling encountered is not, however, necessarily inconsistent with Mr. McGaha's testimony, since under the weather conditions prevailing on August 31, 1940, widely varying ceiling conditions could be anticipated within relatively small areas.

From the testimony of witnesses and from the physical evidence of clogged brooks, newly-filled reservoirs, and washed-out roads, it appears that the rainstorm was of really exceptional intensity, both at the scene of the accident, immediately west of Lovettsville, and for some distance to the north and south. It appears, in fact, to have been the heaviest rainfall known in the Lovettsville area for a number of years. The storm's electrical characteristics on the other hand, do not seem to have been at all unusual. Many of the witnesses, however, recalled particularly an extremely violent stroke of lightning and clap of thunder immediately preceding the roar of motors which they associated with the accident; and other lightning flashes were noted in the neighborhood, but were not generally recalled as having been particularly vivid.

All of the witnesses in the vicinity of Lovettsville, except Mrs. Leila Shoemaker, testified that there was little or no wind on the ground during the storm. This testimony is corroborated by the fact that the storm was moving very slowly. Mrs. Shoemaker testified that at the time the accident occurred the wind appeared to be blowing from the west. It is probable, since she lives on the slope of Short Hill, that the air currents observed by her were currents within the storm.

The testimony of the Lovettsville witness would indicate that the storm