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heavy rain while in the overcast. While Trip 8-1 experienced no turbulence, Trip 8 reported "slight choppiness" just as he broke out of the overcast. There was no precipitation after breaking through the clouds west of Leesburg.
An American Airlines pilot, operating between Cincinnati and Washington, followed the same descending course at about the same altitudes, passing a point about 10 miles south of the scene of the accident at approximately 2:10 p.m. He reported light rain, light turbulence, but no indication of lightning.
An Army airplane on route from Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, to Bolling Field, Washington, D. C., passed about 12 miles south of the scene of the accident about 2:35 p.m. The pilot reported that after passing the south leg of the Buckstown, Pennsylvania, radio range flying at 5000 feet above sea level on instruments, heavy rain and extraordinarily rough air conditions were encountered. This condition continued until he emerged from the overcast at an altitude of 1500 feet about five miles east of Leesburg, Virginia, and 15 miles southeast of the scene of the accident. He stated that he saw lightning to the north while passing the Lovettsville area.
Flight reports by other pilots which were received in evidence serve to indicate weather conditions in the general area south and southwest of Lovettsville on the afternoon of August 31. A pilot flying a Luscombe airplane departed Washington-Hoover Airport at about 12:09 p.m. on August 31, on route to Los Angeles, California, with Pittsburgh as his first intended intermediate stop. This airplane was all metal, single-engined, and of natural aluminum color with a red stripe along the fuselage and around the nose. The flight was to be made solely by visual reference to the ground
