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Dec-8-2004 01:45

Hello all.
I'm fairly new to Sleuth and I thought I might share a little hobby of mine with you all. Here's something for that sad moment when the mysteries of the day are all done.

Thousands lay up gold within this house,
but no man made it.
Spears past counting guard this house,
but no man wards it.
What is it?

Sep-10-2006 15:55

was she the pilot? stewardess? navigator? stunt pilot? air force pilot? navy pilot?
was her first responsibilty the safety of the aircraft or was writing the letter more important?
is her job usually considered dangerous on a regular basis or only dangerous occasionally?
did she write the letter with light? smoke? exhaust? traced in the clouds?
did the letter appear in the air? on the sea (shadow)?
was she the only one killed?
did it happen in the air? on the ground? takeoff? landing? cruising altitude? looping?
was it her choice which letter she wrote or was it a request?
is her nationality relevant? her age? her height? her weight?
did she know about the storm before take off? (if not, shame on her!)
did the window fly in? was there a pressure drop/increase to cause an air pressure instablity?
was the thunderstorm part of a bigger storm like a hurricane?
did an organic item fly in that killed her like a bird?

Sep-10-2006 15:57

the woman was writing a letter in a plane that crashed from the thunderstorm?

Sep-10-2006 16:01

was she the pilot? [this one] stewardess? navigator? stunt pilot?[this one too, in a sense] air force pilot? navy pilot?
was her first responsibilty the safety of the aircraft or was writing the letter more important? [I'd say they were both quite important to her, but for different reasons]
is her job usually considered dangerous on a regular basis or only dangerous occasionally? [depends on your definition of "dangerous"]
did she write the letter with light? smoke?[this one] exhaust?[and/or this one] traced in the clouds?
did the letter appear in the air?[yes] on the sea (shadow)?
was she the only one killed? [no]
did it happen in the air?[yes] on the ground? takeoff? landing? cruising altitude? looping? [this is closest]
was it her choice which letter she wrote or was it a request?[this one]
is her nationality relevant? her age? her height? her weight? [none]
did she know about the storm before take off? [yes, but irrelevant](if not, shame on her!)
did the window fly in?[no] was there a pressure drop/increase to cause an air pressure instablity? [probably, but not very relevant]
was the thunderstorm part of a bigger storm like a hurricane?[no]
did an organic item fly in that killed her like a bird? [no]

the woman was writing a letter in a plane that crashed from the thunderstorm? [yes, but there's more to it than that]

Sep-10-2006 16:31

was she a sky writer? was the letter supposed to communicate something? an advertisement? a warning? a personal message? was she flying because of the storm? because of the letter? if she didn't die, would she have written more letters?

given the choice, would she have flown during the storm or she had to because it was her job?

did the letter cause the accident? was it an accident? suicide?

if the window did not fly in and, technically, something flew in, and it wasn't an organic thing, was it some sort of light? was it lightning? was it something that blinded her? did it affect her sense of up and down? did lightning strike her? did the weather affect her aviation instruments? did the plane fail in some way or was it her fault (pilot error)?

the others that were killed, were they on the plane with her? were they on the ground? did they see it coming? could they have escaped?

was it day time? night time?

could this happen in a warm weather environment? cold weather? (it's easier to fly in cooler weather) was it expecially humid? foggy? cloudy?

was she at a very high altitude? relevant?

Sep-10-2006 17:02

was she a sky writer? [YES] was the letter supposed to communicate something?[yes, but irrelevant] an advertisement? a warning? a personal message? was she flying because of the storm?[no] because of the letter?[yes] if she didn't die, would she have written more letters? [most likely]

given the choice, would she have flown during the storm or she had to because it was her job? [she probably would have preferred not to fly during the storm, but not really relevant]

did the letter cause the accident?[no] was it an accident?[yes] suicide?[no]

if the window did not fly in and, technically, something flew in, and it wasn't an organic thing, was it some sort of light?[no] was it lightning?[no] was it something that blinded her?[no] did it affect her sense of up and down?[no] did lightning strike her?[no] did the weather affect her aviation instruments?[no] did the plane fail in some way[no] or was it her fault (pilot error)? [I wouldn't consider her to be at fault, but arguably]

the others that were killed, were they on the plane with her?[no] were they on the ground?[no] did they see it coming?[possibly but doubtful] could they have escaped? [possibly, but doubtful]

was it day time? night time? [irrelevant]

could this happen in a warm weather environment?[yes] cold weather?[yes] (it's easier to fly in cooler weather) was it expecially humid? foggy? cloudy? [yes to all three, but only considering thunderstorm vs. non-thunderstorm weather scenarios]

was she at a very high altitude? relevant? [irrelevant]

***You have almost everything you need to figure it out, just remember the question "How did she die?"***

Sep-10-2006 17:10

she was seated in a plane, skywriting?

Sep-10-2006 17:37

she was seated in a plane, skywriting? [yes]

Sep-10-2006 17:40

was she part of a team of skywriters? were the other skywriters the ones that were killed? was she responsible for writing a whole letter or a part of a letter? did her letter or part of letter cause her to crash into another skywriter? vice versa?

what came through the window? did another plane? did the storm obstruct her view of the other skywriters so she lost her bearings? did lightning disorient her or any of the other pilots causing her or the others to assume it was a letter or a part of letter and therefore make a wrong turn?

did the storm knock the planes out of formation?

was she in the wrong place because of the storm and was hit by another plane ?

Sep-10-2006 17:43

was she part of a team of skywriters?[no] were the other skywriters the ones that were killed? was she responsible for writing a whole letter or a part of a letter?[irrelevant] did her letter or part of letter cause her to crash into another skywriter?[no] vice versa?[no]

what came through the window? did another plane?[YES] did the storm obstruct her view of the other skywriters so she lost her bearings?[false assumption] did lightning disorient her or any of the other pilots causing her or the others to assume it was a letter or a part of letter and therefore make a wrong turn?[no]

did the storm knock the planes out of formation?[no]

was she in the wrong place because of the storm and was hit by another plane ? [YES]

Barry has figured it out!

***The woman was a skywriter, who was spelling a message during a thunderstorm. Unfortunately the inclement weather severely reduced visibility, and she didn't see another plane heading toward her. Neither plane saw the other until it was too late, and they crashed into each other.***

Sep-10-2006 17:47

Holy majoly! That was fun. It didn't hurt that it had to do with avionics! That made it particularly interesting to me.

I feel that I've been a thread hog here and I need to back off a bit. If there are others out there who still want me to post my other riddle (just about as difficult as the deaf woman) PM me and depending on how many requests I get, I'll post it.

*tips hat*
Barry