SKY'S THE LIMIT; WOMAN MAY SOLVE PUZZLE OF PYRAMIDS.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

With a bone-cutting, 25-mph wind blowing Wednesday morning, Maureen Clemmons and her friends went to the park to fly kites.

Not just any kites, however.

Containing 24 square feet of wind-grabbing surface, these kites were tied to a 400-pound concrete obelisk, all to test her theory on one of antiquity's great mysteries: How did the ancient Egyptians build the pyramids?

Clemmons' hypothesis: wind power.

``If you had a rope and threw it around an oak tree, how many men would it take to pull it out of the ground?'' Clemmons asked. ``But in Northridge, the winds can pull a tree up any time.''

So, Clemmons wondered, could the Egyptians have used wind and ancient versions of the kite as a building tool?

To find out, Clemmons and about 15 family members and friends trotted out to a Porter Ranch park Wednesday where they flew two kites to see if they could lift an 8-foot log and then the obelisk.

And the big news:

``It works. Now I have such a passion for this thing. I want to get a grant to study it further,'' she said.

Outside specialists call Clemmons' hypothesis intriguing, even theoretically and historically possible. Yet they're not ready to embrace Clemmons' dream, given the dearth of evidence about any Egyptian construction methods and the theory's somewhat fantastic nature.

Such skepticism certainly won't deter Clemmons, a self-styled ``backyard scientist'' from Reseda who in the pursuit of proving her theory has changed her job, enlisted her family, invested more than $1,500 and many hours of work.

It all began in January when Clemmons read an article in Smithsonian magazine about efforts to duplicate the simplest, most widely accepted approach to moving multi-ton pieces of rock: back power, and lots of it.

``I'm not an Egyptologist at all,'' Clemmons said. ``I'm a businesswoman with a physics background (in college). I read this article and felt from a business point of view, would this be an efficient way to do this? I'm just looking at this and I thought there had to be a better way.''

The dynasties of ancient Egypt erected 90 pyramids - the biggest containing 2.5 million stones averaging 2.5 tons apiece - and an amazing array of temples, monuments, statuary and obelisks that are still being unearthed.

But the Egyptians left little information about their building techniques, creating a mystery through the centuries that has yet to be fully solved.

``Then I heard about the `1,000 winds of Egypt,' and it hit me,'' Clemmons said. ``They used the wind to move the blocks.''

Though Clemmons' life was remarkably full - with two young children and a husband, a vice presidency at the Sebastian International hair-care company and doctoral studies in organizational change at Pepperdine University - she couldn't ignore this epiphany.

She began researching and talking with engineers and other experts on issues such as the physics of flight and construction techniques.

Clemmons didn't have to go far for feedback.

Her father, Loering Johnson of Connecticut, a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, helped build nuclear power plants for decades and has long puzzled over how the Egyptians built their monuments.

Johnson fed his daughter's fascination by sharing some of the voluminous information he had collected.

``Some people get a bug to do something and out of it many times comes an understanding of what may have happened. It's great she's latched onto something that's interesting,'' he said.

Outside experts who have not talked with Clemmons concede pieces of her theory do make sense.

Egypt does have a windy season, from March to June, that is nearly as reliable as the Nile's annual floods once were. Desert cyclones west of the Nile can reach gale force, according to U.S. government weather almanacs.

The most reliable histories say some hieroglyphic evidence exists suggesting the ancient Egyptians used kites, though there is no evidence the kites were used to move things, said Valerie Govig, editor of the nation's oldest and biggest magazine on the subject, Kite Lines.

``It's reasonable to suppose they might have had kites. Any boating culture has an edge because they're so related,'' she said.

And the Egyptians were a boating culture, developing linen cloth thousands of years ago that was sewn into triangular lateen sails that powered barges up and down the Nile River, said Craig Stratton, owner of Coast Kite Co.

``The Egyptians used huge lateen sails to power their boats,'' said Stratton, a mechanical engineer by training who has designed and manufactured kites for 26 years from his Paramount factory. ``They were very good at making lightweight sail material.''

Bruce Flora, owner of Kiteman Productions in Orlando, Fla., and creator of elaborate kite shows at Walt Disney World and other entertainment venues, said big creations can generate tremendous, even dangerous, amounts of power.

``I had a kite that was about 14-1/2 feet by 12 feet that I attached to the back end of my Volkswagen bus, where the engine is,'' Flora said. ``It lifted the bus up about a foot off the ground and moved it over about a foot and a half.''

Egyptologists, weary of wacky pyramid-power fanatics, aren't saying much at all.

``You're going to have a tough time getting any Egyptologists to comment,'' one museum spokesman said. ``They hear a lot of weird theories about the pyramids and are pretty reluctant to talk.''

Clemmons is undeterred.

She said she hopes her next round of tests will draw the interest of researchers with the resources, such as wind tunnels and eager engineering students, to do larger-scale studies.

``I think it's a new field of research,'' she said. ``It's worth pursuing.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, drawing

PHOTO (1 -- color) Maureen Clemmons yelps as winds lift a 400-pound obelisk attached to kites at Wilbur Tampa Park.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News

(2) Maureen Clemmons

Drawing: Harnessing the wind

Dionsio Munoz/Daily News