DENVER—Skid marks in the snow and scars in the ground mark the terrifying half-mile-long path of a Boeing 737 that veered off a Denver runway and hurtled into a grassy ravine last weekend.
On Monday, the plane still lay where it came to a rest. The fuselage was cracked open behind the wings and an ugly, jagged hole had opened on the charred right side of the aircraft.
Investigators were still working to determine why Continental Flight 1404 careened off the runway and burst into flames while taking off on a flight to Houston at about 6:20 p.m. on Saturday
The 115 passengers and crew scrambled out through emergency exits. Of the 38 people injured, one was in fair condition, and the rest were in good condition or had already been released from hospitals.
No one was killed, to the amazement of firefighters who were the first on the scene.
After veering off the runway, the plane crossed a flat grassy strip and a taxiway before speeding over an embankment, where the tracks disappear for a short distance, indicating the plane may have gone airborne briefly.
The tracks reappear in a snowy bowl and continue up a small hill, across a paved access road and back down a small hill into the ravine, where the plane finally stopped, landing on its belly.
One set of landing gear lay near the right wing. Another set was about 100 feet behind the plane on the left side.
The fuselage crack is common in this type of incident, said Bill Voss, CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation in Arlington, Va.
Voss, a pilot and former Federal Aviation Administration official, said the crack appears to be just behind the “wing box,” the stiff, reinforced section where the wings meet the fuselage.
Voss said the rear of the plane probably had major up-and-down loads as it went off the runway, and the force would have been concentrated behind the wing box.
“It has to give someplace,” he said.
Bill English, the leader of a National Transportation Safety Board team looking into the crash, said investigators were trying to document evidence at the scene ahead of a storm predicted to move in Monday night.
He said investigators hope to finish all the work at the site by Wednesday. The plane will then be moved for more inspection, including a look at the bottom of the craft.
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AP Airline Writer Joshua Freed in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
