Crosswinds Loom Large in Crash Investigation

Dec. 23, 2008— -- Crosswinds loom large, as does the pilots' actions, as investigators sort through evidence to determine what caused a Continental flight to slide off a Denver runway and burst into flames.

A late Monday night update from the National Transportation Safety Board on the Saturday crash pointed to the notion that the plane's pilots did not succeed in controlling the plane in the crosswind and only then did they try to abort the takeoff.

"I think from the early indication, one of the primary focuses is going to be operational issues with the crew and how they handled the later stages of the takeoff roll with this crosswind," former NTSB investigator Greg Feith told ABC News Monday night.

The flight was fighting crosswinds estimated at 31 miles an hour as it sped down the runway, reaching 137 miles per hour, as it began its journey to Houston.

All 110 passengers and five crew members onboard the plane survived the crash when the aircraft careered into a 40-foot ravine, its right side caught fire, and the fuselage partially buckled. A total of 38 people were injured, including the captain, who is still hospitalized.

The captain at the controls at the time of the accident had been working for Continental for 11 years, and the captain and co-pilot were both experienced, investigators reported. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed Monday night that the captain and co-pilot have clean safety records.

NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt also relayed more details from the early stages of the investigation and recounted what flight attendants told investigators.

"They said the airplane began, as they called it, a fishtailing and then they said there was a violent pounding before the aircraft stopped," Sumwalt said Monday night.

The plane's cockpit voice recorder also revealed that 41 seconds after the plane's takeoff roll began, there was a "bumping and rattling" sound on the recording that continued until the recording ended.

Investigators wouldn't speculate on what that noise was. It was four seconds later that pilots tried to abort the takeoff.

Although the NTSB has ruled nothing out, so far there's no evidence of any engine or brake problems.

The NTSB also singled out the actions of several people onboard the plane. There was an off-duty Continental flight crew on the plane, and Sumwalt reported that the off-duty co-pilot returned to the burning jet three times to rescue passengers and crew. One of those that the co-pilot rescued was a flight attendant with a sprained ankle. He carried that flight attendant to the firehouse.

The NTSB also said it appears that one of the passengers clearly read the emergency exit instructions and was able to open the emergency exit in an instant as people tried to get out of the plane.

Sifting Through the Crash Evidence

A team of investigators today is working to further decipher the cockpit voice recorder. That process often takes several days.

Various other investigative teams have been collecting information this week -- whether looking inside the wrecked plane, speaking with passengers or reviewing maintenance records.

Of particular interest early on is the "perishable evidence," such as skid marks in the snow, that investigators are eager to evaluate before it's too late.

Meantime, ABC News aviation consultant John Nance said the cause of the crash will take time to figure out. He later speculated that crosswinds couldn't be the only reason for the crash.

"Crosswinds alone cannot come anywhere close to explaining this accident," he said. "We have plenty of capability of keeping these planes on a dry runway."

Sumwalt said Monday afternoon that the captain of the plane had not yet been interviewed by the NTSB.

"If they're not physically or mentally able to be interviewed, then we can't do that," Sumwalt said.

The weekend crash was the third major accident in three years in which all passengers survived.

"That tells us a lot," said Bill Voss, president of the independent Flight Safety Foundation. "It tells us we are doing a lot better in getting people off of aircraft and designing aircraft. When you have those types of results, you can't say it is luck."

Accidents in which planes run off the runway make up more than a third of all accidents worldwide, according to a foundation study.

Denver Crash Terrifying for Passengers

For the passengers, it was a terrifying start to their holiday travel. Maria and Gabriel Trejos, who were on the plane with their 13-month-old son, Elijah, recounted the horrifying ordeal on "Good Morning America" Monday.

"We started feeling like the plane was slipping or sliding to the left," Maria Trejos said. "I looked out the window, and it was veering -- veering off the runway. And that was our first indication that something was happening."

Gabriel Trejos, who was holding his son in his lap, recalled, "We were airborne there for a moment, [then] the plane hit the ground quite hard," he said. "And I was just hanging onto the baby as hard as I could, you know, making sure he wasn't going to fly out anywhere."

He braced himself, trying to keep Elijah safe without crushing him.

The couple said that after the plane stopped, the shocked passengers remained calm for a moment, letting the reality of the incident sink in. Maria Trejos asked a man who had started screaming that the plane could explode to calm down in an effort to keep the children onboard from becoming more frightened, her husband said.

Maria Trejos said she headed toward a rear exit but a man attempting to get his luggage out of an overhead bin blocked her path. So she passed her son to her husband, and they found another exit. From there, they slid down a wet, slippery wing.

"There was significant fire damage inside the cabin, with the [overhead] luggage compartments being described as melted and dropping down onto the seats," Denver Fire Department Airport Division Chief Patrick Hynes said.