Federal crash investigators today began the year-long review of the most serious accident in the 13-year history of Denver International Airport.
A team of investigators arrived in Denver early today to begin several intense days of evidence collection, NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt said. They then will analyze everything from the skid marks on the runway to the flight data recorder and could take as much as year or more before issuing a final report on Continental Flight 1404, he said.
More photos here
The flight was bound for Houston when it slid off of the left side of runway 34-Right at 6:18 p.m. Saturday and came to rest in a nearby 40-foot-deep ravine, Sumwalt said. The main landing gear was sheared off the plane, and the nose may have sheared off as well, he said.
Five passengers aboard Continental Flight 1404 remain hospitalized this afternoon, one in serious condition, a day after the passenger jet skidded off the runway and crashed at Denver International Airport.
Thirty-eight of the 110 passengers and five crew members on board the 737 were injured.
The plane veered off course about 2,000 feet from the beginning of the runway and did not appear to have gotten airborne, DIA manager of aviation Kim Day said. Debris was scattered on the runway, with the plane about 200 yards away.
The passengers and five crew members made it out on emergency slides, and firefighters extinguished the flames quickly, said airport spokesman Jeff Green.
The accident is the first major crash in DIA history.
Source http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/21/plane-carrying-112-goes-runway-dia/
Interestingly, one of the passengers on the aircraft is a keen user of Twitter (a free micro-blogging tool for the curious) and started to tweet about his experiences. Here is his first (excuse the language but you'd be slightly shocked too i imagine)
Here is his account after the event, start at page two and roll back.
AirSpace - more than just hot air
Here is a video round-up of the incident, it was really lucky that no-one was seriously hurt: