DENVER -- Investigators said a bumping and rattling sound was heard on a Continental Airlines plane that veered off a runway and crashed at Denver International Airport on Saturday.

The sound began 41 seconds after the plane started down the runway. Four seconds later, a crew member called for the takeoff to be aborted. The recording ends shortly after that, presumably because the plane slammed into the ground after hurtling off an embankment.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Robert Sumwalt said investigators have found no problems with the plane's engines, tires or brakes, but are still not ruling anything out.

Skid marks in the snow and scars in the ground marked the terrifying half-mile-long path of a Boeing 737 that veered off a Denver runway and hurtled into a grassy ravine.

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.

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, indicating the plane may have gone airborne briefly.

The tracks reappear a short distance 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.

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.

Crash Survivor Says Flight 1404 Full Of 'Heroes'

One of the passengers on board ill-fated Continental Flight 1404 was Annette Ludrick. Ludrick was heading to Houston for her daughter's wedding on Sunday. She never made it to the wedding.

"My daughter got married (Sunday) and I missed it. But that's OK. I'm still here. We're all still here," said Ludrick at her home in Colorado Springs.

Ludrick said given the big ball of fire after the crash, it's hard to believe no one died. She is one of 115 survivors of the now infamous Flight 1404 -- the first major crash in DIA's short history.

"I had my coat on my lap and I was reading. We were going pretty fast and I felt a big jerk to the left. I think it was to the left. And I remember thinking, 'this is a bad take-off,'" said Ludrick.

She quickly realized it was much more serious than a bad take-off.

"I just remember watching the overhead compartments come flying down. The panel with the lights and air came flying down and I tried to block it from hitting the lady next to me. I was trying to keep my head from slamming into the seat in front of me. I had my hands braced against the seat," said Ludrick.

"I heard passengers say, 'my life flashed before my eyes.' I don't think mine did. I just thought, 'Oh my God. Is this really happening?’ "

The plane had crashed into a 40-foot ravine. Ludrick said there was a sense of panic on board. "The lady next to me is like, 'Go maam, Go.' She apologized to me later for crawling over me. I don't remember that."

Ludrick was sitting in the very last row. She said after the crash the rear door was so close to the ground, she simply stepped off the jet right onto the ground.

"And it was so cold," said Ludrick.

Ludrick's best friend, Kelli Bell, said it's a miracle everyone survived. Bell said when things calmed down, she teased her friend. "I said, 'How dare you go have that kind of adventure without me by your side," said Bell. "We are going to give her a very merry Christmas because God has blessed her and kept her with us."

"There were a lot of heroes on board that flight," said Ludrick. "I turned and saw this big ball of fire and I could hear gentlemen saying that they had to go back to make sure all of the children made it off the jet."

"Most of the people on that plane were great. It was an awesome group of people."

Ludrick's daughter did get married. She is sending her Mom pictures of the event.