PILOT SAW HARD LANDING BEFORE NEWARK CRASH\ A 1997 FEDEX FLIGHT WENT FROM ROUTINE TO LIFE-THREATENING IN A MATTER OF MINUTES.

``Just having all kinds of fun here,' Captain Robert Freeman said minutes before the routine flight turned life-threatening.At about 1:30 a.m. on July 31, 1997, Federal Express Flight 14 landed hard, bounced into the air, landed again at an awkward angle and cartwheeled to a fiery stop. All five people on board crawled to safety.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday released a transcript of cockpit conversations and other reports on the crash by various NTSB officials. The board has not determined what caused the crash, a topic to be explored at a future public meeting.

The NTSB reports indicate that the four-year-old MD-11 was rolling to the right when it first landed, putting extra stress on the right landing gear. At the second landing moments later, the right gear collapsed and the right wing scraped the ground. The cockpit transcript indicates the pilots were anticipating a tough landing.

At 1:13 a.m., Freeman, 46, walked first officer Donald E. Goodin, 39, through the plane's descent and a minute later told Goodin: ``You might want to tell those girls in the back that, ah, we're going to have a pretty abrupt stop because of those brakes and the thrust reversers and all that stuff.'

At 1:31 a.m., the plane was cleared to land. A minute later, the recorders picked up the sound of the initial landing, followed by an expletive uttered by the pilot. Noises indicated an increase in engine power, then a decrease.

Freeman uttered another expletive. Goodin added: ``Jesus.' A loud thump indicated the second landing, and an airplane recording announced ``tire failure.' More expletives were followed by the sound of metallic breakup, then silence.