Crew fought to control doomed Emery cargo jet Thursday May 9, 5:48 PM EDT By John Crawley WASHINGTON, May 9 (Reuters) - The pilots of an Emery Worldwide Airlines cargo jet that crashed in 2000 fought to control the lumbering DC-8 from the moment it left the runway until it plunged into a California salvage yard, according to cockpit recordings released on Thursday. A transcript of cockpit conversations were made public at a National Transportation Safety Board hearing on the February 2000 crash near Sacramento that killed the three crew members aboard. It will likely take several months for the safety board to determine the cause of the crash, but Thursday's hearing focused on a primary flight control system on the horizontal wing of the tail that failed to work properly, likely because of a missing part, and the role of maintenance at Emery and government oversight of that work. Cockpit recordings of the two-minute flight supported post-crash discoveries by investigators that a critical part of the aircraft's pitch control system was in a dangerous configuration. The plane's crew declared an emergency immediately after leaving Mather Field near Sacramento on a flight to Dayton, Ohio. The four-engine jet, loaded with cargo and fuel, crashed two miles from the runway as the pilots tried to return. The salvage yard was empty at the time of the crash. When the plane lifted off, the crew radioed controllers that its nose was pointing too high and was losing altitude at a dangerous rate. "We're going to have to land fast," the first officer said as a cockpit altitude warning sounded. "What I'm trying to do is make the airplane's position match the elevator. That's why I'm putting it in a bank," the first officer told the captain. "We're going to have to land it like a turn," the first officer said. "Bring it around," the captain replied. "Bring it around." The first officer then called for engine power before the final altitude warning sounded. Safety board documents confirmed previous disclosures that a bolt was missing from the elevator system, which helps control the up and down movement of the plane's nose. Tests showed the system would not work properly without that part. Emery halted operations in August after the FAA threatened to shut it down for safety reasons mainly related to maintenance. A spokeswoman for Emery, a unit of CNF Co. (CNF), would not comment on maintenance practices in this case. "We are here to participate and find out what happened," Nancy Colvert said. ©2002 Reuters Limited.