The Air Accidents Investigation Branch of the UK’s Department of Transport implicated jet lag and over-the-counter drugs in the crash of Bombardier Challenger 604 N90AG, in Birmingham, England, on Jan. 4, 2002. The failure of the impaired crew, which had taken antihistamines the night before, to have the airplane de-iced before takeoff may have caused the jet’s stall, roll to the left and crash on takeoff, concluded the DoT. The aircraft was destroyed and there were no survivors. Operated and maintained by Epps Air Service, N90AG was owned by Fleet National Bank and leased to Agco.
The day before the crash, the crew’s tour of duty started at Dekalb-Peachtree Airport in Atlanta at 4 a.m. (9 a.m. Birmingham time). They flew to Fort Myers Airport, Fla. for a 25-minute stop to pick up a passenger, then flew to West Palm Beach Airport (PBI) to pick up another passenger. After a 29-minute stop, the aircraft left PBI at 12:59 Zulu and arrived at Birmingham at 8:39 p.m. (3:39 p.m. in Atlanta).
