[2][3] The flight, operating a twin-turboprop Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, crashed north of Brunswick while approaching the airport for landing.

[1]: 8 Captain Mark Friedline, aged 34, had been hired by Atlantic Southeast Airlines ten years earlier in May 1981, and was fully qualified to fly three different commercial aircraft, including the EMB-120.

Friedline had been involved in the development of the EMB-120, and its introduction to service in the United States, and was trained to fly the aircraft by the manufacturer.

[1]: 5 First Officer Hank Johnston, aged 36, was hired by Atlantic Southeast Airlines in June 1988, and was a qualified flight instructor.

[1]: 5 On the morning of the accident, the captain and first officer arrived at the Dothan Regional Airport by taxi about 06:15 Eastern Standard Time.

Witnesses reported seeing the aircraft approaching the airport in visual meteorological conditions at a much lower than normal altitude.

One witness told investigators that they saw a puff of smoke emanate from the aircraft prior to or subsequent to the airplane rolling to the left.

[1]: 2 An investigation carried out by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) initially determined that a malfunction of the flight control surfaces, including a rudder or ailerons hardover or asymmetric flaps, could not have caused the accident, after multiple pilots in simulators managed to keep the aircraft under control.

The investigators found that the "circumstances of this accident indicate that a severe asymmetric thrust condition caused a left roll that led to loss of control of the airplane.

The NTSB's final report, while acknowledging that Atlantic Southeast's practice of overworking pilots (the pilots only received an estimated 5 to 6 hours of sleep in violation of federal aviation regulations) played no direct part in the accident, still raised concerns that the airline, along with other commuter airline corporations, "scheduled reduced rest periods for about 60% of the layovers in its day-to-day operations.

The NTSB believes that this practice is inconsistent with the level of safety intended by the regulations, which is to allow reduced rest periods as a contingency to a schedule disruption, and has the potential of adversely affecting pilot fitness and performance."

[4] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Transportation Safety Board.