Part 2/9:
The aircraft had just completed an uneventful flight from Zurich earlier that day. After landing, it was secured for the night, but the lingering effects of supercooled fuel—from a high-altitude flight—created a chilling setback. As rain and snow fell overnight, the temperature was not low enough to freeze the fuel but ideal enough for ice to accumulate unnoticed on the wings’ surfaces.
In the early morning, the flight crew inspected the plane, which was now to transport 123 passengers to Warsaw and onward to Barcelona. Captained by Stefan Rasmussen, a seasoned pilot with over 8,000 flight hours, and first officer W Ced Mark, the team was relatively inexperienced with the MD-81 model—an aspect that would soon show its consequences.