The flight crew was qualified in accordance with current U.S. regulations. There was no evidence to suggest that they lacked appropriate experience to conduct the flight safely. They had been flying together as a crew from 01 December 1985 and had accumulated over 55 flight hours.

The captain was employed initially by Arrow Air in January 1982 as a Boeing 707 first officer. He was upgraded to captain status in June 1982, and, in September 1982, he was appointed as a Boeing 707 check airman. He later transitioned to the DC-8 as captain and, in September 1983, was appointed chief pilot Boeing 707/DC-8. In 1984, he was appointed as the vice-president and director of Flight Operations but left this management position and resumed to the line as a 707/DC-8 captain, continuing as a check-pilot for both aircraft types. His last recurrent DC-8 training was completed in November 1985. The captain occupied the left seat during the accident take-off.

The first officer had been employed by Arrow Air since June 1981. He was initially employed as a Boeing 707 first officer and subsequently transitioned to the DC-8 and then to the DC-10 aircraft. In October 1985, after Arrow Air had cut back its DC-10 operations, he resumed to flying the DC-8. His last DC-8 recurrent training was completed at that time. The first officer occupied the right seat and was at the controls at the start of the take-off roll.

The flight engineer had been employed by Arrow Air since 1981. He was qualified on the Boeing 707, DC-8, and DC-10 aircraft. His last recurrent training on the DC-8 was completed in October, 1985.

The flight crew was the crew of Arrow Air Flight MF1285, which had originated at McChord AFB on 10 December. The crew arrived in Cologne from McChord AFB at 1031 local time, 11 December 1985. They arrived at their hotel at about 1100 local time and had to wait about 30 minutes before checking in because of a room reservation problem. They left the hotel at 0200 local time, 12 December 1985.

The hotel rooms were determined to be quiet, and there were meal facilities on the premises. The hotel staff was of the opinion that the crew did not leave the hotel during the crew rest period. The captain was reported to be awake from 1900 local time. He used the telephone several times between 1900 and the time of departure to check on the status of the inbound flight from Cairo.

This same crew had also operated the first of the three planned rotation flights from McChord AFB to Cologne, and the return portion from Cologne to Fort Campbell. Between the first and second MFO rotation flights, the flight crew operated flights between Cecil Field Naval Air Station (NAS), Florida; Anchorage, Alaska; Lemoore NAS, California; and Oakland, California.

Upon completion of their 12 December flight to Fort Campbell, it was the stated intention of the crew to ferry the aircraft to Oakland, California, where maintenance was scheduled. No crew rest was planned at Fort Campbell prior to this flight.

The crew's schedule for the month of December 1985 follows.

During the month of November, the captain logged 33 hours 9 minutes of flight time as indicated below:

In addition, he completed simulator training on 10 and 11 November.

During the month of November. the first officer logged 62 hours 18 minutes of flight time as indicated below:

During the month of November, the flight engineer logged 64 hours 15 minutes of flight time as indicated below: