G'Day Non Normal,
When I was saying, "
such a tiny amount detected" I was relating, as you probably realise, to the Handling Pilot and the obvious great difficulty the medical examiner had procuring that finding.
Technical difficulties made interpretation of the level in the handling pilot more difficult but the evidence indicated that it was highly probable that it corresponded to a therapeutic concentration of diphenhydramine.
You are probably more medically qualified than I am, and can attest why 0.04mcgs per millilitre is not such a tiny amount.
I also agree with you, and cannot explain the contradiction between
the drug had been taken within a few hours of his demise and then changing to the wider interpretation
both pilots took the drug sometime between 12 to 24 hours before their deaths.
As I was saying in my earlier post, it again points to a sloppy, slack AAIB Report - which is not what we expect from the AAIB.
Combine that with fatigue etc, it could be a factor in impairing judgement etc.
Far from correcting you, I agree with your summation about the fatique factor. I would certainly not be happy flying from W-E across the pond, then the next day plan to fly back again with not a lot of shut-eye.
Given everybody and his uncle was de-icing that morning, why it was not brought up by "the witnesses" is another weak link in that fatefull accident chain.
Given there were three very experienced pilots (the observer getting Trans Atlantic time) and the two dispatchers in the equation, it is very sad everbody missed the VITAL de-icing decision.
CLEAN WING or you don't fly - not much education needed.
Take care all.
TG