The airplane was on an international scheduled flight between St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands and Vieques, Puerto Rico.

The aircraft's engines flamed out due to the starvation, and the pilot decided to ditch off, or land the plane on the ocean, before the situation became more critical.

[citation needed] There were ten people on board the doomed aircraft, nine of which were passengers and one, its 50-years-old pilot, who was the sole crew member.

[2] The investigation that followed blamed the pilot due to alleged inadequate pre-flight preparation or planning, which later resulted in his mismanagement of the aircraft's available fuel and then the double-engine flame out and subsequent crash.

[1] Approximately seven years later, another Vieques Air Link islander, flying as Vieques Air Link Flight 901A, crashed near the same place after suffering engine problems too, flying a similar route but in the second crash's case from Vieques to St. Croix instead.