The flight, with a planned duration of 40 minutes, was operated by Costa Rican regional airline Nature Air and the aircraft involved was a Cessna 208B Caravan manufactured in 2001.

[8] The flight was one of two that had been chartered by Backroads Travel Company[9] and took off from the airport at Punta Islita, a small beach town in on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica at 12:10 p.m local time.

The accident aircraft had arrived late in Punta Islita due to strong winds and on the outbound leg landed at an intermediate point at the airstrip in Tambor where pilots waited for better weather conditions.

The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was expected to assist the Costa Rican authorities in the investigation, as most of the passengers were of American origin.

They also raided the offices of the Costa Rica Dirección General de Aviación Civil in La Uruca as part of the investigation of the crash.

It had been caused by the following:[24] The flight crew's failure to maintain airspeed while maneuvering to exit an area of rising terrain, which resulted in an exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack and an aerodynamic stall.

Contributing to the accident was the flight crew's decision to continue the takeoff toward rising terrain that likely exceeded the airplane's climb capability, the lack of adequate weather reporting available for wind determination, and the lack of documented training for an airport requiring a non-standard departure.The crash highlighted the danger of privately chartered tourist passenger flights, causing concern among Costa Ricans who work in the tourism industry.

[25] In the immediate aftermath of the crash, Fox News warned their readers about the danger of flying on privately chartered flights, indicating that they are not properly regulated.