[1] In the course of its investigation the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) learned that on March 13, 1984, the young, 21 years old[2] pilot had completed training at a flying school to obtain a commercial pilot's license, but was not qualified to fly as a pilot-in-command of a commuter airliner, being restricted to air charter operations only.

Further investigation revealed that the aircraft's left hand fuel tank had been filled with fuel from an underground tank contaminated with water from previous days of heavy rains, which ultimately caused the No.1 engine to fail.

However, the divers who participated in the recovery mission stated that they found no life vests inside the aircraft.

The NTSB investigators inspected ten life vests that the airline claimed had been recovered from the wreckage.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) later examined all of Vieques Air Link's life vests and found that about 40 percent of them had loose inflation cylinders.