The light aircraft that crashed last Saturday in the Piñones sector of the Torrecilla Baja barrio in Loíza had previously been involved in at least one other accident, according to information obtained through investigation by NotiCel.

This information was verified on Monday in a phone interview with Luis A. Feliciano Muñoz, who is owner and president of Air America: The Caribbean Connection, the company that owns the light aircraft Piper PA-23-250 Aztec. This aircraft was built in 1975, and it crashed last Saturday at 2:20 pm, a few minutes after taking off from the nearby Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Isla Verde.

However, Feliciano Muñoz clarified that he had not yet been the owner of Air America when the aircraft had its previous accident.

In the specialized web portal Aviation Safety Network there is a report about the aircraft's previous accident, which happened on May 27, 2009 as it attempted to land in the Gustaf III Airport of the French island Saint Barths, which is part of the Lesser Antilles and is located close to the Virgin Islands. The report includes a video of the accident, where the plane suffered substantial damage.

The report narrative mentions that the aircraft apparently aborted its first two landing attempts and, on the third attempt, finally touched down on the far end of the landing strip. Even though the pavement showed black skid marks from a sudden brake, the airplane overran the strip, plunging its nose in the nearby bay and damaging its two propellers.

Initially, Kathleen Bergen, Communications Manager at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the Southern Region of the United States, had notified that the agency did not have any reports about previous accidents or incidents for this aircraft, which can seat one pilot and five passengers.

Nonetheless, once she was confronted with the video and the Aviation Safety Network report, she promised to check for any other situations that could have happened outside US territory, for the plane that crashed on Saturday and the four others owned by Air America.

Bergen assured that she could not find any record of accidents, incidents, or irregularities for 22-year-old pilot José Díaz Cotto either.

Last Saturday's accident happened when Díaz Cotto attempted to return to the Muñiz Air Base—which is part of the Luis Muñoz Marín airport—after noticing mechanical problems in the craft upon takeoff.

The plane crashed on a stone reef and burst into flames, in a beach close to a restaurant-tavern called Jarambe, located north-northwest of the airport. Several beachgoers who were spending their day in the area were able to rescue Díaz Cotto, 48-year-old tourist Scott Ellyson, and his 14-year-old daughter, Casey Ellyson, both of whom are Atlanta residents. The beachgoers attempted to rescue Molly Wrede, a 14-year-old Atlanta, GA resident who was Casey's friend. Molly had been caught in the aircraft, where her leg had been trapped and she was held back by the safety belt. The rescue efforts were unsuccessful due to the intense heat of the burning fuel.

The victim had just graduated 9th grade from The Paideia School in Atlanta, where both her parents work and her older sister is also enrolled. According to channel Fox 5 Atlanta, the school principal, Paul Bianchi, announced a memorial service to be held on Thursday at the Northeast Atlanta Campus.

Ellyson is the CEO of the East West Manufacturing Company. The company's website describes it as a global manufacturer of medical, engine, and electronic products, with factories in China, India, and Vietnam, and distribution centers in Conyers, GA and Adelanto, CA. Aside from China, India, and Vietnam, East West also has operations in Taiwan.

The authorities transported the three survivors to the Medical Center in Río Piedras, where Díaz Cotto was treated for burns and trauma to his nose and one of his legs, and was released on Sunday. Scott Ellyson suffered burns covering 40% of his body. On Monday, he was still being held in the Medical Center Burn Unit, while his daughter Casey, with burns covering 20% of her body, was transferred to the Medical Center Pediatric Hospital.

On Monday, Feliciano Muñoz stated that Air America operations will continue as usual with the four remaining craft in their fleet. The entrepreneur has also been the owner of Yellow Media Group for 18 years. This company specializes in publicity ads to be displayed on the bodies, glasses, and interiors of taxis operating in eight of Puerto Rico's main cities.

Air America: The Caribbean Connection provides aircraft charter services to 36 destinations in the Caribbean, especially San Juan, Culebra, Vieques, Anegada, Saint Barths, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda. Feliciano Muñoz remarked that, although he has worked for 20 years in the aviation industry, he has been at the helm of Air America for only 29 months.

According to the Air America website, they charge a fixed rate of $675 each way for trips between Isla Verde and Culebra on board a 5-passenger aircraft, regardless of the amount of people making the flight. A trip on the same route for a 9-passenger aircraft can be chartered for $875 each way. The travel time is estimated at 28 to 32 minutes, and each passenger has a 35-pound baggage weight limit.

In a phone interview, Luis Irizarry, an investigation expert in aviation accidents, stated that he had been hired by Air America to conduct an independent investigation of the disaster. It seems that, at the moment of the call, Irizarry was in a meeting with Feliciano Muñoz, because of the way he answered NotiCel's questions, and he assured that the company's pilots meet the requirements of the federal regulatory agencies.

Irizarry affirmed that the causes for the fatal accident are unknown, but he mentioned that mechanical problems can sometimes arise. He added that the pilot has been flying with Air America for seven months, and that he requested the recordings of the conversations between the pilot and the airport's control tower.

Feliciano Muñoz is also a stakeholder of Jaime Te Lleva, a smartphone app similar to Uber. This app processes requests and credit/debit card payments for transportation services between an origin point and a destination point, and sends the nearest vehicle to provide these services.

Jaime Te Lleva began operating in Ponce on July 22 of last year, under the corporate name Logistics Technology Solutions, LLC, where Feliciano Muñoz and current Secretary of State Luis Rivera Marín were associates.

On Saturday, Rivera Marín appeared at the scene of the accident, where he said he streamlined the coordination and communication flow between emergency response agencies. He explained that, four days prior, he had participated in an inter-agency emergency simulation, and that he had appeared on Saturday to provide support to Andrés Gómez—of the State Agency for Emergency Management and Emergency Operations Center—who was in charge of the situation.

The Secretary of State reported that he also went to the Muñiz Air Base in Isla Verde on Saturday to notify the victims' family members, who were waiting there for a second flight.

He explained that the group of six had just come in on a flight from Atlanta, and that they had already chartered a light aircraft to transport them, upon their arrival, to the island-municipality of Culebra, where they planned to spend their vacation.

He added that the group consisted of Scott Ellyson, his daughter Casey, her mother, one of the mother's friends, Casey's grandfather, and one of Casey's friends. Since the aircraft could only seat five passengers, the group was divided to be transported in two groups.

On Monday, Rivera Marín reported that, from the moment he was appointed last year to the Transition Committee of Governor-elect Ricardo Rosselló Nevares, he had placed his company stock in a blind trust and then sold them to Feliciano Muñoz and other investors.

On Sunday, Rivera Marín also accompanied Molly Wrede's father to identify the body at the Institute of Forensic Sciences, and he explained that he had managed to coordinate with a funeral home in Puerto Rico to have the remains transported to Atlanta on Monday.

The official denied that there had been any special treatment or business considerations involved in his participation to rescue the deceased teenager from the aircraft belonging to his former associate's company. He also denied having any financial participation in Logistics Technology Solutions, Air America, or Yellow Media Group. He assured that his role as State Secretary obligates him to respond equally in all such cases.

He pointed out that the investigator teams from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have been arriving since Monday.

Less than a month ago, a light aircraft leaving Puerto Rico got lost in the Bermuda Triangle, with entrepreneur Jennifer Blumin, her spouse, and their two sons on board.