Background
Medellín-based West Caribbean Airways started as a charter service in 1998. It specialized in flights to San Andrés in the Caribbean, parts of the Colombian mainland and Central America. According to the director of Colombia's Civil Aeronautics Board, Col. Carlos Montealegre, the company had been fined many times for violations and several of its airplanes had been grounded for inadequate maintenance. One $45,000 penalty cited pilots and other crew flying too many hours, lack of training and failure to log required flight data.
The aircraft involved in the incident was delivered to Continental Airlines on 4 November 1986 which operated it until 10 January 2005. At that time it was transferred to West Caribbean Airways, registered as HK-4374X. The jet's tail cone fell off in early July 2005 and was replaced.
On Flight 708, the captain of HK-4374X was 40-year-old Omar Ospina, and the first officer was 21-year-old David Munoz.
Read more about this topic: West Caribbean Airways Flight 708
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