MEDELLIN, Colombia - A civilian aviation database website says that the British Aerospace 146 charter plane that crashed on its way to an airport in the Colombian city of Medellin made its first flight on March 1999, and was once owned by an airline in Minnesota.
At least 76 people are confirmed dead, including members of a Brazilian soccer team.
Statistics from planespotters.net show that the regional plane has had several owners since.
From 1999 to 2007 it was owned by Mesaba Aviation, a company based in Eagan, Minnesota, before ownership was transferred. Mesaba was a regional airline that contracted with both Northwest Airlines and its successor, Delta. The plane has been in the hands of Bolivian airline LaMia since October 2013.
British Aerospace, which is now known as BAE Systems, says that the first 146 plane took off in 1981 and that just under 400 - including its successor, the Avro RJ - were built in total in the U.K. through November 2003.
The website says around 220 of are still in service in a variety of roles, including aerial firefighting and overnight freight services.
