On August 25, 2001, at 6:45 pm EST, Aaliyah and various members of the record company boarded a twin engine Cessna 402B at Marsh Harbour, Abaco Islands, The Bahamas, to travel to an airport in Opa-locka, Florida, after they completed filming the music video for Rock the Boat.
They had a flight scheduled the following day, but with filming finishing early, Aaliyah and her entourage were eager to return to the United States. They made the decision to leave immediately. Against the advice of baggage handlers and the pilot, all the equipment from the shoot was loaded on the plane.
Therefore, the aircraft exceeded the standard weight and balance tolerance limit provided by Cessna. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff, about 200 feet (60 m) from the runway. Aaliyah, pilot Luis Morales, hair stylist Eric Forman, Anthony Dodd, security guard Scott Gallin, video producer Douglas Kratz, stylist Christopher Maldonado, and Blackground Records employees Keith Wallace and Gina Smith were killed.
According to findings from an inquest, conducted by the coroner office in The Bahamas, Aaliyah suffered from severe burns and a blow to the head, in addition to severe shock. The coroner theorized that, even if Aaliyah had survived the crash, her recovery would have been virtually impossible given the severity of her injuries.
The National Transportation Safety Board report stated that the airplane was seen lifting off the runway, and then nose down, impacting in a marsh on the south side of the departure end of runway. It also indicated that the pilot was not approved to pilot the plane he was attempting to fly.
Morales falsely obtained his Federal Aviation Administration license by showing hundreds of hours never flown, and he may also have falsified how many hours he had flown in order to get a job with his employer, Blackhawk International Airways. Additionally, an autopsy performed on Morales revealed traces of cocaine and alcohol in his system.
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