The AR-404 was designed as a rugged utility aircraft, capable of carrying 30 pax or three LD3 cargo containers. It was intended to be series produced at Aguadilla in Puerto Rico, and this example was in fact the first one built there. It first flew in 1979, three years after the first flight of the prototype N404AR (which was built and flown at Oxnard, CA). Two more airframes were completed in Puerto Rico, but these never flew