Mendez started his career in Merengue Music in 1988 as one of the Co-founders of the popular Merengue band " La Cocoband " , along with Alfonzo " Pochy " Vásquez and Bobby Rafael . Mendez wrote and arranged many of La Cocoband 's hit songs including " La Manito " " El Boche " " La Seca " " El Cacu " and " Mujer Malvada " . With the success of La Cocoband Mendez decided to leave and start his own project in early 1992 along with Bobby Rafael which was " Rokabanda " , who won Orquesta Revelación del Ańo in Los Premios Cassandra in 1993 . With Rokabanda , Mendez continued his success producing hits such as " El Bacano " , " Rechenchén " , " El Ñońito " and " los hombres maduro " . Mendez recorded three hit albums with Rokabanda . In 1995 Mendez decided to go solo and released his much anticipated solo album " El Hombre Merengue " which sold 1.5 million copies , a rare feat for a Tropical Artist . Mendez was responsible for the 1997 song " El Vuelo 587 " , which pays tribute to American Airlines Flight 587 , an early morning departure flight from New York City to Santo Domingo , Dominican Republic . Mendez partially wrote the lyrics , and he and Johnny Ventura sung the song , which was one of the songs in " Merenboom , Vol . 2 . " Méndez himself had been a passenger on the flight before the November 12 , 2001 accident flight had occurred . The song was later re-released as " The Plane , " or " El Avion " in Spanish . Méndez said that originally the song was intended to be about happiness while traveling to the Dominican Republic for the holidays . The aircraft on the flight crashed in 2001 . Papi LaFontaine , who once served as Méndez 's manager , died in the 2001 accident flight . Méndez said that he was considering writing a new song about the flight , " b ut it would be a slower song in tribute to all those who died . " The Record Label for all Kinito Recordings throughout the 90s was J & N RECORDS and never Pa ' Ti ' Pa ' Mi Records . Any authorized uses of the masters on Kinito 's album were MASTER LICENSES and not that this , or any other label , had the rights
American Airlines Flight 587
American Airlines Flight 587
Kinito Méndez