A Medevac Plane Crashed Into the Side of a Mountain—Minutes After the U.S. Military Flipped a Switch
Wired said the crash was the first known case of military GPS jamming downing a civilian plane in U.S. airspace.
- A new Wired report alleges a May 14, 2026, medical plane crash in New Mexico, killing four, occurred after a US military GPS jamming exercise disrupted navigation systems.
- Officials at the White Sands Missile Range conducted an experimental GPS jamming test that night, affecting at least three other aircraft and overwhelming Albuquerque air traffic control capacity.
- The twin-engine plane carried pilots Keelan Clark and Ali Kawsara alongside nurses Sarah Clark and Jamie Novick, crashing into the 10,000-foot Capitan Mountains while flying from Roswell to Ruidoso.
- Following the tragedy, the US National Transportation Board launched an investigation into this first known instance of military GPS jamming contributing to a civilian plane crash in US airspace.
- Industry data from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association shows GPS interference events surged from four in 2020 to 50 in 2024, prompting experts to stress balancing military readiness with civilian flight safety.
30 Articles
30 Articles
A GPS interference exercise led by the U.S. Army could be the cause of the crash of a medical evacuation aircraft that occurred last May in New Mexico, according to an investigation by the American magazine Wired....
The tragedy occurred on May 14. The Beechcraft King Air C90 ambulance took off from Roswell Air Center Airport in Roswell at 11:52 p.m. local time, bound for Sierra Blanca Airport in Ruidoso to pick up a patient. It never arrived. Twenty-three minutes after takeoff, the plane crashed in the mountains near Lincoln. Two pilots and two nurses died. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) launched an investigation into the crash. On Wednesda…
A medevac crew lost their navigation during a military signal test and crashed into a New Mexico mountain on a completely moonless night
A medevac flight crashed into a mountain in New Mexico in May after a military GPS jamming exercise contributed to a chain of events that left the crew disoriented, as reported by Tom’s Hardware. All four people aboard the Beechcraft King Air, two pilots and two flight nurses, were killed when the aircraft struck terrain near the Capitan Mountains. A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board indicates the jamming did not d…
NTSB investigating plane crash tied to military jamming activities
A little-reported medical evacuation transport flight that crashed in New Mexico in May has received a fresh groundswell of media scrutiny, prompting the National Transportation Safety Board to say it is actively investigating the incident almost three months later. The flight traveling from Roswell Air Center, New Mexico, to Sierra Blanca Regional Airport in the same state in the early hours of May 14 flew near where the U.S. military was condu…
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