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On May 14 a King Air medevac flying from Roswell to Ruidoso crashed into a…

2026-08-05 · 01:16 UTC ·@aakashgupta ·1 min read

Brief

A May 14 King Air medevac from Roswell to Ruidoso lost GPS during White Sands Missile Range jamming; ATC briefly got the military to stop the jammers but they were later allowed back on and five minutes later the plane struck a 9,950-foot ridge, missing clearance by 230 feet and killing all four aboard. NTSB won’t assign cause until 2027.

Why it matters

On May 14 a King Air medevac flying from Roswell to Ruidoso crashed into a 9,950-foot mountain, killing all four aboard; the crew missed clearing the ridge by 230 feet and three other aircraft reported GPS failures that night.

Key details

  • GPS jamming originated from White Sands Missile Range; the Army tests spoofing inside the range and uses perimeter jammers with an advisory covering a 240-nautical-mile radius. Air traffic control phoned the military mid-flight to stop the jamming, it went quiet, was later permitted to be switched back on, and five minutes later the crash occurred.
  • Multiple safety layers failed: the jamming advisory was in the crew's preflight package, the non-GPS backup approach required Ruidoso's weather transmitter which was reported out of service, the wreck sparked a month-long wildfire, the NTSB won't assign a cause until 2027, and White Sands has scheduled jamming on at least 12 days since the crash.
Source evidence

An air traffic controller phoned the US military mid-flight and asked them to stop jamming GPS over New Mexico. The jammers went quiet. Then the military was told it could switch them back on. Five minutes later, a medevac plane flew into a mountain at 9,950 feet, killing all four people aboard.

The May 14 flight was a King Air carrying two pilots and two nurses from Roswell to Ruidoso to pick up a patient. Minutes after takeoff the crew reported their GPS was dead. So did three other aircraft in the area.

The jamming came from White Sands Missile Range. The Army tests GPS spoofing inside the range, then rings the perimeter with jammers powerful enough to drown out the fake signals so civilian receivers never see them. That cover jamming reaches all the way to low Earth orbit. The advisory that night covered a 240 nautical mile radius. The plane missed clearing the ridge by 230 feet.

The crew had been briefed. The jamming notice was sitting in their preflight package. But knowing your GPS will die and surviving it are two different problems. The non-GPS backup approach at Ruidoso required the airport's weather transmitter, and a separate notice that night said it was out of service. Every layer of the safety system had a hole, and the holes lined up in the dark.

The NTSB won't assign a cause until 2027. The wreck sparked a wildfire that burned for a month. And jamming has been scheduled at White Sands on at least twelve days since the crash.

The first US civilian crash tied to GPS jamming happened to a medevac crew flying to pick up a patient, inside an exercise their own government scheduled, briefed, paused, and turned back on.

Bryce Greene (@TheGreeneBJ)

Holy shit... Wired reports that back in May, the U.S. Military was testing an experimental GPS jammer and and caused a civilian plane to crash into the side of a mountain, killing everyone on board.

— https://nitter.net/TheGreeneBJ/status/2084701622156808637#m