A US military GPS-jamming exercise has been linked to a medevac plane crash that killed four people in the mountains of New Mexico, according to records from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The twin-engine Beechcraft King Air was flying from Roswell to Ruidoso in early May to collect a patient when its pilots suddenly lost access to their modern satellite navigation systems during a flight over dark and sparsely populated terrain.
About 100 miles away, military personnel were testing technology designed to disrupt GPS signals during an electronic warfare event at White Sands Missile Range, a major military testing facility in southern New Mexico.
The disaster marks the first fatal civilian plane crash in the United States known to be linked to electronic warfare. It has raised urgent concerns among aviation safety officials regarding military technology interfering with commercial and emergency civilian flights.
The crash triggered the Seven Cabins Fire, which has been burning in the Capitan Mountain Wilderness since May 14 after the aircraft crashed en route to Sierra Blanca Regional Airport in Ruidoso, killing all four crew members on board.
Flight timeline and navigation failure
The medical transport crew was dispatched at 11:00 pm on May 13 to collect a patient in Ruidoso and transport them to Albuquerque. The twin-turboprop aircraft departed Roswell at 11:52 pm under clear but nearly moonless skies, WIRED reported.
That night, the Air Force's 746th Test Squadron was testing GPS-jamming technology during its NAVFEST electronic warfare event at White Sands Missile Range. The Federal Aviation Administration had previously issued warnings to pilots that the exercises could disrupt GPS signals up to 400 miles away between May 12 and May 18.
Eight minutes after takeoff, at 12:00 am, the pilots reported losing GPS access and requested direction vectors from air traffic control. The controller provided headings toward Ruidoso's airport as the crew attempted to switch from a satellite-dependent RNAV approach to a ground-based instrument landing system.
Air traffic controllers were under heavy demand at the time, as three other aircraft in the area were simultaneously reporting GPS disruption and requesting navigation assistance.
By 12:08 am, the King Air had flown about 10 miles beyond its intended landing pattern. The pilots then spotted the lights of Ruidoso's airport 31 miles away and received permission from controllers to make a visual approach.
Tragic descent into the Capitan Mountains
Unaware that the 10,000-foot Capitan Mountains stood directly between their position and the airport, the pilots descended into the dark valley. As the aircraft lost altitude, the rising mountain ridge blocked their line of sight to the runway lights.
The loss of visual reference created severe risks for the crew. Pilot Juan Browne explained that descending behind terrain can cause "confusion and a loss of situational awareness," adding: "When those lights go out, man, you know you are in big trouble."
The pilots briefly attempted to climb away from the terrain, but the aircraft struck the mountainside at full speed, killing all four individuals on board instantly.
Those killed in the crash were Captain Keelan Clark, 30, First Officer Ali Kawsara, 23, and flight nurses Sarah Clark, 33, and Jamie Novick, 33.
Captain Clark had earned his commercial pilot's license about 18 months earlier and was promoted to captain the previous month. First Officer Kawsara had been on the job for two months after previously flying cargo aircraft. A memorial service for all four victims was held in June.
Safety investigation and expert scrutiny
The National Transportation Safety Board, the independent federal agency that investigates civil aviation accidents in the United States, released a preliminary report describing the severe GPS interference faced by the flight crew. Federal investigators noted that official determination of the probable cause will not be completed until the final report is published next year.
Aviation safety experts emphasized that satellite navigation failures alone should not cause an aircraft crash, as pilots are trained to rely on ground-based radio systems or visual flying procedures.
"The loss of GPS should not result in the loss of an airplane, so there's got to be more to it than that," said retired airline pilot John Cox, the chief executive officer of Safety Operating Systems.
However, former United Airlines captain Steve Arroyo noted that GPS navigation is critical when flying through mountainous areas with narrow safety margins.
"GPS can bring you in precisely with a margin of safety that's required and bring you down for landing. But if you don't have GPS, you can't make that approach within those margins and you may drift outside using conventional navigation," Arroyo explained.
The incident has intensified concerns across the aviation industry regarding military electronic warfare testing and anti-drone defense technology interfering with civilian airspace. The Daily Mail has contacted both the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of War for comment.
