A medical transport aircraft that crashed in the mountains northeast of Ruidoso, New Mexico, experienced a loss of GPS navigation capability shortly before the accident, according to a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Incident Details
The aircraft, operated as an air ambulance flight, crashed shortly after midnight on May 14, 2026, while transporting two flight nurses to Sierra Blanca Regional Airport in Ruidoso to pick up a patient. Both pilots and both medical crew members were killed.
The NTSB report states that military GPS-jamming operations were active across a large portion of New Mexico at the time of the flight. Air traffic controllers subsequently contacted military personnel and requested that the jamming be halted after multiple aircraft in the region reported GPS-related issues.
The crew initially requested an RNAV (GPS) approach before switching to an instrument landing system (ILS) approach because of the navigation outage. Shortly after the medical plane reported they had a visual of Sierra Blanca Regional Airport, the NTSB report says air traffic control supervisors contacted the military to resume GPS jamming operations.
Investigation Status
The NTSB is still investigating the crash. A final report with the official cause of the crash has not been released.
Original reporting: KOAT Albuquerque — read the source article.
