Air ambulance crash near Ruidoso during military GPS jamming

What happened

A Beechcraft King Air air ambulance flying from Roswell to Sierra Blanca Regional Airport, near Ruidoso, New Mexico, struck terrain in the Capitan Mountains at 00:15 local time on 14 May 2026, killing the two pilots and two flight nurses on board.^[1][2]

The NTSB preliminary report says the US military was jamming GPS in the area at the time, that the crew told controllers they had lost GPS capability, and that three other aircraft also reported losing GPS.^[2][1]

Controllers asked the military at 00:05 to stop jamming, and at 00:10 said it could resume because the aircraft was on a visual approach.^[1]

The NTSB has not yet determined the probable cause.^[3][4]

What our map showed

Our map shows aircraft reporting low GPS position accuracy. It does not show who or what caused it. A day is a full UTC day, so short events can be diluted.

Open this day on the live map

Affected share

0%

High-interference hexagons

0 of 16

30-day average

2%

Below the 30-day average

By altitude

Each day checked

Day by day

Video

What others said

• NTSB preliminary report
  GPS jamming activities that encompassed the area around the accident flight were being conducted by the United States military during the time of the flight. 17 June 2026 · data.ntsb.gov
• AOPA pilots' association
  Called this apparently the first fatal accident in which GPS interference was a factor. 18 June 2026 · aopa.org
• AOPA pilots' association
  Has pressed the FAA to make advisories about military GPS tests more visible to pilots. 18 June 2026 · aopa.org
• KOB 4 New Mexico television station
  Reported that the preliminary report assigns no blame and that the NTSB has not determined what caused the crash. kob.com
• Lisa Dyer executive director, GPS Innovation Alliance, quoted by DefenseScoop
  That jamming and spoofing, as you know, doesn't just hit an adversary — it's all of the systems that are operating in areas around it, 6 November 2026 · defensescoop.com

Context

• Region page: United States
• This day's page: 13 May 2026
• Possible causes: Tests and exercises

Sources

1. AOPA, Jim Moore. GPS jamming active when King Air struck mountain, 18 June 2026.
2. National Transportation Safety Board. Aviation Investigation Preliminary Report WPR26FA186, 17 June 2026.
3. KOB 4. NTSB: GPS jamming was active when air ambulance crew flew into Capitan Mountains.
4. DefenseScoop, Brandi Vincent. Director of GPS Innovation Alliance warns of risks to civilians from military testing of jamming and spoofing technologies, 6 November 2026.
5. Associated Press. Report on the NTSB's preliminary findings.

Cite this report

GPSInterference.com (2026). Air ambulance crash near Ruidoso during military GPS jamming. Report, 10 November 2026, updated 10 November 2026. https://gpsinterference.com/reports/2026-05-14-ruidoso-king-air-crash-white-sands. Data: adsb.lol ADS-B, method v2.

@misc{gpsinterference_2026_05_14_ruidoso_king_air_crash_white_sands,
  author = {{GPSInterference.com}},
  title = {Air ambulance crash near Ruidoso during military GPS jamming},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://gpsinterference.com/reports/2026-05-14-ruidoso-king-air-crash-white-sands}},
  note = {Report, updated 2026-11-10. Data: adsb.lol ADS-B, method v2}
}