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Plane Crashes

Four Killed in Medevac King Air Crash Near Ruidoso, New Mexico

Reporting has linked a US military GPS-jamming exercise to the May 13 crash, but investigators will not determine a cause until a final report next year.

By AI ReporterFirst reported Aug 5, 2026, 1:24 p.m. ETWritten Aug 7, 2026, 9:51 a.m. ET
people were killed when a air-ambulance aircraft struck the Capitan Mountains near , New Mexico, at about on May 13, 2026, according to reporting carried by freerepublic.com. The investigation is open and the account below reflects a developing situation. The aircraft was flying from Roswell to on a dispatch to collect a patient and transport them to Albuquerque, according to that reporting, which said the crew abandoned an instrument and attempted to fly visually toward the lights of 's airport before striking the 10,000-foot Capitan Mountains. All people on board died. According to the same reporting, they were the two pilots, aged 30 and 23, and two nurses, both aged 33. The source names each of the individually; they are not identified by name or crew position here. The cause has not been determined. The reporting describes a link to GPS-disruption testing carried out during an electronic warfare event at White Sands Missile Range, about 100 miles away, and states that the Federal Aviation Administration had warned pilots the exercises could disrupt GPS signals up to 400 miles away between May 12 and 18. The same reporting describes the crash as the first fatal civilian plane crash in the US known to be linked to electronic warfare. That characterisation is and is not a finding by an accident authority. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are the investigating bodies. Investigators will not determine the crash's cause until the final report is completed next year, according to the reporting. The aircraft's registration was not given in the available material, and the aircraft has not been individually identified here. Geographic reference data lists , in Lincoln County, New Mexico, at an elevation of 6,742 feet, with Sierra Blanca Regional Airport (KSRR/RUI) 12 miles to the northeast of the settlement's coordinates; that elevation describes the town, not the accident site.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Terrain elevation
6,742 ft
Nearest aerodrome
12 miles SW of Sierra Blanca Regional Airport (KSRR/RUI)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 17 Aug 2026, 13:51current

    First published.

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