A King Air air ambulance flew into terrain during military GPS jamming.
The Beechcraft King Air C90, registration N249CP, departed Roswell Air Center just before midnight on 14 May 2026 on a medical positioning flight to Sierra Blanca Regional Airport near Ruidoso. Four crew were on board: two pilots and two flight nurses. Shortly after takeoff the crew reported losing GPS reception. White Sands Missile Range was running a scheduled jamming exercise that night. The window covered the flight's time and route.
Air traffic controllers contacted the range and negotiated a temporary freeze. The pilots were cleared for a visual approach. At about 00:10 local the jamming resumed. Around five minutes later the aircraft struck the Capitan Mountains, roughly 70 metres below the summit. All four occupants were killed. The wreckage ignited the Seven Cabins Fire in the Lincoln National Forest.
The NTSB preliminary report, docket WPR26FA186, was published on 18 June 2026. The board documents the GPS outage, the ATC negotiation, and the resumption of jamming. Probable cause has not been determined. Three other aircraft in the same airspace reported losing GPS that night, with one crew needing extra controller assistance to identify a navigation beacon. A final report typically follows within 12 to 24 months.
The FAA had published a NOTAM in advance covering the White Sands jamming window. Crews routinely encounter such notices around military test ranges in the southwestern United States. The preliminary report ties military jamming to the loss of GPS minutes before impact. It does not yet apportion cause.
Source: Aviation International News, 18 June 2026; AirLive, 18 June 2026; KOB, 18 June 2026.