A US military exercise involving GPS signal jamming has been tied to the crash of a medical evacuation plane that killed four people in New Mexico’s mountain terrain.
The twin-engine Beechcraft King Air had departed Roswell for Ruidoso in early May to pick up a patient when the flight crew abruptly lost the use of key modern navigation tools.
Conditions were visually challenging despite clear skies: the night was almost moonless, and the aircraft was crossing a dark, thinly populated region with little on the ground to guide the pilots.
Roughly 100 miles away, however, military teams were conducting an electronic warfare exercise at White Sands Missile Range, where equipment intended to interfere with GPS signals was being tested, according to Federal Aviation Administration records.
As the GPS disruption spread, the two pilots were pushed back onto older navigation procedures while air traffic controllers worked to help multiple aircraft experiencing comparable navigation failures.
The crew ultimately gave up on their instrument approach and tried to continue visually toward the lights of the Ruidoso airport, not realizing that the 10,000-foot Capitan Mountains lay directly ahead.
The aircraft later struck the rising mountainside at high speed, killing all four people on board, according to WIRED.
The fatal accident is believed to be the first known civilian plane crash in the United States connected to electronic warfare activity, intensifying questions about how military GPS jamming can affect civilian aviation safety.
The Seven Cabins Fire has been burning in the Capitan Mountain Wilderness since May 14th when a medical transport plane crashed en route to Sierra Blanca Regional Airport, killing all four crew members on board
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 navigation systems. Pictured is the plane’s flight path
The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report described the GPS problems encountered by the pilots, but investigators will not determine the crash’s cause until the final report is completed next year.
The crew was dispatched at 11pm on May 13 to collect a patient in Ruidoso and transport them to Albuquerque.
Captain Keelan Clark, 30, and First Officer Ali Kawsara, 23, were joined by nurses Sarah Clark, 33, and Jamie Novick, 33.
Clark had received his commercial pilot’s license about 18 months earlier and was promoted to captain the previous month, while Kawsara had been on the job for two months after previously flying cargo planes.
The aircraft left Roswell at 11:52pm and headed west 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 FAA had warned pilots that the exercises could disrupt GPS signals up to 400 miles away between May 12 and 18.
Eight minutes after takeoff, the pilots reported losing GPS and asked air traffic control for directions.
Pictured are Captain Keelan Clark, 30, and First Officer Ali Kawsara (right), 23, who died in the crash
The controller gave them headings toward the airport as they attempted to switch from a GPS-dependent RNAV approach to its ground-based instrument landing system.
However, three other aircraft were also reporting GPS problems and required assistance.
By 12:08am, the King Air had flown about 10 miles beyond the landing pattern.
Nurses Sarah Clark, 33, and Jamie Novick, 33, (right), also perished
The pilots then spotted the lights of Ruidoso’s airport 31 miles away and received permission to approach visually, unaware that the darkness concealed the 10,000-foot Capitan Mountains ahead.
As the plane descended, the mountains blocked the valley lights, potentially causing ‘confusion and a loss of situational awareness,’ pilot Juan Browne said.
‘When those lights go out, man, you know you are in big trouble,’ he added.
The pilots briefly climbed, but the plane struck the mountainside at full speed, killing everyone aboard.
A memorial service was held for the four passengers in June
Experts stressed that GPS disruption alone should not cause an aircraft to crash because pilots can rely on ground-based or visual navigation.
‘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, CEO of Safety Operating Systems.
However, aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo said GPS is particularly important in mountainous terrain, where pilots have little room for error.
‘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,’ said Arroyo, a longtime United Airlines pilot.
The crash has raised concerns about military GPS interference affecting civilian aircraft as the technology is increasingly used to combat enemy drones.
The Daily Mail has contacted the FAA and Department of War for comment.
