On May 14, 2026, a Beechcraft C90 King Air medical evacuation aircraft operated by Trans Aero MedEvac lost radio contact and crashed near Ruidoso, New Mexico, killing all four people on board. The aircraft was traveling from Roswell International Air Center to Sierra Blanca Regional Airport.
The crash started the Seven Cabins Fire in Lincoln National Forest, which grew to over 19 square miles.
Investigation On June 17, 2026, the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report into the crash, described GPS problems encountered by the pilots. Investigators noted they would not identify a cause of the crash until the report's full release in 2027.
In July 2026, Wired published an investigation linking a GPS jamming exercise led by the 746th Test Squadron of the 704th Test Group of the US Air Force at White Sands Missile Range to the crash, noting that this may have been the first crash of a civilian aircraft in the US in which GPS jamming was a contributing factor. The exercise was part of the annual NAVFEST event, two weeks of electronic warfare exercises held at the range due to its remote location.
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