Overview
- A Beechcraft King Air medevac flying to Sierra Blanca struck terrain and burned on May 14, killing both pilots and two flight nurses and igniting the Seven Cabins Fire.
- Preliminary NTSB data document GPS and ADS‑B outages on the flight path that coincided with the Air Force’s NAVFEST jamming exercise at White Sands.
- Air traffic control asked the military to stop jamming while controllers vectored the aircraft, cleared the crew for a long visual approach after they reported seeing Ruidoso, and then allowed jamming to resume before the crash.
- The crew abandoned a GPS‑based RNAV approach on a moonless night with 10,000‑foot terrain between the airplane and the runway, a sequence that likely produced a controlled flight into terrain.
- The investigation remains open and the NTSB has not assigned probable cause; the findings could prompt changes to how military GPS tests are coordinated with civilian air traffic and to operational rules for flights into affected areas.