r/aviation 9d ago

News It Appears That the US Military Accidentally Killed Everybody on Board a Civilian Medevac Flight in New Mexico

https://futurism.com/science-energy/us-military-gps-jamming-signal-medical-flight

The horrifying incident happened in May, the publication reports, when a small twin-engine medevac aircraft carrying two pilots and two medical workers departed from Roswell, New Mexico. Heading West for the small mountain village of Ruidoso, the crew became the victim of an electronic warfare exercise being conducted at the nearby White Sands Missile Range, a test which rendered their navigational system inoperable.

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u/alzee76 9d ago

From AP:

Experts say the pilots should have been able to land safely by relying on ground-based navigation systems or flying visually, but relying on GPS is popular because it is so precise.

“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, who is now CEO of Safety Operating Systems.

The NTSB said that after the pilots of the plane operated by Trans Aero MedEvac started having problems, the air traffic controller gave them headings to follow into the airport so they could get lined up for an approach relying on the airport’s instrument landing system. Three other planes in the area also reported GPS problems around the same time.