Community Brings Flight Nurse Sarah Clark Home; Federal Report Details GPS Jamming in Fatal Crash
A new federal report lays out how a med-flight lost GPS navigation during active military jamming before the crash, which killed four. The report does not assign blame or determine a cause.
Otero County Emergency Services brought flight nurse Sarah Clark home on Wednesday evening.
A procession returned from Albuquerque to Alamogordo and traveled along Scenic Drive to Scenic Chapel at around 5 p.m. The public lined the route to pay their respects.
Clark, an Alamogordo-area native and daughter of Otero County Emergency Manager Matt Clark, was one of four killed when a medical flight crashed into the Capitan Mountains on May 14.
A public memorial service for all four crew members is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 27, at Grace Community Church in Roswell. The operators, Trans Aero MedEvac and Generation Jets, have invited the public to attend.
The Report
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its preliminary report on the crash, describing the medical flight losing GPS navigation amid active military jamming before striking the Capitan Mountains.
According to the NTSB, probable cause will be determined in a final report. The agency says it can take one to two years to complete.
According to the June 17 report, the crew’s preflight briefing materials included a notice to airmen, or NOTAM, warning that military GPS jamming was scheduled during the flight and would cover the area and altitudes the airplane was set to fly.
The Beech C90, operated by Generation Jets as an air ambulance, departed Roswell Air Center about 11:52 p.m. on May 13, bound for Sierra Blanca Regional Airport near Ruidoso to pick up a patient for transport to Albuquerque.
During the initial climb, the crew told air traffic controllers they had lost GPS capability. Controllers asked the military to stop the jamming and began guiding the airplane.
The crew reported having “a visual on Ruidoso” and were cleared for a visual approach. At about 12:10 a.m., after the airplane was established on that approach, a controller’s supervisor told the military it could resume jamming.
Over the next five minutes, the airplane descended toward the airport, then climbed slightly in the final seconds of recorded data before striking the Capitan Mountains at about 9,950 feet, roughly 14 miles northeast of the airport.
Along with Sarah Clark, those killed were pilots Keelan Clark and Ali Kawsara and flight nurse Jamie Novick. There were no patients aboard.
The report notes that three other aircraft in the area that night also reported losing GPS, and that one needed extra help from controllers to navigate.
What’s Known, and What’s Next
A White Sands Missile Range GPS testing advisory was in effect over the area at the time, and the NTSB report confirms that military jamming was active during the flight.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had warned pilots before the flight that GPS could be unreliable in the area. According to an FAA flight advisory for the White Sands Missile Range, GPS testing scheduled May 12 through May 18 could make signals unreliable or unavailable within a 366-nautical-mile radius.
Asked about the report, Army spokesperson Ellen Lovett said in a statement that the Army is aware of its release but cannot comment while the incident remains under investigation.
The crash ignited the Seven Cabins Fire, which burned 31,860 acres in the Capitan Mountains Wilderness before fire crews fully contained the blaze. No structures were reported destroyed, and no injuries or deaths were reported beyond the four flight crew members.
The Reader will continue to follow the investigation. The full preliminary report is available at the NTSB website under accident number WPR26FA186.
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