August 6th, 2026Heinrich, N.M. Congressional Delegation Demand Answers from Secretary Hegseth on the DoD’s Involvement in New Mexico Medical Plane Crash

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and members of the N.M. Congressional Delegation, including U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), and Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) sent a letter demanding answers from U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Pete Hegseth on the Department’s involvement in and response to the tragic May 13, 2026, medical plane crash in Lincoln County, New Mexico. Just before midnight on May 13, a Beechcraft King Air medical plane with a crew of four — two pilots and two flight nurses — took off from Roswell heading to Sierra Blanca Regional Airport in Ruidoso for patient pickup and transport to Albuquerque. According to reports , because the aircraft’s GPS was jammed by U.S. military activities in the region, the flight overshot their landing pattern by 10 miles, leading the plane to crash into the side of the Capitan Mountains. As a result, all four crew members died, and the crash sparked a wildfire that took three weeks to contain. By the time that wildfire was contained, it had burned 31,860 acres and at its peak had over 1,000 personnel assigned utilizing 7 helicopters, numerous bulldozers, water tenders and fixed-wing air tankers. This fire was New Mexico’s first incident of the fire season that required a Complex Incident Management Team , and one of only two such complex fires this year. There were no structures lost but the fire forced evacuation orders that remained in place for several weeks, which cost taxpayers an estimated $37.7 million in fire suppression activities. “By any account, this crash was tragic. While this is reportedly the first time GPS jamming activities by the U.S. military have caused or contributed to the crash of a civilian plane, that does little to comfort the families of those lost in that crash or impacted by the wildfire it triggered,” the lawmakers wrote to DoD Secretary Hegseth. The lawmakers continued, “As the prevalence of drone warfare and electronic warfare grows globally and becomes central to our national defense, the risk of military and contractor activities disrupting civilian flights is likely to grow. In order to prevent future incidents and accidents, it is critical that we fully understand what happened on May 13 and 14, 2026, and what could have been done to prevent the accident.” “If the DoD had not been jamming GPS in the region at the time of this crash it is very likely that the crash would have never occurred, four people would still be alive, and this wildfire would not have started. We owe those impacted by DoD’s actions transparency and action,” the lawmakers underscored. In their letter, the N.M. Congressional Delegation urged Secretary Hegseth and the DoD to: Fully cooperate with the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) ongoing investigation into the crash; Expeditiously develop systems and protocols, in concert with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to prevent future, similar accidents; and Work with the FAA and any other relevant agencies to fully implement recommendations from the NTSB. The lawmakers concluded their letter by demanding answers on whether or not the DoD will compensate the victims' families, and compensate federal, state, county, and local agencies for the resources expended in the response to the crash and subsequent wildfire. Additionally, the N.M. Congressional Delegation inquired if the DoD is aware of any other incidents involving civilian aircraft that were impacted by GPS jamming activities surrounding NAVFEST or other DoD technologies. The full text of the letter is here and below: Dear Secretary Hegseth, We write to you requesting answers on the Department of Defense’s (DoD) involvement in and response to the tragic May 13 th medical plane crash in Lincoln County, New Mexico. This crash claimed the lives of all four on board the aircraft and sparked a wildfire that raged for three weeks and burned over 30,000 acres in the Capitan Mountain Wilderness area of the Lincoln National Forest. On May 13, 2026, just before midnight a Beechcraft King Air medical plane with a crew of four, two pilots and two flight nurses, took off from Roswell, New Mexico heading to Sierra Blanca Regional Airport in Ruidoso, New Mexico, for patient pickup and transport to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Due to GPS jamming as part of the scheduled test event in the area, this routine medical ambulance flight overshot their landing pattern by 10 miles and crashed into the side of the Capitan Mountains at 12:15 AM on May 14 th , destroying the plane, killing the four-member crew, and sparking a wildfire that took three weeks to contain. By the time that wildfire was contained, it had burned 31,860 acres and at its peak had over 1000 personnel assigned utilizing 7 helicopters, numerous bulldozers, water tenders and fixed-wing air tankers. This fire was New Mexico’s first incident of the fire season that required a Complex Incident Management Team, and one of only two such complex fires this year. There were no structures lost but the fire forced evacuation orders that remained in place for several weeks, all of which had a huge cost to taxpayers with all fire suppression activities totaling an estimated $37.7 million. By any account, this crash was tragic. While this is reportedly the first time GPS jamming activities by the U.S. military have caused or contributed to the crash of a civilian plane, that does little to comfort the families of those lost in that crash or impacted by the wildfire it triggered. As the prevalence of drone warfare and electronic warfare grows globally and becomes central to our national defense, the risk of military and contractor activities disrupting civilian flights is likely to grow. In order to prevent future incidents and accidents, it is critical that we fully understand what happened on May 13 and 14, 2026, and what could have been done to prevent the accident. To that end, we urge DoD to fully cooperate with the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) ongoing investigation into the crash. We also urge DoD to expeditiously develop systems and protocols, in concert with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to prevent future, similar accidents. Upon completion of NTSB’s investigation, it is imperative that DoD also work with the FAA and any other relevant agencies to fully implement recommendations from NTSB. We further request DoD’s responses to the following questions: Will the DoD compensate the victims' families of this terrible accident? Will the DoD compensate the federal, state, county, and local agencies for the resources expended in the response to the crash and subsequent wildfire? Is the DoD aware of any other incidents involving civilian aircraft that were impacted by GPS jamming activities surrounding NAVFEST in May 2026? Is the DoD aware of any other incidents involving civilian aircraft that were impacted by GPS jamming activities across the country prior to or after this incident that were unrelated to NAVFEST? If the DoD had not been jamming GPS in the region at the time of this crash it is very likely that the crash would have never occurred, four people would still be alive, and this wildfire would not have started. We owe those impacted by DoD’s actions transparency and action. Sincerely, ###