A small medical plane carrying two pilots and two medical workers took off from Roswell, New Mexico, heading toward a patient who needed help. Nearby, the military was running an electronic warfare test that jammed GPS signals across the region. The crew's navigation system went dark, and in low visibility, with no way to see the mountain ahead of them, the plane crashed. Everyone on board was killed.
This is the first known case of military GPS jamming bringing down a civilian aircraft in US airspace, but it may not be the last if nothing changes.
Sign the petition urging the Department of Defense to halt electronic warfare and directed-energy weapons testing near civilian airspace until real, enforceable coordination with the FAA is in place.
Reports of GPS interference across the country have climbed sharply in recent years, from just a handful of incidents in 2020 to dozens each year since. In this case, at least three other planes reported navigation problems from the same test the night the medical crew went down. Months earlier, a separate incident saw a Border Patrol laser weapon accidentally shut down air traffic at an airport in El Paso, fired at what turned out to be a child's party balloon, just a week before officials had even discussed how to safely operate the device.
These are not isolated mistakes. They are the result of experimental weapons being tested near the airspace ordinary people fly through every day, without the safeguards needed to keep them safe. The Department of Defense must require real-time coordination with the FAA before any electronic warfare or directed-energy test near civilian airspace, along with clear no-fly buffer zones and a ban on testing during low-visibility conditions where pilots have the least room for error.
This didn't have to happen. Four people never made it to the patient who needed them.
Sign the petition and demand the Department of Defense put safeguards in place before more lives are lost to a test gone wrong.
