A small medical near Ruidoso on Thursday morning, resulting in the deaths of all four people on board, according to officials. Lincoln County Manager Jason Burns said the cause of the crash is still under investigation, AP reported.
The flight departed from Roswell Air Center and was headed to Sierra Blanca Regional Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.
The U.S. Forest Service is working with local agencies to suppress a fire “associated” with the crash that is estimated to be less than 5 acres (2 hectares), Burns said.
Conditions across southern New Mexico were hot and dry, with a red flag high fire risk warning issued for the Ruidoso area because of low that could reach 35 mph (56 kph).
Ruidoso, a mountain town with a year-round population of less than 8,000, sits at the base of south-central ’s Sierra Blanca range. The surrounding area, which includes Lincoln National Forest, is heavily forested and rural.
Several major medical aircraft crashes have occurred over the past 18 months, including a January 2025 incident in which a jet crashed into a neighbourhood in Philadelphia, killing eight people, AP reported.
In another accident last year, a carrying a young patient and seven others crashed into the Gulf off the coast of Texas.
(With inputs from AP)
