Two Flight Nurses Killed in New Mexico Medevac Crash That Sparked 19-Mile Wildfire

Image sources: KOAT, Facebook

Four people, including two flight nurses, were killed early Thursday morning when a medical transport plane crashed in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico, igniting a wildfire that has since scorched more than 19 square miles of rural Lincoln County.

The Beechcraft King Air 90, operated by Generation Jets and carrying a Trans Aero MedEvac crew, went down around 4 a.m. on May 14 while flying from Roswell Air Center to Sierra Blanca Regional Airport, according to the Albuquerque Journal. The aircraft was on a patient transport mission at the time of the accident.

All four crew members on board were killed: pilots Keelan Clark and Ali Kawsara, and flight nurses Sarah Clark and Jamie Novick. Officials have not indicated that any patient was on board at the time of the crash.

In a joint statement, Trans Aero MedEvac and Generation Jets said the crew members were “more than just coworkers.. they were family, caregivers, aviators and friends who dedicated their lives to serving others,” per KOB-TV. Matt Goertz, Vice President of Trans Aero MedEvac, said the nurses “embodied what it means to care for others. Their commitment to their patients and their teammates will never be forgotten, and their impact will continue to live on within our organization and the communities they served.”

Sarah Clark, of Alamogordo, was the daughter of Otero County Emergency Manager Matt Clark. Coworkers at Eastern New Mexico Medical Center in Roswell described her as a “phenomenal nurse” and a devoted animal lover. In 2024, Clark received the Excellence in Practice award from the New Mexico Center for Nursing Excellence for her role in helping a trauma patient become an organ donor. The donation sent a heart to Tennessee, kidneys to patients in New Mexico, and tissue with the potential to save up to 75 lives.

Jamie Novick, of Colorado Springs, was a U.S. Air Force veteran and mother of two who had been a flight nurse for less than six months at the time of the crash. Before joining Trans Aero MedEvac, Novick spent five years as an ER nurse at Memorial Hospital in downtown Colorado Springs, where she earned the hospital’s Nurse of the Year award. Friends described her as “a damn near perfect person.” She is survived by her husband and two young children.

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The crash sparked the Seven Cabins Fire, which has spread quickly across the rugged terrain of the Capitan Mountains. The blaze nearly doubled in size between Sunday and Monday morning to more than 19 square miles, prompting evacuations for rural ranches north of the Capitan Mountains and the community of Arabella to the west.

More than 600 firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and interagency Hotshot crews are battling the fire. Officials say the steep landscape, described by one public information officer as “mountain goat territory,” has prevented crews from engaging the flames directly. A red flag warning remains active across southern New Mexico, with sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph fueling rapid spread.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the cause of the crash. The NTSB has secured the aircraft for further evaluation and is examining the pilot, aircraft, and operating environment. Witnesses to the crash are asked to contact the agency at witness@ntsb.gov.

Flight nursing is one of the most demanding and highest-risk specialties in the profession. Crews routinely fly in unpredictable weather, at night, and into remote terrain like the Capitan Mountains, where Thursday’s crash occurred. Studies of air medical transport consistently rank it among the most dangerous jobs in healthcare, with fatality rates that exceed those of nearly every other nursing role.

For the nursing community, the loss of Sarah Clark and Jamie Novick is a sobering reminder of the risks that flight nurses and the entire medevac crew accept every time they board an aircraft. Both nurses had logged years of bedside experience before stepping into the air medical role, and both were widely recognized for the quality of care they provided. Their deaths underscore the urgent need for continued investment in aircraft safety, crew rest standards, and weather minimums, the kinds of policy levers that directly affect nurses who work in transport medicine.

If you work in air medical transport, your employer’s risk management policies and your union or association protections are worth a closer look. The Air & Surface Transport Nurses Association (ASTNA) continues to advocate for stronger safety standards across the industry.

🤔 Flight nurses, what changes would make your work safer? Share your thoughts in the comments below.