US Army helicopter’s tracking technology turned off at time of crash

A crash site involving an American Airlines flight and a US Army helicopter in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, seen from Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, on Jan 30, 2025. Technology that would have allowed air traffic controllers to better track the movement of an Army helicopter before it collided with a passenger jet over the Potomac River last week was turned off at the time of the crash, Cruz said in an interview on Feb 6, 2025. — ©2025 The New York Times Company

WASHINGTON: Technology that would have allowed air traffic controllers to better track the movement of an Army helicopter before it collided with a passenger jet over the Potomac River last week was turned off at the time of the crash, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in an interview on Feb 6.

Members of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, of which Cruz is chair, received a closed-door briefing with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board on the midair collision between an American Airlines commercial jet and a Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people last week.