Sen. Ted Cruz revealed that the Army Black Hawk helicopter involved in the fatal midair collision near Reagan National Airport last week had its advanced tracking system turned off at the time of the incident.

The Texas Republican told reporters on Thursday that the helicopter’s automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) system, which is allowed for military aircraft, was not active when it collided with an American Airlines passenger jet over the Potomac River in the Washington, D.C., area, resulting in 67 fatalities.

“This was a training mission, so there was no compelling national security reason for ADS-B to be turned off,” Cruz said after attending a briefing by the National Transportation and Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), headed now by former congressman and Fox News host Sean Duffy.

The FAA describes ADS-B as an “advanced surveillance technology that combines an aircraft’s positioning source, aircraft avionics, and a ground infrastructure to create an accurate surveillance interface between aircraft and Air Traffic Control.”

Though the chopper was equipped with a transponder that allowed it to show up on radar, the ADS-B system is far more accurate.

“I will say the NTSB, they are serious professionals. Any time there is an aviation accident, especially one involving a loss of life, they engage in a serious and thorough investigation, as they should. And what happened with this accident was tragic and catastrophic,” added Cruz, who is the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, per Fox News.

“Sixty-seven souls lost their lives. We need to follow the evidence. We need to determine exactly what caused it. And then we need to learn lessons from the cause of that accident. Do everything possible to prevent a subsequent accident,” he added.

President Donald Trump shared findings from the black boxes earlier this week after investigators recovered them following the deadly mid-air collision between a passenger jet and the Army chopper and an American Airlines regional jet. 

In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated that he had learned the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was flying “far above the 200-foot limit” set by the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates the crowded airspace over Washington, D.C.

“It was far above the 200-foot limit. That’s not really too complicated to understand, is it???” Trump wrote on Truth Social.