By Pete Muntean, CNN

Washington (CNN) — The top US senator overseeing aviation says he will introduce a bill that “will close the regulatory loophole” that allowed an Army Black Hawk helicopter to operate with key flight tracking technology, called ADS-B out, turned off the night it collided with an airliner near Washington, DC.

Sen. Ted Cruz, ranking chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, made the announcement Tuesday at an aviation industry summit only miles from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport where the January 29 crash killed 67 people.

Cruz has been sharply critical of Army practices since the crash, which he said was given too much leeway by the Federal Aviation Administration to operate with the flight tracking technology equipment, called ADS-B out turned off.

The technology broadcasts the location of a moving aircraft to other planes nearby and can update much faster than traditional radar.

Cruz said his Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform bill, or ROTOR Act, will also “review helicopter routes at airports across the country” and will require the Army inspector general to “review systemic breakdowns that may have contributed to the crash.”

Later this month, the National Transportation Safety Board will hold a three-day investigative hearing on the crash.

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