Senator Ted Cruz, the chairman of the committee with oversight of transportation, said there was no compelling reason for the technology not to have been in use when the helicopter collided with a commercial jet over the Potomac River.

The pilots of the US Army helicopter that collided with an American Airlines Group Inc. regional jet near Washington last week were likely wearing night-vision goggles at the time of the accident.

The Army helicopter that collided with a passenger jet last week in Washington had its tracking technology turned off at the time of the crash, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz told the New York Times. The technology allows air traffic controllers to better track the movement of an aircraft.