The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is indefinitely restricting helicopter flights near Washington Reagan National Airport after a deadly collision between an American Airlines regional jet and Army Black Hawk killed 67 people.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was too soon to speculate the cause of the deadly crash. Skaters, parents, and coaches from the Skating Club of Boston were aboard the flight.

Wednesday's crash was the deadliest in the U.S. since Nov. 12, 2001, when an American Airlines flight slammed into a residential area of Belle Harbor, New York, just after takeoff from Kennedy Airport, killing all 260 people aboard and five people on the ground.

It appears that the first major air disaster in the U.S. since 2009 has occurred while the Federal Aviation Administration does not have a permanent leader.

Mike Whitaker, unanimously confirmed as the FAA administrator in October 2023, stepped down early from his five-year term on Jan. 20 when Trump took office and for 10 days the FAA declined to say who was running the agency on an acting basis. Trump has not yet named a permanent candidate to replace Whitaker.