LEXINGTON, Ky. --

The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday it expects to rule in July on a probable cause of the crash of a Comair flight that killed 49 people.

In a statement, the board announced tentative plans for a public meeting on July 26 in Washington, and is expected to include the NTSB's safety recommendations and findings concerning the cause of the Aug. 27 crash.

The board had indicated it wanted to finish the investigation within a year after the crash. It opted against holding a public hearing that would include subpoenaed witnesses and could have taken much longer.

Some family members and aviation experts have said they were surprised there would be no public hearing considering all of the safety questions that emerged after the crash.

The plane was barely airborne when it took off from a too-short runway before dawn and crashed into farmland. Only the first officer, James Polehinke, survived.

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