I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2734

To authorize appropriations for the civil aviation research and development 

projects and activities of the Federal Aviation Administration, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 15, 2003

Mr. FORBES (for himself, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, 

and Mr. GORDON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science 

A BILL

To authorize appropriations for the civil aviation research 

and development projects and activities of the Federal 

Aviation Administration, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Aviation Ad5 ministration Research and Development Reauthorization 

6 Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

8 Section 48102(a) of title 49, United States Code, is 

9 amended—
2

•HR 2734 IH 

1 (1) by striking ‘‘to carry out sections 44504’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘for conducting civil aviation research 

3 and development under sections 44504’’; 

4 (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

5 (7); 

6 (3) by striking the period at the end of para7 graph (8) and inserting a semicolon; and 

8 (4) by adding at the end the following new 

9 paragraphs: 

10 ‘‘(9) for fiscal year 2004, $371,317,000, includ11 ing—

12 ‘‘(A) $190,000,000 for Research, Engi13 neering, and Development, of which—

14 ‘‘(i) $65,000,000 shall be for Improv15 ing Aviation Safety; 

16 ‘‘(ii) $24,000,000 shall be for Weath17 er Safety Research; 

18 ‘‘(iii) $15,000,000 shall be made 

19 available to the Next Generation Air Traf20 fic Management Research and Develop21 ment Joint Program Office established 

22 under section 3 of the Federal Aviation 

23 Administration Research and Development 

24 Reauthorization Act for the Next Genera25 tion Air Traffic Management Research and 
3

•HR 2734 IH 

1 Development program under such section 

2 3; 

3 ‘‘(iv) $27,500,000 shall be for Human 

4 Factors and Aeromedical Research; 

5 ‘‘(v) $30,000,000 shall be for Envi6 ronmental Research and Development, of 

7 which $20,000,000 shall be for research 

8 activities related to reducing community 

9 exposure to civilian aircraft noise or emis10 sions; 

11 ‘‘(vi) $7,000,000 shall be for Research 

12 Mission Support; 

13 ‘‘(vii) $20,000,000 shall be for the 

14 Airport Cooperative Research Program; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(viii) $1,500,000 shall be for car17 rying out subsection (h) of this section; 

18 ‘‘(B) $163,900,000 for Facilities and 

19 Equipment, of which—

20 ‘‘(i) $42,800,000 shall be for Ad21 vanced Technology Development and 

22 Prototyping; 

23 ‘‘(ii) $30,300,000 shall be for Safe 

24 Flight 21; and 
4

•HR 2734 IH 

1 ‘‘(iii) $90,800,000 shall be for the 

2 Center for Advanced Aviation System De3 velopment; and 

4 ‘‘(C) $17,417,000 for Airport Improvement 

5 Program Research and Development, of 

6 which—

7 ‘‘(i) $9,667,000 shall be for Airports 

8 Technology-Safety; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) $7,750,000 shall be for Airports 

10 Technology-Efficiency; 

11 ‘‘(10) for fiscal year 2005, $396,192,000, in12 cluding—

13 ‘‘(A) $206,600,000 for Research, Engi14 neering, and Development, of which—

15 ‘‘(i) $65,705,000 shall be for Improv16 ing Aviation Safety; 

17 ‘‘(ii) $24,260,000 shall be for Weath18 er Safety Research; 

19 ‘‘(iii) $30,000,000 shall be made 

20 available to the Next Generation Air Traf21 fic Management Research and Develop22 ment Joint Program Office established 

23 under section 3 of the Federal Aviation 

24 Administration Research and Development 

25 Reauthorization Act for the Next Genera-
5

•HR 2734 IH 

1 tion Air Traffic Management Research and 

2 Development program under such section 

3 3; 

4 ‘‘(iv) $27,800,000 shall be for Human 

5 Factors and Aeromedical Research; 

6 ‘‘(v) $30,109,000 shall be for Envi7 ronmental Research and Development, of 

8 which $20,000,000 shall be for research 

9 activities related to reducing community 

10 exposure to civilian aircraft noise or emis11 sions; 

12 ‘‘(vi) $7,076,000 shall be for Research 

13 Mission Support; 

14 ‘‘(vii) $20,000,000 shall be for the 

15 Airport Cooperative Research Program; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(viii) $1,650,000 shall be for car18 rying out subsection (h) of this section; 

19 ‘‘(B) $172,000,000 for Facilities and 

20 Equipment, of which—

21 ‘‘(i) $43,300,000 shall be for Ad22 vanced Technology Development and 

23 Prototyping;

24 ‘‘(ii) $31,100,000 shall be for Safe 

25 Flight 21; 
6

•HR 2734 IH 

1 ‘‘(iii) $95,400,000 shall be for the 

2 Center for Advanced Aviation System De3 velopment; and 

4 ‘‘(iv) $2,200,000 shall be for Free 

5 Flight Phase 2; and 

6 ‘‘(C) $17,592,000 for Airport Improvement 

7 Program Research and Development, of 

8 which—

9 ‘‘(i) $9,764,000 shall be for Airports 

10 Technology-Safety; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) $7,828,000 shall be for Airports 

12 Technology-Efficiency; and 

13 ‘‘(11) for fiscal year 2006, $412,157,000, in14 cluding—

15 ‘‘(A) $228,289,000 for Research, Engi16 neering, and Development, of which—

17 ‘‘(i) $66,447,000 shall be for Improv18 ing Aviation Safety; 

19 ‘‘(ii) $24,534,000 shall be for Weath20 er Safety Research; 

21 ‘‘(iii) $50,000,000 shall be made 

22 available to the Next Generation Air Traf23 fic Management Research and Develop24 ment Joint Program Office established 

25 under section 3 of the Federal Aviation 
7

•HR 2734 IH 

1 Administration Research and Development 

2 Reauthorization Act for the Next Genera3 tion Air Traffic Management Research and 

4 Development program under such section 

5 3; 

6 ‘‘(iv) $28,114,000 shall be for Human 

7 Factors and Aeromedical Research; 

8 ‘‘(v) $30,223,000 shall be for Envi9 ronmental Research and Development, of 

10 which $20,000,000 shall be for research 

11 activities related to reducing community 

12 exposure to civilian aircraft noise or emis13 sions; 

14 ‘‘(vi) $7,156,000 shall be for Research 

15 Mission Support; 

16 ‘‘(vii) $20,000,000 shall be for the 

17 Airport Cooperation Research Program; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(viii) $1,815,000 shall be for car20 rying out subsection (h) of this section; 

21 ‘‘(B) $166,100,000 for Facilities and 

22 Equipment, of which—

23 ‘‘(i) $42,200,000 shall be for Ad24 vanced Technology Development and 

25 Prototyping; 
8

•HR 2734 IH 

1 ‘‘(ii) $23,900,000 shall be for Safe 

2 Flight 21; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) $100,000,000 shall be for the 

4 Center for Advanced Aviation System De5 velopment; and 

6 ‘‘(C) $17,768,000 for Airport Improvement 

7 Program Research and Development, of 

8 which—

9 ‘‘(i) $9,862,000 shall be for Airports 

10 Technology-Safety; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) $7,906,000 shall be for Airports 

12 Technology-Efficiency.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. NEXT GENERATION AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT RE14 SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT JOINT PRO15 GRAM OFFICE. 

16 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a Next 

17 Generation Air Traffic Management Research and Devel18 opment Joint Program Office (referred to in this section 

19 as the ‘‘Office’’). The Office shall be jointly managed by 

20 the Federal Aviation Administration and the National 

21 Aeronautics and Space Administration. The objective of 

22 the Office shall be to carry out research and development 

23 of an air traffic management system designed to meet na24 tional long-term aviation security, safety, and capacity 

25 needs. 
9

•HR 2734 IH 

1 (b) DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY DIRECTOR.—The Office 

2 shall be headed by a Director who shall be a senior execu3 tive of the Federal Aviation Administration. The Deputy 

4 Director shall be a senior executive of the National Aero5 nautics and Space Administration. Not later than 120 

6 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis7 trators of the Federal Aviation Administration and the 

8 National Aeronautics and Space Administration shall 

9 jointly appoint the Director and Deputy Director of the 

10 Office. 

11 (c) FUNCTIONS OF THE OFFICE.—The Office shall 

12 manage air traffic management research and development 

13 programs and initiatives within the Federal Aviation Ad14 ministration and the National Aeronautics and Space Ad15 ministration. The responsibilities of the Office shall in16 clude—

17 (1) establishing and managing a research and 

18 development program for a next generation air traf19 fic management system capable of tripling capacity 

20 by the year 2025; 

21 (2) entering into grants, cooperative agreements 

22 or contracts, or otherwise awarding or using funds 

23 appropriated for air traffic management research 

24 and development to carry out paragraph (1); 
10

•HR 2734 IH 

1 (3) utilizing the facilities, capabilities, expertise, 

2 and experience of Federal agencies, national labora3 tories, universities, nonprofit organizations, indus4 trial entities, and other non-Federal entities to carry 

5 out paragraph (1); 

6 (4) coordinating with the Department of De7 fense, the Department of Commerce, the Under Sec8 retary for Science and Technology at the Depart9 ment of Homeland Security, the National Security 

10 Council, the Department of Transportation, and 

11 other Federal agencies; and 

12 (5) consulting with the private sector (including 

13 representatives of general aviation, commercial avia14 tion, and the space industry), members of the public, 

15 and other interested parties on the program. 

16 (d) NEXT GENERATION AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

17 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN.—

18 (1) REQUIREMENT.—The Office shall develop a 

19 research and development plan to carry out this sec20 tion. 

21 (2) GOAL.—The goal of the plan shall be to en22 able the creation of a National Airspace System ar23 chitecture that would—
11

•HR 2734 IH 

1 (A) be based on emerging ground-based 

2 and space-based communications, navigation, 

3 and surveillance technologies; 

4 (B) increase the level of safety, security, 

5 and efficiency of the National Airspace System; 

6 (C) integrate data and information flow ef7 fectively with other Federal agencies responsible 

8 for providing for our Nation’s defense and secu9 rity; 

10 (D) be scalable to accommodate and en11 courage substantial growth in domestic and 

12 international transportation; 

13 (E) anticipate and accommodate con14 tinuing technology upgrades; and 

15 (F) accommodate a wide range of aircraft 

16 operations, including airlines, air taxis, heli17 copters, general aviation, and unmanned aerial 

18 vehicles. 

19 (3) CONTENTS.—The plan shall describe, at a 

20 minimum—

21 (A) the most significant technical hurdles 

22 that stand in the way of achieving the goal de23 scribed in paragraph (2); 

24 (B) the research and development projects 

25 that will be carried out to overcome the tech-
12

•HR 2734 IH 

1 nical hurdles described in subparagraph (A), in2 cluding, for each project, whether it would be 

3 funded by the Federal Aviation Administration, 

4 the National Aeronautics and Space Adminis5 tration, or both, and whether the work would be 

6 carried by the Federal Government, corpora7 tions, or universities, or a combination thereof; 

8 (C) the annual anticipated cost of carrying 

9 out the plan; 

10 (D) the technical milestones that will be 

11 used to evaluate progress in carrying out the 

12 plan; and 

13 (E) how the research and development ac14 tivities will be coordinated with other appro15 priate Federal agencies. 

16 (e) REPORTS.—The Director of the Office shall 

17 transmit to the Committee on Science of the House of 

18 Representatives and to the Committee on Commerce, 

19 Science, and Transportation of the Senate—

20 (1) not later than 120 days after the date of 

21 enactment of this Act, the plan required under sub22 section (d); and 

23 (2) annually at the time of the President’s 

24 budget request, a report describing the progress in 
13

•HR 2734 IH 

1 carrying out the plan required under subsection (d) 

2 and any changes to that plan. 

3 SEC. 4. BUDGET DESIGNATION FOR RESEARCH AND DEVEL4 OPMENT ACTIVITIES. 

5 Section 48102 of title 49, United States Code, is 

6 amended by inserting after subsection (f) the following 

7 new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(g) DESIGNATION OF ACTIVITIES.—(1) The 

9 amounts appropriated under subsection (a) are for the 

10 support of all research and development activities carried 

11 out by the Federal Aviation Administration that fall with12 in the categories of basic research, applied research, and 

13 development, including the design and development of pro14 totypes, in accordance with the classifications of the Office 

15 of Management and Budget Circular A–11 (Budget For16 mulation/Submission Process). 

17 ‘‘(2) The Department of Transportation’s annual 

18 budget request for the Federal Aviation Administration 

19 shall identify all of the activities carried out by the Admin20 istration within the categories of basic research, applied 

21 research, and development, as classified by the Office of 

22 Management and Budget Circular A–11. Each activity in 

23 the categories of basic research, applied research, and de24 velopment shall be identified regardless of the budget cat25 egory in which it appears in the budget request.’’. 
14

•HR 2734 IH 

1 SEC. 5. AIRPORT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM. 

2 Section 44511 of title 49, United States Code, is 

3 amended by adding at the end the following new sub4 section: 

5 ‘‘(f) AIRPORT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM.—

6 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of 

7 Transportation shall establish an airport cooperative 

8 research program to—

9 ‘‘(A) identify problems that are shared by 

10 airport operating agencies and can be solved 

11 through applied research but that are not being 

12 adequately addressed by existing Federal re13 search programs; and 

14 ‘‘(B) fund research to address those prob15 lems. 

16 ‘‘(2) GOVERNANCE.—The Secretary of Trans17 portation shall appoint an independent governing 

18 board for the research program established under 

19 this subsection. The governing board shall be ap20 pointed from candidates nominated by national asso21 ciations representing public airport operating agen22 cies, airport executives, State aviation officials, and 

23 the scheduled airlines, and shall include representa24 tives of appropriate Federal agencies. Section 14 of 

25 the Federal Advisory Committee Act shall not apply 

26 to the governing board. 
15

•HR 2734 IH 

1 ‘‘(3) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary of 

2 Transportation shall enter into an arrangement with 

3 the National Academy of Sciences to provide staff 

4 support to the governing board established under 

5 paragraph (2) and to carry out projects proposed by 

6 the governing board that the Secretary considers ap7 propriate.’’. 

8 SEC. 6. DEVELOPMENT OF ANALYTICAL TOOLS AND CER9 TIFICATION METHODS. 

10 The Federal Aviation Administration shall conduct 

11 research to promote the development of analytical tools to 

12 improve existing certification methods and to reduce the 

13 overall costs for the certification of new products.

14 SEC. 7. RESEARCH ON AVIATION TRAINING. 

15 Section 48102(h)(1) of title 49, United States Code, 

16 is amended—

17 (1) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subparagraph 

18 (B); 

19 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub20 paragraph (C) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

21 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub22 paragraph: 

23 ‘‘(D) research on the impact of new tech24 nologies and procedures, particularly those re25 lated to aircraft flight deck and air traffic man-
16

•HR 2734 IH 

1 agement functions, on training requirements for 

2 pilots and air traffic controllers.’’.

Æ