I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 970 
To reauthorize the civil aviation research and development projects and 
activities of the Federal Aviation Administration, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 9, 2011 
Mr. HALL (for himself and Mr. PALAZZO) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 
A BILL 
To reauthorize the civil aviation research and development 
projects and activities of the Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Federal Aviation Research and Development Reauthor-
ization Act of 2011’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Amendments to title 49, United States Code. 
Sec. 3. Definitions. 
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TITLE I—AUTHORIZATIONS 
Sec. 101. Authorization of appropriations. 
Sec. 102. Unmanned aircraft systems. 
Sec. 103. Research program on runways. 
Sec. 104. Research on design for certification. 
Sec. 105. Airport cooperative research program. 
Sec. 106. Centers of excellence. 
Sec. 107. Interagency research on aviation and the environment. 
Sec. 108. Aviation fuel research and development program. 
Sec. 109. Research program on alternative jet fuel technology for civil aircraft. 
Sec. 110. Review of FAA’s energy- and environment-related research programs. 
Sec. 111. Review of FAA’s aviation safety-related research programs. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 49, UNITED STATES CODE. 
Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in 
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 
of an amendment to, or a repeal of, a section or other 
provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to 
a section or other provision of title 49, United States 
Code. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
As used in this Act, the following definition apply: 
(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal 
Aviation Administration. 
(2) FAA.—The term ‘‘FAA’’ means the Fed-
eral Aviation Administration. 
(3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the same 
meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 
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(4) NASA.—The term ‘‘NASA’’ means the Na-
tional Aeronautics and Space Administration. 
(5) NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL.—The term 
‘‘National Research Council’’ means the National 
Research Council of the National Academies of 
Science and Engineering. 
(6) NOAA.—The term ‘‘NOAA’’ means the Na-
tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 
(7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Transportation. 
TITLE I—AUTHORIZATIONS 
SEC. 101. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 48102(a) is amended— 
(1) in the matter before paragraph (1) by strik-
ing ‘‘of this title’’ and inserting ‘‘of this title and, 
for each of fiscal years 2011 through 2014, under 
subsection (g)’’; 
(2) in paragraph (11)— 
(A) in subparagraph (K) by inserting 
‘‘and’’ at the end; and 
(B) in subparagraph (L) by striking ‘‘and’’ 
at the end; 
(3) in paragraph (12)(L) by striking ‘‘and’’ at 
the end; 
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(14) Center for Advanced Aviation System De-
velopment. 
(15) Airports Technology Research Program— 
Capacity. 
(16) Airports Technology Research Program— 
Safety. 
(17) Airports Technology Research Program— 
Environment. 
(18) Airport Cooperative Research—Capacity. 
(19) Airport Cooperative Research—Environ-
ment. 
(20) Airport Cooperative Research—Safety. 
SEC. 102. UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS. 
(a) RESEARCH INITIATIVE.—Section 44504(b) is 
amended— 
(1) in paragraph (6) by striking ‘‘and’’ after 
the semicolon; 
(2) in paragraph (7) by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(8) in conjunction with other Federal agencies, 
as appropriate, to develop technologies and methods 
to assess the risk of and prevent defects, failures, 
and malfunctions of products, parts, and processes, 
for use in all classes of unmanned aircraft systems 
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that could result in a catastrophic failure of the un-
manned aircraft that would endanger other aircraft 
in the national airspace system.’’. 
(b) SYSTEMS, PROCEDURES, FACILITIES, AND DE-
VICES.—Section 44505(b) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (4) by striking ‘‘and’’ after 
the semicolon; 
(2) in paragraph (5)(C) by striking the period 
at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(6) to develop a better understanding of the 
relationship between human factors and unmanned 
aircraft system safety; and 
‘‘(7) to develop dynamic simulation models for 
integrating all classes of unmanned aircraft systems 
into the national airspace system without any deg-
radation of existing levels of safety for all national 
airspace system users.’’. 
SEC. 103. RESEARCH PROGRAM ON RUNWAYS. 
Section 44505(c) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through 
(6) as paragraphs (5) through (8); and 
(2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(3) improved runway surfaces; 
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‘‘(4) engineered material restraining systems 
for runways at both general aviation airports and 
airports with commercial air carrier operations;’’. 
SEC. 104. RESEARCH ON DESIGN FOR CERTIFICATION. 
Section 44505 is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub-
section (e); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(d) RESEARCH ON DESIGN FOR CERTIFICATION.— 
‘‘(1) RESEARCH.—Not later than 1 year after 
the date of enactment of the Federal Aviation Re-
search and Development Reauthorization Act of 
2011, the Administrator shall conduct research on 
methods and procedures to improve both confidence 
in and the timeliness of certification of new tech-
nologies for their introduction into the national air-
space system. 
‘‘(2) RESEARCH
PLAN.—Not later than 6 
months after the date of enactment of the Federal 
Aviation Research and Development Reauthorization 
Act of 2011, the Administrator shall develop a plan 
for the research under subsection (a) that contains 
the objectives, proposed tasks, milestones, and 5- 
year budgetary profile. 
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‘‘(3) REVIEW.—The Administrator shall enter 
into an arrangement with the National Research 
Council to conduct an independent review of the 
plan developed under subsection (b) and shall pro-
vide the results of that review to the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation of the Senate not later 
than 18 months after the date of enactment of the 
Federal Aviation Research and Development Reau-
thorization Act of 2011.’’. 
SEC. 105. AIRPORT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM. 
Section 44511(f) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘establish a 4- 
year pilot’’ and inserting ‘‘maintain an’’; and 
(2) in paragraph (4)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘Not later than 6 months 
after the expiration of the program under this 
subsection,’’ and inserting ‘‘Not later than Sep-
tember 30, 2012,’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘program, including rec-
ommendations as to the need for establishing a 
permanent airport cooperative research pro-
gram’’ and inserting ‘‘program’’. 
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SEC. 106. CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE. 
(a) GOVERNMENT’S
SHARE
OF
COSTS.—Section 
44513(f) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(f) GOVERNMENT’S SHARE OF COSTS.—The United 
States Government’s share of establishing and operating 
the center and all related research activities that grant 
recipients carry out shall not exceed 50 percent of the 
costs, except that the Administrator may increase such 
share to a maximum of 75 percent of the costs for any 
fiscal year if the Administrator determines that a center 
would be unable to carry out the authorized activities de-
scribed in this section without additional funds.’’. 
(b) ANNUAL REPORT.—Section 44513 is amended by 
adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(h) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Administrator shall 
transmit annually to the Committee on Science, Space, 
and Technology of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 
the Senate at the time of the President’s budget request 
a report that lists— 
‘‘(1) the research projects that have been initi-
ated by each Center of Excellence in the preceding 
year; 
‘‘(2) the amount of funding for each research 
project and the funding source; 
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