IB 
Union Calendar No. 26 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 970 
[Report No. 112–52] 
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 
APRIL 4, 2011 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 9, 2011] 
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A BILL 
To reauthorize the civil aviation research and development 
projects and activities of the Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. 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 provi-
sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a section 
or other provision of title 49, United States Code. 
TITLE 
X—FEDERAL 
AVIATION 
RESEARCH 
AND 
DEVELOP-
MENT 
REAUTHORIZATION 
ACT OF 2011 
SEC. 1001. SHORT TITLE. 
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Aviation Re-
search and Development Reauthorization Act of 2011’’. 
SEC. 1002. DEFINITIONS. 
In this title, the following definitions apply: 
(1) 
ADMINISTRATOR.—The 
term 
‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Federal Avia-
tion Administration. 
(2) FAA.—The term ‘‘FAA’’ means the Federal 
Aviation Administration. 
(3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the same 
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meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the High-
er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 
(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 Re-
search 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. 
SEC. 1003. 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 sub-
section (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 (13) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 
end; 
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(4) in paragraph (14) by striking the period at 
the end and inserting a semicolon; and 
(5) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(15) for fiscal year 2011, $165,020,000; and 
‘‘(16) for each of the fiscal years 2012 through 
2014, $146,827,000.’’. 
(b) SPECIFIC PROGRAM LIMITATIONS.—Section 48102 
is amended by inserting after subsection (f) the following: 
‘‘(g) SPECIFIC AUTHORIZATIONS.—The following pro-
grams described in the research, engineering, and develop-
ment account of the national aviation research plan re-
quired under section 44501(c) are authorized: 
‘‘(1) Fire Research and Safety. 
‘‘(2) Propulsion and Fuel Systems. 
‘‘(3) Advanced Materials/Structural Safety. 
‘‘(4) Atmospheric Hazards—Aircraft Icing/Dig-
ital System Safety. 
‘‘(5) Continued Airworthiness. 
‘‘(6) Aircraft Catastrophic Failure Prevention 
Research. 
‘‘(7) Flightdeck/Maintenance/System Integration 
Human Factors. 
‘‘(8) System Safety Management. 
‘‘(9) Air Traffic Control/Technical Operations 
Human Factors. 
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‘‘(10) Aeromedical Research. 
‘‘(11) Weather Program. 
‘‘(12) Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research. 
‘‘(13) NextGen—Alternative Fuels for General 
Aviation. 
‘‘(14) Joint Planning and Development Office. 
‘‘(15) NextGen—Wake Turbulence Research. 
‘‘(16) NextGen—Air Ground Integration Human 
Factors. 
‘‘(17) NextGen—Self Separation Human Fac-
tors. 
‘‘(18) NextGen—Weather Technology in the 
Cockpit. 
‘‘(19) Environment and Energy Research. 
‘‘(20) NextGen Environmental Research—Air-
craft Technologies, Fuels, and Metrics. 
‘‘(21) System Planning and Resource Manage-
ment. 
‘‘(22) The William J. Hughes Technical Center 
Laboratory Facility.’’. 
(c) PROGRAM AUTHORIZATIONS.—If the other accounts 
described in the national aviation research plan required 
under section 44501(c) of title 49, United States Code, are 
authorized for each of the fiscal years 2011 through 2014, 
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the following research and development activities are au-
thorized: 
(1) Runway Incursion Reduction. 
(2) System Capacity, Planning, and Improve-
ment. 
(3) Operations Concept Validation. 
(4) NAS Weather Requirements. 
(5) Airspace Management Program. 
(6) NextGen—Air Traffic Control/Technical Op-
erations Human Factors. 
(7) NextGen—Environment and Energy—Envi-
ronmental Management System and Advanced Noise 
and Emissions reduction. 
(8) NextGen—New Air Traffic Management Re-
quirements. 
(9) NextGen—Operations Concept Validation— 
Validation Modeling. 
(10) 
NextGen—System 
Safety 
Management 
Transformation. 
(11) NextGen—Wake Turbulence—Recategoriza-
tion. 
(12) NextGen—Operational Assessments. 
(13) NextGen—Staffed NextGen Towers. 
(14) Center for Advanced Aviation System De-
velopment. 
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(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. 1004. 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 that could 
result in a catastrophic failure of the unmanned air-
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craft that would endanger other aircraft in the na-
tional 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 re-
lationship between human factors and unmanned air-
craft 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. 1005. 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 air-
ports with commercial air carrier operations;’’. 
SEC. 1006. RESEARCH ON DESIGN FOR CERTIFICATION. 
Section 44505 is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection 
(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 Research 
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 technologies for their 
introduction into the national airspace 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 paragraph (1) that contains the objec-
tives, proposed tasks, milestones, and 5-year budg-
etary 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 paragraph (2) and shall provide the 
results of that review to the Committee on Science, 
Space, and Technology of the House of Representa-
tives 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 Reauthorization 
Act of 2011.’’. 
SEC. 1007. 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. 1008. 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 a 
center and all related research activities that grant recipi-
ents carry out shall not exceed 50 percent of the costs, except 
that the Administrator may increase such share to a max-
imum 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 described 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 Com-
mittee 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 in the preceding year; 
‘‘(2) the amount of funding for each research 
project and the funding source; 
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‘‘(3) the institutions participating in each 
project and their shares of the overall funding for each 
research project; and 
‘‘(4) the level of cost-sharing for each research 
project.’’. 
SEC. 1009. CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR AVIATION HUMAN 
RESOURCE RESEARCH. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Using amounts made available 
under section 48102(a) of title 49, United States Code, the 
Administrator may establish a center of excellence to con-
duct research on— 
(1) human performance in the air transportation 
environment, including among air transportation 
personnel such as air traffic controllers, pilots, and 
technicians; and 
(2) any other aviation human resource issues 
pertinent to developing and maintaining a safe and 
efficient air transportation system. 
(b) ACTIVITIES.—Activities conducted under this sec-
tion may include the following: 
(1) Research, development, and evaluation of 
training programs for air traffic controllers, aviation 
safety inspectors, airway transportation safety spe-
cialists, and engineers. 
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(2) Research and development of best practices 
for recruitment into the aviation field for mission 
critical positions. 
(3) Research, in consultation with other relevant 
Federal agencies, to develop a baseline of general 
aviation employment statistics and an analysis of fu-
ture needs in the aviation field. 
(4) Research and the development of a com-
prehensive assessment of the airframe and powerplant 
technician certification process and its effect on em-
ployment trends. 
(5) Evaluation of aviation maintenance techni-
cian school environments. 
(6) Research and an assessment of the ability to 
develop training programs to allow for the transition 
of recently unemployed and highly skilled mechanics 
into the aviation field. 
SEC. 1010. INTERAGENCY RESEARCH ON AVIATION AND 
THE ENVIRONMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Using amounts made available 
under section 48102(a) of title 49, United States Code, the 
Administrator, in coordination with NASA and after con-
sultation with other relevant agencies, may maintain a re-
search program to assess the potential effect of aviation on 
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the environment and, if warranted, to evaluate approaches 
to address any such effect. 
(b) RESEARCH PLAN.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, in coordi-
nation with NASA and after consultation with other 
relevant agencies, shall jointly develop a plan to carry 
out the research under subsection (a). 
(2) CONTENTS.—Such plan shall contain an in-
ventory of current interagency research being under-
taken in this area, future research objectives, proposed 
tasks, milestones, and a 5-year budgetary profile. 
(3) REQUIREMENTS.—Such plan— 
(A) shall be completed not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act; 
(B) shall be submitted to Congress for re-
view; and 
(C) shall be updated, as appropriate, every 
3 years after the initial submission. 
SEC. 1011. AVIATION FUEL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 
PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Using amounts made available 
under section 48102(a) of title 49, United States Code, the 
Administrator, in coordination with the NASA Adminis-
trator, shall continue research and development activities 
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into the qualification of an unleaded aviation fuel and safe 
transition to this fuel for the fleet of piston engine aircraft. 
(b) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the program 
under subsection (a), the Administrator shall, at a min-
imum— 
(1) not later than 120 days after the date of en-
actment of this Act, develop a research and develop-
ment plan containing the specific research and devel-
opment objectives, including consideration of aviation 
safety, technical feasibility, and other relevant factors, 
and the anticipated timetable for achieving the objec-
tives; 
(2) assess the methods and processes by which the 
FAA and industry may expeditiously certify and ap-
prove new aircraft and recertify existing aircraft with 
respect to unleaded aviation fuel; 
(3) assess technologies that modify existing pis-
ton engine aircraft to enable safe operation of the air-
craft using unleaded aviation fuel and determine the 
resources necessary to certify those technologies; and 
(4) develop recommendations for appropriate 
policies and guidelines to facilitate a transition to 
unleaded aviation fuel for piston engine aircraft. 
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