Aviation Weather Improvement Act

IB Union Calendar No. 171 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3915 [Report No. 118–211] To improve the National Weather Service’s forecasting of turbulence and acquisition of aviation weather data, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 7, 2023 Mr. MCCORMICK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology SEPTEMBER 21, 2023 Additional sponsor: Ms. STEVENS SEPTEMBER 21, 2023 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 June 7, 2023] VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Sep 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3915.RH H3915 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3915 RH A BILL To improve the National Weather Service’s forecasting of turbulence and acquisition of aviation weather data, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Sep 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3915.RH H3915 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3915 RH Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Aviation Weather Im- 4 provement Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. AVIATION WEATHER AND DATA INNOVATION. 6 (a) PROGRAM.—The Director of the National Weather 7 Service shall maintain an airborne observation program 8 (in this section referred to as the ‘‘program’’) for the acqui- 9 sition of atmospheric sensor data and the deployment, in 10 partnership with the weather enterprise, of critical atmos- 11 pheric sensors. 12 (b) ACTIVITIES.—The program shall include activities 13 that carry out the following: 14 (1) Procurement of weather data available from 15 commercial aircraft, as determined by the Director of 16 the National Weather Service. 17 (2) Acquisition of additional vertical profile ob- 18 servations that provide spatial and temporal density, 19 as determined by the Director. 20 (3) Analysis of procured data when incorporated 21 into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- 22 tration’s unified forecast system in order to provide 23 improved forecast information for aircraft. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Sep 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3915.RH H3915 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3915 RH (c) BUDGET.—The Director of the National Weather 1 Service shall, not less frequently than annually, submit to 2 Congress a proposed budget corresponding with the activi- 3 ties described in subsection (b), including an analysis of 4 such activities that can be complemented by National Oce- 5 anic and Atmospheric Administration aircraft. 6 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—From 7 amounts made available to Operations, Research, and Fa- 8 cilities of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- 9 tration, there is authorized to be appropriated up to 10 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028 to 11 carry out this section. 12 (e) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘weather 13 enterprise’’ has the meaning given such term in section 2 14 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act 15 of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501). 16 SEC. 3. AVIATION WEATHER AND TURBULENCE FORE- 17 CASTING COORDINATION. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 19 Weather Service shall include turbulence events or phe- 20 nomena, icing conditions, or other phenomena in the fore- 21 casting capabilities of the National Weather Service’s Avia- 22 tion Weather Center, and deliver operational forecasts with 23 consistent, timely, and accurate weather and turbulence in- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Sep 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3915.RH H3915 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3915 RH formation for the airspace system and the protection of lives 1 and property. 2 (b) COORDINATION.—In carrying out subsection (a), 3 the Director of the National Weather Service shall— 4 (1) give consideration to recommendations from 5 the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Adminis- 6 tration in furtherance of section 44720 of title 49, 7 United States Code; and 8 (2) improve weather and turbulence forecasting 9 capabilities by— 10 (A) designating or establishing within the 11 Federal Government an interagency working 12 group to determine weather and environmental 13 data or observation requirements, needs, and po- 14 tential solutions related to aviation weather and 15 turbulence modeling or forecasting; 16 (B) identifying current and future potential 17 data gaps related to turbulence events or phe- 18 nomena that can— 19 (i) identify or inform route specific 20 flight planning; and 21 (ii) be supplemented or filled by com- 22 mercial aviation tools; 23 (C) transitioning research initiatives and 24 pilot programs, including a pilot program of in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Sep 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3915.RH H3915 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3915 RH strumentation for observing greenhouse gases and 1 other atmospheric factors deployed on commer- 2 cial aircraft and supporting the evaluation of a 3 sustained observing network using such plat- 4 forms, into operations that improve the fore- 5 casting missions of the Aviation Weather Center; 6 (D) developing and deploying improved 7 probabilistic aviation weather forecast guidance 8 technology; and 9 (E) updating interagency agreements, as 10 appropriate, including to address reimbursable 11 agreements. 12 SEC. 4. NEXT GENERATION AVIATION RESEARCH. 13 Paragraph (3) of section 102(b) of the Weather Re- 14 search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 15 8512(b)), is amended— 16 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) and (G) 17 as subparagraphs (G) and (H), respectively; and 18 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the fol- 19 lowing new subparagraph: 20 ‘‘(F) aviation weather phenomena, includ- 21 ing atmospheric composition and turbulence, to 22 improve scientific understanding and forecast 23 capabilities for the airspace system;’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Sep 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3915.RH H3915 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Sep 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H3915.RH H3915 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB Union Calendar No. 171 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3915 [Report No. 118–211] A BILL To improve the National Weather Service’s fore- casting of turbulence and acquisition of aviation weather data, and for other purposes. SEPTEMBER 21, 2023 Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com- mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:54 Sep 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H3915.RH H3915 kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB