FAA Severe Turbulence Research and Development Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4082 To provide for Federal Aviation Administration research and development on severe turbulence, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 13, 2023 Ms. STEVENS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology A BILL To provide for Federal Aviation Administration research and development on severe turbulence, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘FAA Severe Turbu- 4 lence Research and Development Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. TURBULENCE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap- 7 propriations for such purpose, the Administrator of the 8 Federal Aviation Administration (in this section referred 9 to as the ‘‘Administrator’’), in collaboration with the Ad- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Jul 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4082.IH H4082 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 4082 IH ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- 1 ministration, and in consultation with the Administrator 2 of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 3 shall carry out applied research and development to— 4 (1) enhance the monitoring and understanding 5 of severe turbulence, including clear-air turbulence; 6 and 7 (2) inform the development of measures to miti- 8 gate safety impacts on crew and the flying public 9 that may result from severe turbulence. 10 (b) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES.—In 11 conducting the research and development on severe turbu- 12 lence in accordance with subsection (a), the Administrator 13 shall— 14 (1) establish processes and procedures for com- 15 prehensive and systematic data collection through 16 both instrumentation and pilot reporting, of severe 17 turbulence, including clear-air turbulence; 18 (2) establish measures for storing and man- 19 aging such data collection; 20 (3) support measures for monitoring and char- 21 acterizing incidents of severe turbulence; 22 (4) consider relevant existing research and de- 23 velopment from other entities, including Federal de- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Jul 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4082.IH H4082 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 4082 IH partments and agencies, academia, and the private 1 sector; and 2 (5) carry out research and development— 3 (A) to understand the impacts of climate 4 change and other factors on the nature of tur- 5 bulence, including severe turbulence and clear- 6 air turbulence; 7 (B) to enhance turbulence forecasts for 8 flight planning and execution, seasonal pre- 9 dictions for schedule and route-planning, and 10 long-term projections of severe turbulence, in- 11 cluding clear-air turbulence; and 12 (C) on other subject matters areas related 13 to severe turbulence, as determined by the Ad- 14 ministrator; and 15 (6) support the effective transition of the re- 16 sults of research and development to operations, 17 where appropriate. 18 (c) NO DUPLICATION.—The Administrator shall en- 19 sure that research and development activities under this 20 section do not duplicate other Federal programs relating 21 to turbulence. 22 (d) TURBULENCE DATA.— 23 (1) COMMERCIAL PROVIDERS.—In conducting 24 research and development activities under subsection 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Jul 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4082.IH H4082 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 4082 IH (b), the Administrator may enter into agreements 1 with commercial providers for the following: 2 (A) The purchase of turbulence data. 3 (B) The placement on aircraft of instru- 4 ments relevant to understanding and moni- 5 toring turbulence. 6 (2) DATA ACCESS.—The Administrator shall 7 make the data collected pursuant to subsection (b) 8 widely available and accessible to the scientific re- 9 search, user, and stakeholder communities, including 10 the Administrator of the National Oceanic and At- 11 mospheric Administration, to the greatest extent 12 practicable and in accordance with Federal Aviation 13 Administration data management policies. 14 (e) REPORT ON TURBULENCE RESEARCH.—Not later 15 than 15 months after the date of the enactment of this 16 Act, the Administrator, in collaboration with the Adminis- 17 trator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- 18 tration, shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, 19 and Technology of the House of Representatives and the 20 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 21 the Senate a report that— 22 (1) details the activities conducted under this 23 section, including how the research and development 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Jul 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4082.IH H4082 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 4082 IH activities under subsection (b) have contributed to 1 the goals specified in subsection (a); 2 (2) assesses the current state of scientific un- 3 derstanding of the causes, occurrence rates, and past 4 and projected future trends in occurrence rates of 5 severe turbulence, including clear-air turbulence; 6 (3) describes the processes and procedures for 7 collecting, storing, and managing, data in pursuant 8 to subsection (b); 9 (4) assesses— 10 (A) the use of commercial providers pursu- 11 ant to subsection (d)(1); and 12 (B) the need for any future Federal Gov- 13 ernment collection or procurement of data and 14 instruments related to turbulence, including an 15 assessment of costs; 16 (5) describes how such data will be made avail- 17 able to the scientific research, user, and stakeholder 18 communities; and 19 (6) identifies future research and development 20 needed to inform the development of measures to 21 predict and mitigate the safety impacts that may re- 22 sult from severe turbulence, including clear-air tur- 23 bulence. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Jul 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4082.IH H4082 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB