§ 44505 — Systems, Procedures, Facilities, Services, And Devices

(1) The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall— (A) develop, alter, test, and evaluate systems, procedures, facilities, services, and devices, and define their performance characteristics, to meet the needs for safe and efficient navigation and traffic control of civil and military aviation, except for needs of the armed forces that are peculiar to air warfare and primarily of military concern; and (B) select systems, procedures, facilities, services, and devices that will best serve those needs and promote maximum coordination of air traffic control and air defense systems. (2) The Administrator may make contracts to carry out this subsection without regard to section 3324(a) and (b) of title 31. (3) When a substantial question exists under paragraph (1) of this subsection about whether a matter is of primary concern to the armed forces, the Administrator shall decide whether the Administrator or the Secretary of the appropriate military department has responsibility. The Administrator shall be given technical information related to each research and development project of the armed forces that potentially applies to, or potentially conflicts with, the common system to ensure that potential application to the common system is considered properly and that potential conflicts with the system are eliminated. (b) The Administrator shall conduct or supervise research— (1) to develop a better understanding of the relationship between human factors and aviation accidents and between human factors and air safety; (2) to enhance air traffic controller, mechanic, and flight crew performance; (3) to develop a human-factor analysis of the hazards associated with new technologies to be used by air traffic controllers, mechanics, and flight crews; (4) to identify innovative and effective corrective measures for human errors that adversely affect air safety; (5) to develop or procure dynamic simulation models and tools of the air traffic control system and airport design and operating procedures that will provide analytical technology— (A) to predict airport and air traffic control safety and capacity problems; (B) to evaluate planned research projects; and (C) to test proposed revisions in airport and air traffic control operations programs; (6) to develop a better understanding of the relationship between human factors and unmanned aircraft system safety; and (7) to develop or procure dynamic simulation models and tools for integrating all classes of unmanned aircraft systems into the national airspace system without any degradation of existing levels of safety for all national airspace system users. (c) The Administrator shall conduct or supervise research on— (1) airspace and airport planning and design; (2) airport capacity enhancement techniques; (3) human performance in the air transportation environment; (4) aviation safety and security; (5) the supply of trained air transportation personnel, including pilots and mechanics; and (6) other aviation issues related to developing and maintaining a safe and efficient air transportation system. (1) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, 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) Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, the Administrator shall develop a plan for the research under paragraph (1) that contains objectives, proposed tasks, milestones, and a 5-year budgetary profile. (3) 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 Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. (e) The Administrator may enter into cooperative agreements on a cost-shared basis with Federal and non-Federal entities that the Administrator may select in order to conduct, encourage, and promote aviation research, engineering, and development, including the development of prototypes and demonstration models.