CATASTROPHIC FAILURE PREVENTION RESEARCH PROGRAM.

SEC. 9208. CATASTROPHIC FAILURE PREVENTION RESEARCH PROGRAM. (a) General Authority.—Section 312(b) of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (49 U.S.C. App. 1353(b)) is amended by inserting after “inflight aircraft fires,” the following;7575 So in original. Probably should be “following:”. “to develop technologies and methods to assess the risk of and prevent defects, failures, and malfunctions of products, parts, processes, and articles manufactured for use in aircraft, aircraft engines, propellers, and appliances which could result in a catastrophic failure of an aircraft,”. (b) Grant Program.—Section 312 of such Act is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(h) Catastrophic Failure Prevention Research Grant Program.— “(1) General authority.—The Administrator may make grants to colleges, universities, and nonprofit research organizations (A) to conduct aviation research relating to development of technologies and methods to assess the risk and prevent defects, failures, and malfunctions of products, parts, processes, and articles manufactured for use in aircraft, aircraft engines, propellers, and appliances which could result in a catastrophic failure of an aircraft, and (B) to establish centers of excellence for continuing such research. “(2) Selection and evaluation processes.—The Administrator shall establish a solicitation, application, review, and evaluation process that ensures (A) the funding under this subsection of proposals having adequate merit and relevancy to the research described in paragraph (1).”. (c) Conforming Amendment.—That portion of the table of contents contained in the first section of such Act which appears under the heading: “Sec. 312. Development planning.” is amended by adding at the end the following: “(h) Catastrophic failure prevention research grant program.“.