Pendleton Range Up and Running 

Aeryon Scout Flight Gear. Photo courtesy Peak 3 Technical Services

by Scott Kesselman



Yesterday, the Pendleton Unmanned Aircraft Systems Range achieved initial operating capacity by flying an Aeryon Scout at Hill Ranches, Oregon, five miles northeast of the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport.  



The testing facility received a certificate of authorization 10 months ago from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate a UAS test site as part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Pan-Pacific UAS Test Range Complex. Pendleton is now the first operational range on the contiguous West Coast.



The range’s management team, Peak 3 Technical Services, conducted two flights designed to verify the Scout’s ability to support first responders in locating residual wildfire hot spots. ArgenTech Solutions provided a mobile operations center and geographic information system support for the test flights.



“These first flights are a testimony to the tremendous cooperation and support of the city of Pendleton, Oregon, the Pan-Pacific UAS Test Range Complex, the FAA, Aeryon Labs and Hill Ranches,” says Pendleton UAS Range Manager John Stevens. “We’re very excited to continue to develop this and other relationships in the UAS industry in order to further the FAA goal of UAS integration in to the National Airspace System.”



Hill Ranches supported the entire operation. Co-owner Jason Hill says they “… are very excited about the potential that UAS bring to agriculture, and we’re thrilled to be a part of what the Pendleton UAS Range is doing.”