Pendleton doubles down on drone testing with new hangar

Within the excessive desert of northeast Oregon, a brand new constructing goes up—however this isn’t your common airport hangar. The Metropolis of Pendleton, Oregon this month broke floor on what it’s calling Flex Hangar III.

That is the primary everlasting construction inside what’s the metropolis’s quickly increasing UAS Industrial Park. Spanning 18,000 sq. ft, the hangar is designed to assist business drone operators, protection contractors and superior air mobility (AAM) corporations testing on the Pendleton UAS Check Vary — an unlimited, FAA-approved drone hall overlaying 14,000 sq. miles.

The brand new three-bay hangar, slated for completion in January 2026, will embody 60-foot bi-fold doorways, climate-controlled workplace house and 10 Gbps fiber connectivity. It additionally provides direct entry to Taxiway Golf (that’s an aviation time period for a selected taxiway at an airport connecting runways to different points of the airport, like this hangar). With it, drone corporations have simply integration with the adjoining runway at Jap Oregon Regional Airport.

All in regards to the Pendleton UAS Check Vary

The vary usually helps 10+ applications at any given time, and has facilitated almost 65,000 UAS operations up to now. That quantity has been made doable by each ample airspace and an unusually drone-friendly ATC tower, which works carefully with operators to assist advanced flight plans. It’s created numerous jobs (each within the drone trade, in addition to in industries that assist enterprise together with motels and eating places).

Pendleton’s 14,000-square-mile check space is greater than only a declare to bragging rights—it permits for superior operations together with:

• Past Visible Line of Sight (BVLOS) testing (with assist in securing FAA waivers)
• Night time operations
• Swarming and coordinated multi-aircraft flight
• Class IV laser testing
• Testing throughout different terrain: forests, mountains, desert, and farmland

Operators can check in real-world circumstances whereas pushing the boundaries of autonomy, vary, and environmental resilience. And with an working ceiling as much as 15,000 ft MSL, the vary provides a degree of vertical freedom few others can match.

What applications use the Pendleton UAS Check Vary?

The Pendleton UAS Check Vary, owned and operated by the town, has develop into a proving floor for a number of the drone trade’s most formidable applications.

Among the many corporations which have publicly shared particulars about their operations out of the power embody tactical dronemaker Astrium and NASC, which has offered drones for the Division of Protection and is at present engaged on its ArcticShark drone designed to function in temperatures effectively beneath freezing.

Then there are some drone supply corporations, comparable to medical drone supply Spright, which was then acquired by Air Strategies however finally shut down. After which — most notably — there’s Amazon Prime Air. That’s the drone supply firm affiliated with Amazon, however that has struggled to maintain tempo with rivals like Wing and Zipline. Amazon’s program has been marred by frequent management turnover, technical setbacks, and a number of high-profile crashes — a few of which occurred throughout testing in Pendleton.

A spokesperson for the check website wouldn’t touch upon Amazon’s (or any firm’s) particular operations.

“As a matter of coverage, we don’t affirm or deny particular buyer operations,” mentioned Cole Rixe, Enterprise Growth Supervisor for the Pendleton UAS Vary. “A lot of our business and protection clients worth the privateness and anonymity that working in Pendleton gives.”

What to anticipate when the Flex Hangar III opens

That Flex Hangar provides but one more reason for drone corporations to go to Pendleton.

In reality, Rixe mentioned the town has already secured one signed letter of intent from a future tenant and is seeing “sturdy curiosity from a number of others.” Pre-leasing was solely lately opened, and the hangar represents an intentional funding in attracting long-term applications that require each hangar house and built-in floor infrastructure.

Yr-round operations are a core a part of the pitch. Because of Pendleton’s semi-arid local weather (simply 12–13 inches of rain per yr), climate not often grounds flights. Each parcel within the UAS Industrial Park comes geared up with industrial energy, water and high-speed fiber, making the world not simply airspace-rich—but additionally plug-in prepared.

Flex Hangar III additionally options fashionable security techniques, together with sturdy fireplace suppression, and was designed with classes realized over years of operations. These learnings presumably embody responses to security incidents, like these involving Prime Air, although Pendleton officers emphasize compliance with all federal reporting necessities, whatever the operator.

After which what’s subsequent?

Flex Hangar III is simply the beginning of a broader imaginative and prescient. Pendleton’s long-term plan consists of:

• Full build-out of each side of two paved cul-de-sacs, one accomplished and one within the planning part, operating parallel to Taxiway Golf
• Extra purpose-built hangars and workshops on every parcel
• Potential for manufacturing and meeting buildings additional again from the taxiway
• A proposed air visitors management middle improve to maintain tempo with increasing operations

What are these FAA check websites?

The FAA-designated UAS check websites, established below the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, are a community of strategically positioned services created to advance drone integration into the Nationwide Airspace System. Managed in partnership with universities, state governments and analysis establishments, these check websites — that are discovered elsewhere across the nation together with North Dakota and New York — function essential hubs for validating applied sciences like past visible line of sight (BVLOS), detect-and-avoid techniques, autonomy, and superior air mobility (AAM) platforms.

Every website provides distinctive geographic and regulatory benefits, starting from excessive climate testing to proximity to army ranges, and performs a significant function in supporting each business innovation and public security by enabling real-world flight testing below FAA oversight.

Rixe says the Pendleton website stands out for its entry and affordability.

“As a result of we’re owned and operated by the Metropolis of Pendleton, our mission is centered on financial improvement—not revenue,” Rixe mentioned. “That enables us to supply unmatched pace, flexibility and affordability.”

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