Work is an adventure at the UAS Range
By Terry Murry on Friday, October 25th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – The Pendleton UAS Range doesn’t just provide the facility for companies to test drones. It also helps simulate those testing conditions. Range Manager Darryl Abling said that recently he played an unusual role in one such test that could prove valuable to law enforcement.
“I was playing the role of a VIP driving around town,” Abling said. “I stopped to check directions. A car came up, two guys jumped out, kidnapped me, and drove me away. All the while, we’re orbiting overhead with this aircraft.”
Abling said another successful simulation called for a drone to drop contraband onto the grounds of the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution after being contacted by the Oregon Department of Corrections.
“They said we’d like to use your technology to be able to track that,” he said. “So, we did that last week.”
He said a new customer at the range is Rainmaker, which is interested in designing unmanned aircraft systems to perform cloud seeding.
“They’re well versed in that technology and they believe that this is the place to be to develop that technology,” Abling said.
