REGION
THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2022
THE OBSERVER — A3
Amazon drone crashed twice in Pendleton in 2021
on fi re,” the report states,
according to Business Insider.
The May crash involved
Amazon’s MK27 drone
falling to the ground after a
propeller failure.
An Amazon spokes-
person told Business Insider
that no one was hurt in
either incident
“We follow thorough pro-
cedures on how fl ight tests
are conducted and how we
respond to any incident,” the
spokesperson said in a state-
ment. “In this instance, we
carried out a test with the
utmost caution, as is normal
in the aviation industry. No
employee or community
member was at risk and the
team followed all appro-
priate safety procedures and
reporting requirements.”
In a Friday, March 25,
interview, Pendleton Range
Manager Darryl Abling
confi rmed the crashes
but said he could provide
no other details about the
Not the first
drone accident at
UAS range
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
PENDLETON —
Package delivery drones
being tested at the Pendleton
Unmanned Aerial Systems
Range crashed a couple of
times last year, but the city
of Pendleton is remaining
quiet about the details sur-
rounding the incidents.
Business Insider
obtained reports from the
Federal Aviation Admin-
istration that documented
crashes on the Pendleton
range in May and June of
2021. In the latter instance,
the unmanned vehicle fell
160 feet, its battery catching
fi re after hitting the ground.
“Several acres of wheat
stubble fi eld were soon
East Oregonian, File
A Pendleton UAS Range logo adorns the door of the range’s Mission
Control and Innovation Center in Pendleton on Wednesday, March
17, 2021.
incidents. Abling said it’s
against the drone range’s
policy to discuss crashes
and other incidents. Since
the range’s customers are
the groups that witness the
crashes, Abling said he
would be speculating if he
commented on them.
Abling said the testing
range tracks all operations,
including crashes, but he
declined to disclose them
since they aren’t public
record.
At the urging of the city
of Pendleton, the Oregon
Legislature passed a law
that allows Oregon UAS
ranges from disclosing any
records that might cause a
“competitive disadvantage”
for the testing facilities.
Pendleton is given wide dis-
cretion over what a disad-
vantage entails.
Speaking more broadly,
Abling said range cus-
tomers usually are required
to “stand down” after a
crash, keeping their drones
grounded until they can
determine the root cause of
the crash and fi x the issue.
This isn’t the fi rst time
a drone has crashed at the
Pendleton range. In 2018, a
drone belonging to defense
contractor PAE crashed in a
wheat fi eld and also caused
a fi re. No one was hurt in
the incident.
Abling said test ranges
exist so companies can test
out their technologies in
a safe environment, and
crashes are occasionally
a part of the process. As
drone operations continue
to shoot up across the U.S.,
Abling said more crashes
are a natural eff ect.
“There’s always going to
be a risk in aviation,” he said.
Amazon is testing in
Pendleton as a part of its
Prime Air program, which
aims to use drones to deliver
products ordered on their
website. Amazon joins Ver-
izon and other large com-
panies that are testing out
unmanned vehicles for com-
mercial purposes.
But not all companies
follow through with prod-
ucts that go to market.
PAE was one of the drone
range’s most prominent cus-
tomers in its early years,
but the Virginia-based com-
pany pulled up its stakes in
2020 and sold its assets to a
smaller company.
Amazon itself is facing
questions over the future of
its drone program. Business
Insider reported Amazon
Prime Air has struggled
since launching in 2013 and
has yet to complete a com-
mercial delivery.
Pendleton World
Celebrating the Haines Stampede
War II guardhouses
are under threat
“We started the rodeo
again in 1991. We actually
purchased the land,” Taylor
said. “We haven’t missed a
year since.”
These days, the rodeo
draws an average of 375
participants from Oregon,
Washington, Idaho and
Nevada.
Colleen Taylor said the
rodeo pays out more than
$40,000 in prize money,
which all comes from
entry fees.
Operating costs and
improvements to the rodeo
grounds are funded by the
demolition derby, which
is held every August (this
year’s event is Aug. 13).
A new addition to the
grounds this year is an ele-
vated seating area, next
to the grandstand, that is
covered and accessible
for those with mobility
limitations.
For information about
the Haines Stampede,
or to buy tickets to the
rodeo, visit www.haines-
stampede.com.
By LISA BRITTON
Baker City Herald
Airport commission
again questions what
to do with 80-year-
old structures
By JOHN TILLMAN
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The ele-
ments, construction traffi c
and neglect threaten two
guardhouses dating back to
World War II at what was
then the Pendleton Field
Army Air Base.
They’ve gone largely
unmaintained for decades
at Airport Road. What to
do with them has become a
more urgent issue with con-
struction of the Radisson
Hotel on a portion of the
nearby Eastern Oregon
Regional Airport parking lot.
Opinions diff er in Pend-
leton as to their fate. Com-
mercial banker Mike Short
served on the Eastern Oregon
Regional Airport Commis-
sion until last year. He said,
“I’ve heard gossip that some
people would just like to
eradicate the guardhouses.
There might be more traffi c
now, with the hotel.”
Retired Army aviator Col.
Tim Kelly, board member of
the Pendleton Air Museum,
said the guardhouses need to
be protected until they can be
restored.
“They’re in dilapidated
condition, almost falling
down,” he said. “The airport
commission has talked about
fi xing them up for years, but
nothing has been done. The
chain-link fence surrounding
the hotel project is leaning on
one. Elvis’s (Bar & Grill) has
stored things in one of them.”
Another Pendleton resi-
dent concerned for the his-
toric structures is Kate
Dimon, chair of the Pend-
leton Urban Renewal Grants
Committee and vice chair
of the Historic Preservation
Landmarks Commission.
“A long lorry could hit
them,” the Irish native said.
Her solution is to move
the guardhouses to the west
end of the airport, near
the National Guard’s B-25
bomber.
“It would be brilliant,”
she said. “The vacant space
next to the plane is a shared
government and city owned
property, so that is a possi-
bility. The gates are in Walla
Walla. We could probably
get them back. My husband’s
family has been in this com-
munity since the 1870s, so
Pendleton’s history holds a
place in our family.”
Kelly said he considers
moving the guardhouses to
be more trouble than they are
worth.
“When we were building
the new (National Guard)
facility, I asked if they
would move them down to
our location,” he said. “Of
course they said it couldn’t
be done because of their his-
toric value. What we ended
up with at the facility is a
poor replica of one of the
guardhouses.”
Kelly said he thinks they
should stay where they are
but with a small park or
viewing area around them.
“Besides, they’ve been
there over 80 years and hav-
en’t been hit by a semitruck
yet,” he said.
Army veteran and military
vehicle collector Anthony
Bowman, Pendleton, also
favors leaving the gatehouses
in place, but adding a little
park with benches. To solve
the traffi c issue, he suggested
an alternative.
“Just slightly reroute Air-
port Road, to a smooth curve
instead of the hard left turn
past the gatehouses now,” he
said.
Kelly said if the city spent
$2 million to resurface the
runways, “there should be
room in the budget for a little
historical restoration.”
Other suggested sources
of funding include donations
from Radisson, the National
Guard and military and com-
mercial users of the Pend-
leton Unmanned Aerial Sys-
tems Range.
Airport Commission
Chair Jeff Guenther, owner of
Web’s Rod and Gun, said he
expects the issue of what to
do about the guardhouses to
come up at the commission’s
April meeting.
“We may form an opinion
and pass it onto the city
council for action,” he said. “I
value the history of that air-
port, but we haven’t formally
discussed it. I’ve heard some
behind-the-scenes talk.”
His fellow commis-
sioner, Pendleton High
School Assistant Principal
Curt Thompson, said this
issue comes up every few
years. He said he is in favor
of restoring the guardhouses
where they are.
The April 20 commission
meeting will come just days
after the 80th anniversary
of the Doolittle Raid, whose
volunteers passed through
those gates in 1941.
HAINES — It all
started with an outhouse.
In 2019, volunteers
with the Haines Stam-
pede Rodeo Association
were cleaning up the rodeo
grounds and decided the
old outhouse, which once
stood near the railroad
Baker City Herald, File
depot, needed to go.
Bareback rider Austin Williams hangs on for a wild ride during the
“We didn’t want to
destroy it,” said Bill Taylor, Haines Stampede rodeo in July 2016.
who helps put on the
annual rodeo.
we’d like to see it and see if World War II.”
The 1880s depot — and it’ll work in our display,”
Taylor, who grew up in
its outhouse — originally
Fossil, remembers coming
Taylor said.
sat on the west side of the
to the Haines rodeo in the
He said they are on
railroad tracks near Third
1960s.
the trail of a 1923 trophy
Street in Haines. In 1963,
“It was one of the
saddle that somehow
the depot was relocated
ended up in Pennsylvania. better rodeos in the state.
several blocks to the east,
It still is,” he said.
“We’re actively trying
next to the Eastern Oregon to fi nd that saddle,” he
The rodeo continued in
Museum at 610 Third St.,
that location until 1985,
said.
and the two-seat outhouse
when the event moved to
The museum already
went south to the rodeo
the Slash D arena for two
has a couple Stampede
grounds.
ribbons — dated 1917 and years.
Rather than tear apart
The rodeo was can-
1923 — preserved inside a
the wooden structure,
box made from an original celed for three years until
Taylor contacted Mary
volunteers revived the July
window from the Muddy
Jane Guyer, who is on
tradition.
Creek School.
the board for the Eastern
“If people have those,
Oregon Museum, to see
we can protect them,”
An Independent
if the museum wanted the
Guyer said of the rib-
Insurance Agency
outhouse.
bons. “If there’s some-
Guyer said yes, and
thing historical, or docu-
on May 1, 2021, the two
ments, please make sure
historic structures were
you check.”
together again.
Stampede history
But that was just the
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The Stampede’s col-
start.
lection includes photos
Guyer found out that
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of rodeos from 1915 and
the Stampede has years of
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events weren’t quite like
its history, which dates to
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held every year on July
“She said it’d be neat if
you moved that stuff to the 3 and 4.
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“It was just fun to get
museum,” Taylor said.
together on a Saturday
That comment sparked
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afternoon,” Taylor said
the idea to create a ded-
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of those fi rst rodeos in
icated exhibit at the
Haines.
museum for the Haines
In 1922, the rodeo
Stampede and Haines
moved to the grounds,
Fourth of July celebration.
on the east side of
“We thought it’d
Highway 30 at the south
be good to have it all
end of Haines, where the
together,” Taylor said.
The new display will be event still takes place.
“As much as we can
located inside the carriage
fi gure, there were breaks
wing of the museum.
during the war years,”
Volunteers started
Fast &
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painting the space on Friay, Taylor said. “And it
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started up again after
March 18, and the intent is
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what fi nished by Memo-
rial Day weekend, when
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the museum opens for
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advanced operating system to date,
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“It’s going to be a
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if it would fi t in the new
exhibit.
“A guy who won a
buckle, or has pictures —
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