14 CapitalPress.com
March 17, 2017
Agricultural pilot denied use of Pendleton airport
Safety concerns
raised over
drone range
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
PENDLETON, Ore. —
The owner of a crop dust-
ing business says the city of
Pendleton will not let him
operate at the Eastern Oregon
Regional Airport because of
safety concerns at the adja-
cent Unmanned Aerial Sys-
tems Range.
Andrew Kilgore, who runs
K2 Aerial Application, al-
ready flies out of Hermiston
and Boardman and wants to
add Pendleton to that list. But
he said the city will not give
him permission to load his
plane with fertilizer and her-
bicides at the airport, citing a
conflict with the nearby UAS
test range.
Kilgore’s attorney, Mi-
chael Schultz, said he is op-
timistic they can find a solu-
tion. Traditional crop services
and drones need not be exclu-
sive, he added.
AP Photo
The Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton refuses to let an aerial applicator operate there out
of fear his airplane would conflict with an adjacent drone test range.
“We’re not asking for spe-
cial treatment,” Schultz said.
“We just want (Kilgore) to
have the opportunity to use a
public facility.”
In a letter sent March 6 to
Pendleton city manager Robb
Corbett, Schultz said the city
has no rational basis for lim-
iting Kilgore from using the
airport. Schultz said they
would be happy to meet any
lawful safety measure the city
chooses to implement, but
that has not been specified.
“Those concerns have not
been shared with us,” he said.
Corbett and airport man-
ager Steve Chrisman declined
to comment through city at-
torney Nancy Kerns. There
was, however, a Pendleton
Airport Commission meeting
scheduled for Wednesday to
discuss temporarily closing
its northern-most agricultural
pad while UAS operations are
relocated.
In an action item addressed
to the commission, Chrisman
said that the UAS range safety
officer Darryl Abling has de-
termined that there is a safety
risk to personnel and equip-
ment by allowing operations
at the launch pad.
“UAS operations are of-
ten testing new functionality
... and while every effort is
made to mitigate the risks as-
sociated with new technology,
things can go wrong when it is
initially flight tested,” Chris-
man wrote. “Having non-par-
ticipating personnel (or)
equipment in the area poses
an unnecessary risk should an
anomaly occur.”
Kilgore, 32, is a Pend-
leton native who returned
home after serving in the Air
Force and completing his
flight training at Central Ore-
gon Community College. He
launched K2 Aerial Applica-
tion in 2013 and serves farm-
ers across Eastern Oregon.
Kilgore said he has re-
ceived many requests to spray
fields around Pendleton,
which is why he approached
the Eastern Oregon Region-
al Airport. Time is of the es-
sence, he said, since many
wheat farmers are already be-
ginning to apply fertilizer to
their fields.
Kilgore already shares
the Boardman Airport with
Aerovel Corp., another de-
veloper of small unmanned
aircraft based in Washington.
Tad McGeer, the company’s
president, said that he and
Kilgore have no problems
getting along.
“We let each other know
what we’re doing, and that’s
good enough,” McGeer said.
“I’m not aware of any reason
why there should be a con-
flict.”
In his letter to Corbett,
Schultz indicated that any
safety concerns about UAV
operations raise a dilemma
for the city: Either the pro-
gram is dangerous because
the city has not worked out
proper safety procedures, or
it is not dangerous and the
concerns are merely an ex-
cuse to discriminate against
Kilgore.
“The city cannot have it
both ways,” Schultz wrote.
Furthermore, Schultz said
farming is the economic ba-
sis for the community and the
airport should be supportive
of bringing in another service
where farmers can have their
crops sprayed for pests and
diseases.
Kilgore has received
signed letters of support from
16 farmers asking for the
airport to make its facilities
available.
“We believe this is an oc-
casion to make additional
crop services available for
farmers,” Schultz said.
Though Schultz said he
and Kilgore are reviewing
their legal options, he stopped
short of saying they were con-
sidering a lawsuit.
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