Northwest Aerospace News August | September Issue No. 10 | Page 56

Testing Drone Payloads,
Without a Drone
Based in the Columbia River Gorge, Hood Tech Aero is helping move the uncrewed
aircraft system (UAS) industry forward using a fleet of customized Piper Cubs to test
new payloads and systems without having to secure test time on board a drone.
By Patrick Sherman, Cascade Chapter Board of Directors Member, Association Unmanned Vehicle Systems International
H
Patrick Sherman
AUVSI Cascade Chapter
Board of Directors Member
https://www.auvsi.org
AUVSI SPOTLIGHT
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ood Tech Aero grew out of TacAero, established in 2013 and now employing more
than 50 people — providing both test beds for drone payloads, as well as training, air
charter and related services.
“Our original goal was to bring these amazing new Department of Defense technologies
that were being used overseas back here to the United States, because we saw that they
had amazing potential applications in the commercial market,” said Brian Prange, the
company’s vice president. “TacAero is short for Tactical Aeronautics, and the web domain
was available. That’s something you think about when you are naming a new business.”
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