This research adopts a bioinspired approach to improve how unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and small aircraft fly by studying the aerodynamic responses of a red–tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) when flying through a vertical gust. Red–tailed hawks remain stable and mitigate strong wind gusts that small aircraft struggle to fly through. However, the specific maneuvers that hawks perform to stabilize within natural or artificial wind gusts are not fully understood. To study these aerodynamic responses in a controlled environment, a flight–testing arena was developed. Four industrial fans placed perpendicular to the hawk’s flight path were used to produce an average vertical gust velocity of 6.5 – 8.5 m/s at 0.8 m above the fans, the location the hawk flies at. This uniform gust region was introduced in the flight path, encompassing the entire wingspan of the hawk. Hawks normally fly at 10 – 18 m/s at level flight, making the gust magnitude between 36% and 85% of the hawk’s flight speed. The gust responses were recorded using calibrated multi–camera videography from two GoPro Hero 6 Black cameras at 240 frames per second. The hawk’s beak, tail, wings, and wrist were tracked in 3D to study the pitching response of the hawk when flying through the vertical gust. Tracking these specific points on the hawk will provide knowledge about how red–tailed hawks can morph their wings and tail to mitigate strong wind gusts while their body remains stable. This presentation reviews the experiment methodology and discusses some preliminary tracking data of the hawk’s responses to vertical gust events.