Case Study: POWER Engineers achieves scalable, compliant drone operations with Skyward

Putting Drones to Work at a Global Firm: Insights from POWER Engineers

POWER Engineers is an Idaho‑based engineering consulting firm with 40 U.S. offices (and one in South Africa) that delivers infrastructure, environmental, and energy projects. Early on they saw the value of drone data but faced common challenges: convincing executives and clients, navigating FAA approval and internal risk/legal requirements, choosing the right aircraft and software, and scaling operations across distributed teams.

Under department manager Aaron Ames they validated the market by comparing drones to costly manned flights, standardized safety and training, and built a technology stack around senseFly eBee and DJI Inspire plus Pix4D, ArcGIS, Global Mapper and Skyward for flight planning and tracking. With pilots certified under Part 107, repeatable procedures, and Skyward integration plans, POWER has cut delivery times (data to design within a week on many projects), completed large corridor surveys (a 12‑mile job in four days), reduced costs versus manned aircraft, and established a compliant, scalable drone program.

POWER Engineers

Aaron Ames

Mapping & Analysis Department Manager