Case study

Louisiana, United States

WingtraRAY unlocks long-sought projects, making more possible in less time for ES2

Environmental Science Services, or ES2, is a registered surveying firm serving the Southern US with leading-edge geospatial services for nearly 30 years. Providing vital data to landfills, airports, construction and utility projects, as well as ports and terminals, ES2 sees many repeat clients from the Army Corps of Engineers and government agencies. ES2’s President, Andrew Milanes, has been surveying with WingtraOne for years and is especially excited about the WingtraRAY after testing it on projects. He’s even scheduled it for its first operations over people flight this year to kick off a whole new range of projects and opportunities.

August 12, 2025

By Emily Loosli

Challenges

Surveyors face increasing pressure to complete jobs faster and the first time around within tight site-shutdown and weather windows. They also hesitate to use drones due to risk and are limited to areas that are not populated. Beyond this, they face big learning curves across many drone platforms to do all the jobs required.

Solutions

WingtraRAY covers more acres per hour and helps surveyors get their projects done faster and within tight time windows. It features a certified parachute add-on and obstacle avoidance for peace of mind and waiver-free OOP in the US. Surveyors can take on most jobs with just one, easy-to-use, Wingtra end-to-end aerial survey solution.

New features and why they matter to ES2

WingtraRAY dual telemetry

 1-2 
 BN by 2035 

BVLOS market growth

FAA-compliant parachute

 98 
 % 

US zones unlocked for OOP

Faster drone/ adaptive speed

 10 
 min 

100 ha (250 ac)

Why Wingtra? "It just works."

New ES2 projects unlocked by WingtraRAY

Operations over people—utilities, stormwater and sewer

Urban city

Gretna, Louisiana

Hyper-efficient BVLOS / LIDAR—timber cruise forest survey

Forest

Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana

How WingtraRAY brings peace of mind

U Challenge

Inaccessibility

Many urban and road projects are inaccessible for efficient drone surveying since these are populated zones.

m Solution

Massive new survey zones

With its certified parachute add-on, WingtraRAY unlocks waiver-free operation over people, opening new opportunities.

U Challenge

BVLOS requires new tech

BVLOS laws are changing to avail opportunities, but to fly BVLOS, you need onboard telemetry to track the drone.

m Solution

WingtraRAY is BVLOS ready

Operators will always know where WingtraRAY is, even if they can’t see it, thanks to dual LTE telemetry.

U Challenge

Complicated workflows

Switching drones for projects introduces learning curves and data quality inconsistencies. Different systems also require different software knowledge.

m Solution

One platform, many projects

Surveyors and pilots can train on WingtraRAY and quickly learn to map a large range of projects with just one platform supporting six purpose-built survey sensors.

U Challenge

What if it crashes?

Many operators are nervous sending a piece of equipment into the air. The risks are large. And even if it is reliable, the worry is there.

m Solution

A new level of peace of mind

WingtraRAY features obstacle avoidance. And its intuitive pre-flight safety checklist and back-up battery system boost security.

Andrew Milanes

President ES2

With the efficiency of WingtraRAY, we can eliminate having to go back out the next day for a few hours. You’re saving on out of town travel, per diem, all of that type of stuff. So, it’s definitely going to give us the ability to get some flights done when maybe we wouldn’t have been able to get them done otherwise. It opens up a much wider market sector in the types of projects that we can do.

Comparison flights: GEN II+RGB61 and RAY+MAP61

Andrew Milanes and his ES2 team were involved in test flying WingtraRAY before its release.

Since they have many repeat projects with the Army Corps of Engineers, they were able to fly RAY with the MAP61 and evaluate flight time, accuracy and data quality.

The following accuracy reports is from flights they ran comparing the data from WingtraOne GEN II and the RGB61 payload with WingtraRAY and the MAP61 payload for a repeat Comite River Diversion Flood Management Project.

Click and explore the accuracy reports below.

Arial view of Comite River Diversion flood management project.

Arial view of Comite River Diversion flood management project with detail on flood aspect.

Arial view of Comite River Diversion flood management project with detail.

Output spotlight: Port project with WingtraRAY + MAP61

Capture area

 1102 
 acres 

Total flight time

 97 
 minutes 

Data load

 3078 
 images 

3D mesh output based on ES2's survey of a port with WingtraRAY and the MAP61 payload.

Orthophoto output based on ES2's survey of a port with WingtraRAY and the MAP61 payload.

An ES2 port project flown with WingtraRAY and MAP61, availing crisp orthophoto and detailed 3D mesh outputs.

Who is Es²?

Established in 1996, Es² is a leading engineering and surveying firm based in Louisiana. Specializing in geospatial services, the company offers a full suite of geospatial services, including traditional surveying, GIS, remote sensing, and UAS.

www.es2-inc.com

Who is NEI

NEI is a valued Wingtra reseller that has supported ES2 as a complete solution provider that sells, rents, leases, and services Mapping/GIS and Surveying/Construction equipment and technology. They work with a range of leading manufacturers, and every employee is focused on delivering total customer satisfaction.

https://neigps.com/