Autonomous aircraft. Advanced systems. Engineered in Kansas.
Powers Engineering is quietly developing and flight-testing a growing family of autonomous aircraft and advanced mission systems under the Flint Hills Solutions name.
Our work brings together aircraft design, autonomy, integrated sensing, communications, safety systems, simulation, and disciplined flight testing—engineered around practical missions rather than one-time demonstrations.
We are not releasing a product catalog today. Engineering, validation, and flight testing continue. We will share more as the work earns its way into public view.
The aircraft is only half the system.
Useful autonomy is not a single component added after the airframe is complete. It is the coordination of aircraft, propulsion, flight controls, navigation, sensing, communications, safety logic, mission planning, and data.
Powers Engineering develops these elements as one integrated system, with an autonomy approach intended to move across multiple aircraft classes.
Autonomous Aircraft Systems
Compact long-endurance systems, vertical-lift aircraft, scalable multirotor platforms, and larger mission-aircraft concepts under active development.
Integrated Autonomy and Sensing
Mission planning, flight control, navigation, advanced sensing, communications, and system-health monitoring engineered to work together.
Flight Test and Product Maturity
Simulation, rapid prototyping, system integration, flight validation, documentation, and progression toward repeatable production configurations.
Built around the mission—not around a demonstration.
Our development programs begin with the work the aircraft must perform: how far it must travel, how long it must remain on station, what it must sense, how it communicates, how it responds when conditions change, and how it can be maintained and supported.
That mission-centered approach is guiding development across multiple aircraft sizes, propulsion systems, and operating environments.
Inspection, monitoring, surveillance, and infrastructure intelligence.
Situational awareness, emergency response, and mission-specific sensing.
Persistent data collection across large or difficult operating areas.
Aircraft, autonomy, and sensor integration tailored to demanding operational needs.
A prototype flies. A product flies again and again.
The first successful flight is an important milestone, but it is not the end of aircraft development.
Product maturity requires controlled configurations, dependable suppliers, documented interfaces, maintainable systems, repeatable construction, disciplined testing, and the ability to reproduce the same result more than once.
That less-visible work is a central part of the Powers Engineering development process.
Field Notes from the Flint Hills
A continuing look at the engineering, flight testing, and systems work taking place behind Flint Hills Solutions.
The Work
Something is taking shape in the Flint Hills. Powers Engineering is developing autonomous aircraft, advanced mission technologies, and an integrated approach to aircraft maturity. More of that work will be shared as testing and validation continue.
Engineering experience applied to what comes next.
Powers Engineering is a Kansas-based engineering and technology company focused on aerospace systems, unmanned aircraft development, autonomy, advanced sensing, systems integration, flight testing, and commercialization.
Our work is grounded in decades of aerospace program leadership and collaboration across industry, government, research institutions, and universities.
Flint Hills Solutions is the autonomous systems brand of Powers Engineering.
“We believe useful autonomous aircraft will be defined not by one component or one demonstration, but by the disciplined integration of aircraft, autonomy, sensing, safety, and mission purpose.”— Roger Powers, Founder
Start a serious conversation.
Powers Engineering welcomes inquiries regarding strategic partnerships, aircraft and autonomy development, sensor and payload integration, flight testing, manufacturing relationships, supplier opportunities, and mission applications.