Ben Ruszkowski, Chief Commercial Officer of Synergy Aviation, a Volatus Aerospace company, has spent the better part of his professional life making sure North America’s most critical energy assets never go unwatched. With two decades of oil and gas expertise and a fixed-wing pilot’s logbook, he’s been in the driver’s seat for one of the most consequential transformations at the intersection of the oil and gas sector and aviation: the introduction of drones to traditional helicopter and fixed wing fleets. Here’s the story of Synergy Aviation’s transformation and how it has changed the game for its O&G stakeholders.
More Than an Aviation Company
Synergy’s story began in Alberta in 2014, with two aircraft and a single mission: keep energy companies ahead of the power curve. More than a decade later, the company operates over 15 aircraft across Western and Eastern Canada, and has now planted its U.S. flag in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the terminal point of America’s oil and gas distribution network.
Ruszkowski credits the company’s 2022 alignment with Volatus Aerospace for powering much of that growth. “That partnership, and essentially now ownership, has expanded us immensely,” he said. “It’s been a fantastic driving factor for all of our expansion, both into the East and into the U.S.”
Synergy operates as the essential bridge between oil and gas operators and the regulators who require documented, scheduled surveillance of their infrastructure. The scope of what its teams look for on every flight include pipeline leaks, exposed pipe, erosion events, third-party encroachment (the number one cause of damage), vegetation management concerns, signage conditions and water crossings.
Each client, he said, runs on a different compliance schedule, whether weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or quarterly. Synergy structures its flight programs accordingly. “We offer the eyes on the assets for our clients,” Ruszkowski explained, “looking for any and all anomalies within the right-of-ways and activity going on within the infrastructure.”
He continued, “Even though Synergy Aviation is an aviation company by name, in reality, we are a data company.” The company’s aircraft, whether a Cessna fixed-wing, a Robinson R44 helicopter or an advanced drone, simply provides the chassis. What matters is what it carries, what it captures and what that data means for an energy asset owner trying to manage risk across hundreds or thousands of miles of pipeline corridor.
The Triple Threat Fleet
What distinguishes Synergy from a traditional aerial surveillance operator is its multi-platform, a-la-carte approach to deploying the right tool for the right job. For a 3,000-mile pipeline right-of-way, a crewed fixed-wing aircraft with the right sensor payload is the efficient, capable, and compliant choice.
Helicopters bring a different kind of precision. Synergy operates a rotary-wing fleet that covers distribution system patrols in Ontario and Quebec on a weekly basis, flying tight, low-level passes over urban and suburban pipeline corridors where fixed-wing aircraft simply can’t operate effectively. Rotary-wing also anchors Synergy’s emergency response capability. When a client needs immediate eyes on a potential leak or environmental incident, a helicopter crew can mobilize and reach a site faster than any other crewed option. “Headquarters needs eyes on assets immediately,” Ruszkowski said, “and having that multiple of tools in the toolbox allows us to be the leader in the industry as far as what tools to bring to the job site.”
The third leg is unmanned. For a facility inspection or a short, repeated corridor check, an unmanned system can deliver the same intelligence at a fraction of the cost. “You’re looking at thousands of dollars with a manned scenario,” Ruszkowski noted, “where you’re now moving to a remote system at hundreds of dollars. That has been the biggest change in the industry.”
And for true on-site automation, Synergy deploys the Sentinel Dock, Volatus Aerospace’s drone-in-a-box (DIB) solution engineered for cold-weather, remote operations. Instead of launching an aircraft from 100 miles away to conduct a two-mile survey and fly back, the drone lives on-site and launches on demand. “That client is no longer having that aircraft fly 100 miles to the location to do a 2-mile survey and then fly back,” Ruszkowski said. “The aircraft’s on site.” The time savings, cost reduction and operational efficiency happen now, in active client programs.
Seeing the Unseen: Sensors That Change the Game
Synergy’s sensor suite enables advanced aerial intelligence. For methane detection, a major ESG and regulatory priority for energy companies on both sides of the border, the company deploys the Boreal system for ultra-low parts-per-million quantification, the Falcon XL from Vanguard for laser-based pinpoint leak location and the FlyScan hyperspectral system for detecting liquid hydrocarbon presence that the naked eye cannot see. “We’re now able to see the unseen,” Ruszkowski said. “Using the hyperspectral cameras, we can identify even standing liquid hydrocarbons.”
The FlyScan system’s centerpiece is affectionately known as the “Flying Pig,” a hyperspectral payload currently deployed on crewed aircraft. Ruszkowski confirmed that Synergy and FlyScan are actively working to miniaturize it for drone deployment. “That really is the next generation, being able to take the manned tooling and put it on the unmanned tooling.” The work is underway to make every sensor capability in Synergy’s manned arsenal available on any platform, at any scale.
Also in the toolkit, Synergy packs 360-degree Ladybug cameras, LiDAR systems, magnetometers,and the Norbit Multi-Beam Echo Sounder, a sonar payload carried by heavy-lift drones to conduct bathymetric surveys of pipeline water crossings. The drone lowers the sonar into a river or waterway, maps the riverbed in three dimensions and identifies exposed pipe or scour conditions without sending a single diver into the water. “One of the problems that a lot of pipeline companies have is operating underneath waterways,” Ruszkowski said. “During high-water events, there’s potential for a pipeline to be exposed, and you need to know that fast.”
Skipper NDT: The Subsurface Frontier
Among Synergy’s most consequential recent partnerships is its collaboration with Skipper NDT, whose Argos system uses fluxgate magnetometers and GNSS positioning to map buried pipelines non-destructively from the air. The Skipper depth-of-cover program can detect geolocation and bending strain on a buried pipe without a single excavation. This capability eliminates access risks, reduces environmental disturbance,and generates data that directly feeds into structural risk assessments.
“The bend and strain technology, being able to detect the strain in the pipe within the water crossings, slopes, and banks, that’s where it’s going,” Ruszkowski said. “Skipper as a strategic partner has allowed us to expand more into the U.S., as well as throughout Canada.”
The pairing of Skipper’s subsurface intelligence with bathymetric echo sounder data creates a complete picture of pipeline condition above and below the waterline, a combination that no prior single technology could deliver at this speed or safety margin.
AIRS: Turning Raw Data Into Decisions
Collecting terabytes of sensor data daily is only half the challenge. Synergy’s answer to the back-end problem is AIRS, its proprietary online platform for data delivery, compliance tracking, anomaly history and crew coordination. Every photo, LiDAR point cloud, sensor reading, and field annotation flows into AIRS, where clients access their own dashboard to review compliance ratings, track open anomalies and compare findings across flight cycles. “We’re collecting upwards of 1 to 2 terabytes of data a day,” Ruszkowski said. “The storage and delivery of it is the second end, the back end, of our business.”
The platform’s operational intelligence extends to the crews themselves. When a Tuesday flight identifies an exposed pipe, that anomaly flags automatically in the Thursday crew’s technology pack and alerts them to watch for it regardless of whether it’s the same team. The continuity is built into the system.
And the system is about to get an upgrade. Ruszkowski confirmed Synergy is launching AIRS 4, the fourth generation of the platform, bringing even greater interactivity and data utility to a growing, multi-generational client base that ranges from PDF-on-paper to fully digital.
BVLOS: The Switch Being Switched
The horizon Ruszkowski is most focused on for the rest of 2026 is large-scale Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations in the oil and gas sector. For three years, Synergy has been laying the groundwork by flying remote programs, building corridor knowledge and accumulating over 10,000 hours of low-level manned pipeline surveillance annually to establish the detect-and-avoid data that regulators require.
“2026 is that year,” he said. “We’re going to be launching some larger, long-scale Beyond Visual Line of Sight programs in oil and gas. To me, that is the game changer. The switch is being switched, and Volatus is the one switching the switch.”
The BVLOS corridor framework also opens a path toward cargo operations and eventually advanced air mobility (AAM) integration. Ruszkowski did not dismiss the idea of eVTOLs entering Synergy’s fleet. “I see it coming in, and I see it coming in sooner than later,” he said, pointing to the rising cost of petrochemical-based aviation fuel and the maturity of electric and hydrogen propulsion as drivers that will make alternative-energy aircraft a natural fit for the very sector Synergy serves.
Taking the Model South: The Tulsa Play
In terms of what’s new, for a company that started with two aircraft in Alberta, planting a flag in the American heartland is a big deal. Synergy opened its Tulsa, Oklahoma operation as its first fully U.S.-certificated base deliberately. “Call an ace an ace,” Ruszkowski said. “Tulsa is the terminal point for the distribution hub of oil and gas in the U.S. market.” Sitting at the geographic center of America’s most pipeline-dense region, Tulsa gives Synergy the ability to deploy crewed aircraft and ground crews to emergency scenarios across the southern and central U.S. faster than any Canadian-based operation ever could.
The Tulsa base also reflects the broader infrastructure Volatus Aerospace has built across North America. Where Synergy once operated from one or two Canadian locations, it now draws on a network of Volatus bases across the continental U.S. to extend its reach. “Rather than being limited to one or two locations as we were as one company,” Ruszkowski said, “with the Volatus Group, we now have multiple locations throughout North America.” The Houston corridor is already in Synergy’s sights as the next southern expansion point, a natural move into the Petro-metro, where the concentration of energy infrastructure and the demand for aerial intelligence are among the highest on the continent.
The U.S. expansion signals Synergy’s intent to become the aerial operator of choice for American energy companies that need the same data-driven, compliance-ready surveillance model that has made the company indispensable to Canadian pipeline operators for more than a decade. Tulsa is the beachhead for a full North American buildout.
Where to Find Synergy Aviation Next
Synergy Aviation will be present at the upcoming Energy Drone and Robotics Coalition Summit in Houston, the industry’s premier gathering for aerial energy intelligence. Ruszkowski and his team will be on hand to discuss active programs, emerging technology deployments and what the BVLOS era will mean for energy infrastructure protection at scale. For those who can’t make it to Houston, Synergy’s full portfolio of services, technology, and equipment is available at VolatusAerospace.com.
“We’re just tickling the surface of what we’re going to be able to bring to this industry and to these markets,” Ruszkowski said. “Very exciting times ahead.” For North America’s energy sector, the sky has never been watched more closely…or more intelligently.
Watch Ben Ruszkowski on Episode 124 of the Dawn of Autonomy podcast. https://www.youtube.com/live/G2MLR7efemc
Editor’s Note:
Synergy Aviation operates as part of Volatus Aerospace Inc., a Canadian aerospace and defence company delivering integrated crewed and remotely piloted aviation operations across North America. In March 2026, Volatus Aerospace announced full ownership of Synergy Aviation as part of the consolidation of its commercial aircraft operations under the Volatus Aerospace platform.