Hundreds of miles of power lines across County Durham and Darlington are to be checked from above.
Engineers from CE Electric UK are using a helicopter to patrol the overhead network of electricity cables.
The aerial view will enable them to check whether vegetation or trees are damaging lines and need to be cut back.
Patrols, taking off from Tees Valley Airport, will be low-flying but farmers are being reassured that pilots will try to avoid areas with livestock.