‘Some Good in the World’
Neubauer got his first mechanic job in 1986 with Era Helicopters in the Louisiana oil patch. In 1987 he moved to Texarkana, Texas, to maintain a Bell 222 for helicopter air ambulance (HAA) operator Air Methods. “That 222 was a knuckle-busting, back-breaking, demoralizing aircraft, but I absolutely loved it,” he colorfully comments. Neubauer spent approximately the next quarter century taking care of helicopter air ambulances, which was fulfilling work. Says the mechanic, “It may have been a long, hard day, but I could say at the end of it, ‘Today, I did some good in the world.’ I’m pretty proud of the approximately 25 years I spent supporting hospital aviation as a mechanic.” During that career period, Neubauer was a primary contributor for hospital aviation maintenance standards to the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems (CAMTS). Eventually, he transitioned away from hospitals to be an Airbus field service representative supporting UH-72 medevacs. That’s when he was challenged to act on his ladder idea by that young, dangling guardsman.
Neubauer’s initial decision to act was the beginning of a challenging journey. “It set me on the path of learning how to become a businessman, which I’d never intended to be,” he says. “I was an aircraft mechanic who wanted to build a better ladder. Learning how to build and manage a business has been challenging, but interesting. I realized very quickly what I didn’t know.”
His first step on that path took him to Home Depot. “I bought a cheap ladder there and hacksawed it into pieces that I rearranged,” he says. “As my concept progressed, I hired engineers to help, including specialty engineers who certify that our ladders meet the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) book of standards.” This process all began in 2011, and it wasn’t until after three years of sweating and spending that Neubauer began a small production run of only 12 HeliLadders. “Just to see if we could sell them,” he says. “I was terrified back then because we had sunk an incredible amount of money into design and certification over the years without producing anything to sell, but we believed in the concept and that there would be a market for better ladders.”
Susie
That “we” includes Neubauer’s supportive wife, Susie, whom he consistently credits. “Moving HeliLadder forward from a pencil sketch to what I believe is the new industry standard involved the support, input, and assistance of a long list of people, with the unwavering support of my wife at the forefront,” he says. They met in the early 1980s and have been married 35 years. “So we have a lot of history between us,” he says. That history now includes Susie as co-owner of HeliLadder. “Like me, she did not aspire to own a business. She was a high school biology teacher,” says Neubauer. “She supported my ladder concept from the start, and we saw the business as a way I might transition out of aviation because I was getting a little tired of being out on the flight line with rain running down my neck and back. We naively didn’t realize how much it takes to start and run a business, but there’s no way I could have done it without her. Ideas are easy; implementation is difficult. The implementation wouldn’t have happened without her support and active engagement.”
rotorpro.com
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