#Sponsored Content ONE MISSED FLIGHT
HOW TRAGEDY LED TO A PARADIGM SHIFT IN MAINTENANCE STANDARDS AND THE START OF A NEW BUSINESS
A personal story that inspired action as told by DALE NEUBAUER A&P and CEO of HeliLadder
The call came in: A young child had been in a serious accident, and the air ambulance was needed. In the world of EMS aviation, not all flights are “life- critical,” but this one was. Unfortunately, the helicopter was grounded while I performed a scheduled inspection, and it never left the hospital. The child did not survive.
When I arrived home that evening, my son met me at the door and gave me a hug. It was bittersweet, as forefront in my mind was the fact that some other dad was being deprived of the same treasured opportunity.
Would the child’s outcome have been different if I’d been able to complete the
inspection sooner? I could only
speculate, but the missed flight haunted me and ultimately changed the course of how I performed my job as an aircraft mechanic, how I advocated for my profession, and why I eventually developed a new product and business.
Moving forward from that fateful day, I came to understand that if a flight program
is not actively supporting the process of quality maintenance, it 26 Sept/Oct 2025
is, by default, impeding the process. However, this does not simply put the burden of “supporting maintenance” on management’s shoulders. Rather, it is first and foremost the technician’s responsibility to carefully and thoroughly self-evaluate their worksite environment for ways to enhance their professional performance.
Taking on the role of a “reluctant activist,” I advocated for the establishment of
common-sense standards for hospital aviation programs. The industry was long overdue in recognizing the need for: duty-time limitations for mechanics, improving hangar lighting, limiting worksite distractions, establishing training requirements, etc.
Over the course of time, positive headway was made regarding “maintenance standards,”
but a paradigm shift
in the ladders used by A&Ps was also
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