Promote your company to the global vertical aviation industry through the VAI Member Spotlight, a free benefit for VAI member companies. Want to be featured? If you’re not already enjoying the many benefits our members receive, join VAI today! VAI Member Spotlight: HeliLadder, Oregon, USA A search for a better ladder evolves into a company dedicated to helping maintenance technicians access hard-to-reach areas without compromising safety. By Jen Boyer Since taking his first helicopter maintenance job in 1986, Bend, Oregon, resident Dale Neubauer both witnessed and experienced the precarious positions that mechanics would find themselves in when using traditional ladders. Over the years, the ladder designs changed only slightly—they were later made from fiberglass rather than aluminum—but a lack of innovative ideas kept aviation maintenance professionals in risky, unsafe positions. For years, Neubauer talked about his ideas for a better ladder, but it wasn’t until 2011 that he jumped into action after an Idaho National Guard mechanic gave him a little push. After 25 years as a medical helicopter mechanic, Neubauer was working as an Airbus field service representative supporting the UH-72 Lakota. The mechanic, who was working on a Lakota from a conventional ladder, asked Neubauer when he was going to make the new ladder he had talked about for years. Idea to Fruition After years of research, development, and certification, Neubauer founded HeliLadder in 2015 with a small production run of 12 stable-ladder platforms designed for safer and more efficient maintenance operations. The ladders, which featured wide rungs and an extended cantilevered base that offered more stability than standard ladders, were a hit, which led to more versions with extended heights and versatility. Today, more than 1,400 of the distinctive orange-and-yellow HeliLadders are in service around the world. MX5+ Ladder System The HeliLadder baseline model, the MX5+, starts as a 5-ft. base unit with safety handrails and interchangeable tool trays. The MX5+ requires less than a minute to reconfigure, and operators can swap out extensions and/or platforms as needed to best suit the task at hand, the aircraft, and the technician’s height. Most HeliLadders are designed to be modular, toolless, and fully collapsible, allowing for easy storage and field-deployable transport. With a Type 1AA rating capacity of 375 lb., the MX5+ meets or exceeds all American National Standards Institute structural and stability requirements. The ladder provides US Occupational Safety and Health Administration–compliant access to the engines, upper airframe, and rotor systems of most single- and twin-engine helicopters, as well as difficult-to-access airplane components. HeliLadders can also be customized with a variety of handrails, extensions, and service decks. The ladders can be combined with the company’s maintenance platforms. New Robinson Ladder This year, HeliLadder released its L-Series, which is specifically designed to access the rotorhead on Robinson helicopters. Unlike the collapsible MX5+ series, the 8-ft. L-Series features a fixed cantilevered base low on the ladder, providing closer access for taller aircraft. While initially designed for Robinson aircraft, the ladder received considerable interest at VERTICON 2025 in Dallas, Texas, from maintenance professionals who support multiple other aircraft makes and models. Jen Boyer is a journalist and marketing communicator specializing in aviation. She holds commercial, instrument, flight instructor, and instrument instructor ratings in helicopters and a private rating in airplanes.
