Big News from My Friends at HeliLadder

Thursday, June 05, 2025

My longtime friends, Dale and Susie Neubauer, have taken a major step forward—they’ve purchased a commercial building! It will house their rapidly growing HeliLadder business. The other evening, they gave me a tour of the new space: a 5,000-square-foot facility situated on a full acre in a bustling commercial area of the city.

The building includes a spacious office and design area, as well as a wide-open warehouse where their team will stock ladder components, assemble the finished ladders, and prepare them for shipping. Out back are two large truck-ready bays, ideal for efficient shipping and receiving. There’s also plenty of parking and a lovely perimeter of shading trees, under which Dale and Susie plan to set up a picnic area for their team—how thoughtful is that?

HeliLadder had its humble beginnings in 2015, right in Dale and Susie’s garage. With 30 years of aircraft maintenance experience, Dale understood the challenges of working on helicopters—especially their thin skins that can easily become damaged by a traditional leaning ladder. So, he designed a modular, free-standing maintenance ladder specifically for helicopters. The result was something portable, safe, and elegant. Local fabricators helped produce the custom parts, and HeliLadder was born.

I first saw the HeliLadder years ago and thought it looked like a modern art sculpture—tall, balanced, and colorfully wearing its very own signature “HeliLadder colors.” I still “see it,” as not just functional, it’s beautiful. I’ve followed Dale and Susie’s journey with admiration, and seeing them now—owners of a big, bright commercial building—it’s hard not to be just as thrilled as they are.

Dear friends: Visit HeliLadder.com, a very cool site and a remarkable story. –Diana