Company manufactures aerial application systems for firefighting, agricultural, and forestry operations.
Isolair Helicopter Systems provides a variety of certified and custom aerial application systems for helicopters for firefighting, agricultural, and forestry applications. The company, which recently relocated from Boring, Oregon, to Andalusia, Alabama, manufactures agricultural spray systems, seeders, torches, buckets, forestry grapples, and firefighting tank systems.
Building the Company
Isolair was founded in the early 1980s by Robert Mosmeier, who, after retiring from the US Air Force, took a job at Simplex Manufacturing before breaking away to create Isolair. Mosmeier started his own company because he felt he could offer better helicopter aerial application equipment than what was available on the market at the time.
Mosmeier built Isolair for almost two decades, designing aerial application systems for everything from the Schweizer 300 to the Sikorsky S-61. In 1998, Michael Powell, an Isolair employee since 1989 and a close friend of Mosmeier’s, purchased the company to continue its legacy. His wife, Terry, joined Isolair a few years later as CEO.
As reliance on helicopters for aerial applications grew, Isolair was well positioned to meet the growing demand, capable of designing, testing, and manufacturing its systems in-house.
Joining Forces, Moving South
In September 2022, Isolair announced it would move its operation to South Alabama Regional Airport in Andalusia. The company made the move with McDermott Aviation, the largest privately owned helicopter company in Australia.
McDermott Aviation provides aerial crane operations, mosquito and fire ant control applications, search-and-rescue operations, aerial applications, VIP charter and freight operations, and aerial firefighting. The operator currently holds several aerial firefighting contracts in Australia and Greece.
“We’re excited about moving into a big hangar, sharing space with McDermott Aviation,” says Powell. “I’ve worked with John McDermott for 26-plus years, and we are dear friends. His company is in the final states of purchasing the type certificate for the Bell 214B and 214ST.
“Isolair is a worldwide provider of helicopter systems, and our customer base is growing,” adds Powell. “We look forward to building the company in Andalusia and hiring workers with a military/helicopter background from Fort Rucker.”
The new partnership will allow both companies to take their products to the next level and explore new markets in the ever-changing helicopter world. Isolair’s latest project is an agricultural spray system and a firefighting tank for the new Bell 505. The manufacturer is also close to completing an updated supplemental type certificate (STC) for its Airbus H125 increased-capacity spray system.
