What is a Hovercraft?

During the 1950s, Englishman Christopher Cockerell developed and patented the first hovercraft. Soon after, British Hovercraft Corporation developed the first commercial hovercraft for passenger transport across the English Channel. With the ability to carry up to 400 passengers and 50 automobiles, these craft still function today.

A hovercraft is an amphibious vehicle that is supported by a cushion of slightly pressurized air. Although often seen as a mysterious, even bizarre mode of transportation, it is conceptually quite simple with dynamics that are more closely related to aircraft than to boats or automobiles.

Hovercraft float on a cushion of air that is forced under the craft by a fan, causing the craft to rise or lift. The amount of lift can range from 6" to 108" (152mm to 2,743mm) depending on the size of the craft. The amount of total weight that a hovercraft can raise is equal to the cushion pressure multiplied by the area of the hovercraft. To make the craft function more efficiently, the air cushion is confined by a fabric skirt that allows a deep cushion of air for easy clearance of obstacles. Skirts vary in style ranging from bags to cells to separate fingered sections called segments.

Once "lifted" or "on cushion", thrust is created to move the hovercraft forward. Some craft use a separate engine for this purpose; others rely on the same engine that provides the lift.

Steering is achieved through the use of a system of rudders behind the fan, controlled by handlebars up front, or by the use of body weight displacement -- a skill which is achieved after practice. Other machines utilize patented, reverse thrust buckets for control - a system that enables the driver to reverse at speed, maintain cushion at speed, regulate speed going downwind, to brake (a must on ice), and to hover while stationary.

Hovercrafts applications are as diverse as the people who use them. They are often used to reach areas that are inaccessible on foot or by conventional vehicles. A partial listing of present uses includes:

• Navigating shallow and narrow waterways that cannot be reached by boat
• Rescue work on ice, snow, mud flats, deserts, in wetlands, shallow water, swamps, bogs, marshes and floodwaters
• Transport in environmentally sensitive areas where habitat, erosion and soil compaction are a concern
• Wildlife research and co nservation
• Military services
• Dive recovery teams
• Retrieving birds from tailings ponds at mining sites
• Water management
• Port authorities/drug enforcement
• Agricultural spraying
• Survey work
• Forestation
• Heavy load movement across difficult surfaces
• Mosquito abatement
• Environmental testing
• Charter operations
• Oil spill clean up
• Removing leaves from Pecan farms
• "Island-hopping" or transportation with clients for real estate purposes
• Fishing anywhere...including on ice
• Affordable and a safe way to fly without a pilot's license
• Entertainment at Disneyworld water shows