Meet an HTC-trained Military Hovercraft Pilot

Capt. Cory Lingelbach, a U.S. Air Force firefighter, is a military hovercraft pilot and chief flight instructor for the Utah Test and Training Range at Hill Air Force Base. Did he learn his hovercraft skills from the military? No – he learned them at Hovercraft Training Centers.

Capt. Lingelbach (left) and his crew completed a week of specialized military hovercraft pilot training at HTC.

And those skills have certainly paid off. Among other rescues, Capt. Lingelbach used one of UTTR’s two Neoteric hovercraft to rescue a downed F-16 pilot who crashed on the Great Salt Lakes mudflats, where no other vehicle could travel. The jet hit the ground at 300 mph, shattering it into burning fragments scattered across a vast muddy terrain. The hovercraft not only rescued the pilot, who ejected before impact, but were also valuable in the search and recovery operations. 

The UTTR training at HTC included night rescue operations; shown here through night vision goggles.

Before their hovercraft purchase, when UTTR used ATVs and trucks, emergency response times could reach 2-3 hours; now they can reach victims within minutes. “Without the level of training sophistication that HTC provided, we would never be able to perform our missions the way we do.” says Capt. Lingelbach …

Read more at Hovercraft Training Centers …

Learn how HTC plans to expand military hovercraft training …