Tetra Tech tests hovercraft for ordnance removal project

Sometimes a commercial hovercraft is the only vehicle that can get the job done. There’s a sure way to discover if that’s the case for your company: follow Tetra Tech’s lead and take a training course at HTC to experience hands-on what a hovercraft can do for you. It’s the logical first step.

Based in California, Tetra Tech is a global consulting, engineering and construction firm with 330 offices worldwide. Tetra Tech also provides disaster management and Homeland Security services; it has responded to more than 2,000 chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive events, as well as natural catastrophes such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and tornados.

Tetra Tech personnel David Bennett, an ordnance removal specialist, and Richard Funk, a geophysicist, traveled to HTC headquarters to undergo a Training Course and test the capabilities of a hovercraft …

From left: HTC Flight Instructor Steve Stafford; Richard Funk; HTC Senior Flight Instructor
Chris Fitzgerald; and David Bennett.

Tetra Tech has a military contract to conduct an ordnance removal project in Puerto Rico that will involve transporting equipment over coral reefs. Boats are typically used to carry the equipment, but boats can damage the coral. Hovercraft, however, will enable them to fly 9 inches above the surface of the water, pushing or pulling the equipment on a raft - working safely and efficiently while protecting the coral reefs.

As Bennett explains, “A hovercraft is for going places you can’t go with conventional craft, places that are too shallow for a boat, places you can’t walk. I develop systems for detecting munitions. We try to push it to the next level so we can go places other people can’t go.”

Their day of training definitely ‘pushed it to the next level’ – at the training site, the Wabash River was encrusted with flowing broken ice …

But HTC's Neoteric training hovercraft mastered these extreme conditions with ease, sailing across moving ice chunks and debris like no other vehicle could possibly do ...

After challenging day of training, David and Richard felt even more strongly that hovercraft were up to the tasks facing Tetra Tech. They’re now working with Neoteric who will custom-design their craft with special accessories to meet their needs.

See a complete photo gallery of the day's training session on Facebook.

Learn more about Commercial Hovercraft Pilot Training ...

Learn more about Tetra Tech ...