Flight training + A Neoteric Hovercraft = Ice rescue safety

Even before his flight training at Hovercraft Training Centers, Sgt. Rick Holtgrave of the Branch County Sheriff’s Department in Coldwater, Michigan knew that there are no reliable alternatives to hovercraft as the best rescue vehicle for his team’s dangerous missions on icy Lake Michigan: "We're just screwed if we have to go out on a bad ice,” he said, “There is no other equipment. Otherwise, we'd just be pushing boats and ropes and hoping for the best."

In the following article published in Michigan’s Shoreline Magazine, Sgt. Holtgrave and Sheriff John Pollack detail how their Neoteric hovercraft makes ice rescues much easier – and safer …

Branch County hovercraft can help make ice rescues safer

by Christy Hart-Harris

Sgt. Rick Holtgrave pilots the Department's Neoteric hovercraft. He and Branch County Sheriff John Pollack agree that their hovercraft is an invaluable tool for ice rescues.

Winter is fast approaching and with the cold temperatures come ice and winter sports. Among the more popular winter sports are ice fishing, ice skating and sledding. Those who have grown up on one of the many lakes in Michiana know how much fun all these winter activities can be.

With vast hills along the lakeshores, many kids enjoy sledding down them to the iced-over lake below whiles others prefer to show off their skills with a figure 8 or race their friends on ice skates.

Then there is the most popular winter activity among Michiganders – ice fishing. It is considered by many to be a very relaxing way to spend the day.

Simply walking on the ice can be a unique experience, especially when the snow obscures the view of what lies beneath. Like any activities, safety should be the top priority when on the ice.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources advises those who venture out on the ice this winter to “steer clear of dark spots or places where the snow looks discolored.”

Important rules to follow when on the ice include:

- Never go alone.

- Tell someone where you are going and when you expect to return.

- Always test the ice with a spud.

- Take the appropriate emergency items, such as a lifejacket and ice picks.

- Take a cell phone in case you need to call for help.

- Dress in your warmest winter clothes.

- Fill a Thermos with hot coffee, chocolate or tea.

Although lake goers may think the danger of drowning is more prevalent during the summer months, drowning is the seventh leading cause of accidental death in the United States, even in the winter.

For this reason, Sgt. Rick Holtgrave of the Branch County Marine Control purchased a hovercraft to assist the Branch County Sheriff’s Department eight-member dive team in rescue missions.

“I purchased this thinking, ‘Okay, we have a tool in the tool box,’” Holtgrave said. “It’s not the only tool, but it is a tool for all of us to utilize in a rescue mission. It’s there if we need it.”

Holtgrave and Branch County Sheriff John Pollack agree that the hovercraft is a vital tool when dealing with iced-over lakes and ice activities in the winter.

The hovercraft has the capability of skimming over thin ice, water, mud and grass. By using this tool, rescuers will be able to save the lives of those who may fall through the ice while preserving the safety of the rescue teams.

With the ability to hold at least 900 pounds, the hovercraft works by pushing air from the engine out of the back of the craft. In return, that air fills each one of the skirts along the base. Maintaining the RPMs and utilizing the reverse thrust keeps the craft operating properly.

“We’re in the process of training,” Pollack said. “We need to train a second operator in case Rick is not available. We need to train officers so they know what to expect from the craft so they know its limitations and what it can do. The fire department is on board with training. They won’t operate it; they just need to know when to call it out and when not to, what it is capable of doing. Rick is the only one currently trained on it.”

The hovercraft is capable of going 60 mph forward and 26 mph backward. Its capability is also critical in residential areas that may become flooded because underwater obstacles such as fences, fallen trees, submerged walls and vehicles cannot affect the craft.

“The biggest thing for us is the ice, particularly thin ice,” Pollack said. “Two problems that we have are human and animal. Whenever we have a rescue on thin ice, our option is to utilize the fire department. They are tethered on a 20-foot rope. Beyond that it’s too far for them to go. It becomes too difficult to rescue the rescuers.”

“All those dangers are what we used to have to face, but now with this hovercraft we can get out there, make the rescue and get right back. It gives the rescuer a secure platform to get the rescue done,” Pollack said. “It will save us on personnel. The fire department will send two or three trucks and it may be a dog that needs to be rescued. Most people are like, oh it’s a dog, no big deal but, if you can imagine if it were your dog, you would want to save it. If we didn’t, when we leave, what are they going to do? They are going to go out on that ice and save it, so it’s best for us to go out and save it so the owner doesn’t.”

Pollack said in the near future they hope to be able to share the hovercraft with surrounding counties.

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VIDEO: Drone footage of HTC Hovercraft Ice Rescue Training

First responders, your Hovercraft Training Centers education doesn’t always end when you finish your training course: our instructors often conduct special practice sessions for our graduates.

Last weekend the Perry Clear Creek, White River and Hazleton Fire Departments participated in an ice rescue practice with their Neoteric hovercraft on Calmuck Lake in Monroe City, Indiana, organized and conducted by HTC Flight Instructor, Steve Stafford. Steve is also Neoteric’s Law Enforcement Liaison and is the founder of Project H.E.R.O. (Hovercraft Emergency Response Operations).

Our appreciation goes to Rodney Helderman who captured the day’s activities on drone footage  – which illustrates how well the Neoteric rescue HoverTrek™, flown by professionally trained pilots, maneuvers on thin and broken ice.

And our sympathy goes to Neoteric’s VP of Marketing, Filip Przybysz, who spent a cold day playing the role of the victim who fell through the ice!

Check out the drone footage below, then watch the news coverage of the event …

First responders: Could a hovercraft help you save lives?

Learn more about rescue hovercraft ...

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Hovercraft: The right vehicle for the job – or not?

Hovercraft pilot training – that comes after you buy a hovercraft, right? Not always. In fact, particularly with commercial hovercraft, it’s often just the opposite. Businesses across the world come to Hovercraft Training Centers to determine if a hovercraft could expand their services and boost their bottom line … and also to protect their bottom line by letting them ‘fly before they buy.’

That’s what brought Ed Savage to HTC. Savage is a Manager at Pella, Iowa-based Vermeer Corporation – a manufacturer of construction, mining, utility, environmental and agricultural equipment.

Savage explained why he took an HTC training course: “I’m part of a research & development team at Vermeer and we’re working with a customer on a project where there needs to be as little surface damage as possible. So we’re trying to find the best vehicle for that, and I’m here to see if a hovercraft is the best way to go. None of us has any experience with hovercraft, so we thought it was best to do the training. Since it only takes a day, it’s worth the time and expense. My goal is to learn how to operate it without destroying something, and to make it successful on this project. It’s going to be a challenge.”

Vermeer’s engineers, along with HTC Senior Instructor/Neoteric Hovercraft President Chris Fitzgerald agreed that the customer’s project would be a challenge for any vehicle, including hovercraft. The project involves traveling over delicate peat bogs in Minnesota, and state and federal regulations mandate that these cannot be damaged or disturbed. Minnesota has more peatlands than any other state except Alaska, and its peat industry adds more than $10 million annually to its economy.

Since Savage said, “There’s a 99 percent we’ll never be on water with the hovercraft,” HTC customized the training to the potential use, as always, and Savage’s flight training was conducted entirely on land …

After a morning of classroom training to learn how hovercraft work,
Ed Savage prepares for hands-on pilot training outside HTC headquarters. 

Via wireless headsets, instructor Chris Fitzgerald provides guidance and feedback
as Ed Savage undergoes an afternoon of flight training.

Although the Indiana terrain at HTC in this next photo may look a bit like a peat bog, the final determination as to whether or not a hovercraft would work for Vermeer Corp. would later be made via flight over actual peatlands in Minnesota …

After his day of  training, Ed Savage (right) receives his Hovercraft Pilot Certification
from HTC Senior Instructor Chris Fitzgerald.

Savage described his training course: “It’s a neat feeling to just start floating up like that. It was a little more difficult to catch onto than I thought it would be. You watch videos of hovercraft and think, ‘Oh, that looks simple,’ but then you do it yourself and see that training is definitely a necessity.”

The final result of Vermeer Corporation’s feasibility study? When the hovercraft was tested on the peat bogs in Minnesota, it was decided that the engineers and Chris Fitzgerald were correct – this was a rare instance where the job was not one for a hovercraft.

The bottom line? A hovercraft can be a valuable business asset – or it could turn out to be an unnecessary expenditure. There’s only one sure way to find out …

Fly before you buy:

Take a Test Flight or Pilot Training Course at HTC

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Paul DiFuccia: “I decided to learn from the best – so I came to HTC.”

Paul DiFuccia is an experienced decision-maker. He used his accounting degree to become Vice-President of General Mills, one of the world’s largest food companies, then he became President/Chief Operating Officer of an international company based in Manhattan, New York. When he retired, he decided to move back to Erie, Pennsylvania, his hometown, where he and his wife Janice are part owners of a winery.

Paul is also an experienced sailor, so he knows a thing or two about watercraft. “I grew up with powerboats and water skiing on Lake Erie and became a sailor. I’ve sailed all over mostly North America the last 47 years.”  As a Master License Captain, Paul explained, “I learned very quickly that you have ownership of people’s safety when they’re riding in your craft. So I decided to learn from the best. I want to be comfortable that I can control the hovercraft before I ever buy one or put someone I love in it. That’s why I’m here.”

After a morning of classroom training, HTC Senior Instructor Chris Fitzgerald (left) teaches Paul to conduct a preflight inspection before his pilot training begins on the Wabash River. In the background, a Tribune-Star reporter photographs the session for an article about HTC.

When Paul sold his sailboat last year, he and Janice were looking for a way to get back on the water, which they both love. He’d taken up golf, but discovered he was “terrible at it!” Ironically, he discovered hovercraft through golf in, of all places, a cigar shop. “I was having a cigar and reading a cigar aficionado magazine and there was an article about Bubba Watson and Neoteric’s hovercraft golf cart. So I decided ‘I’m gonna follow up on this!’”

Why a hovercraft? Again, it goes back to Paul’s love of decision-making. Before his HTC training course began, he explained, “Jet skis, for instance, are mindless. You get on and you just drive. For the first 15 to 20 minutes, they’re interesting; after that, they’re not. With sailing, as opposed to powerboats, you have to constantly be computing in your mind – the difference in the wind, sail trim, etc. I think hovercraft will probably be closer to sailing, in that you’ll need to make decisions based on wind forces, balance, trim and such. And I find that much more engaging. It keeps my interest, where on a jet ski you’re just going fast on the water. I always like to be challenged, to learn new things and be engaged. Hovercraft are much less ‘mindless’ than other things you can do on the water.”

 Janice adds, “The thing he’s not telling you is he likes to be unique and do things that nobody else around is doing!” 

Paul is about to learn how to ‘mindfully’ fly a hovercraft as Fitzgerald launches the craft onto the river
for his flight training session.

Paul and Janice also realized that, as an all-season vehicle, a hovercraft will expand the time they can spend outdoors. “In our climate a jet ski or sailboat is usable on Lake Erie only about three months of the year,” Paul explains. “I want to extend the season and a hovercraft will allow me to do that so I can go out in the fall and winter and when the bay freezes over on the lake I can zip across.”

During his day of flight training with HTC Senior Instructor Chris Fitzgerald, Paul learned some new and challenging things about making decisions. Overall, he said, “It was exhilarating, a wonderful experience! It’s not unlike sailing in a lot of ways, except it’s in two more dimensions, so you’re very involved as you fly the machine. And with the reverse thrust, the spins are every little boy’s dream! It’s phenomenal!”

Paul’s enjoyment of learning something new is apparent during his flight training.

 But he learned that the decisions you make in flying a hovercraft are a bit different than the decisions you make in operating other watercraft. “As a sailor you stay away from the shore, you stay away from floating objects. Chris took me into some very tight situations and a couple of times he was instructing me to steer into the shore and logs and debris and I wouldn’t; I told him ‘There’s something wrong with this!’”

Paul continues, “So we stopped and discussed my concern about getting close to obstacles and such because of my experience in sailing. Then we went into some very, very shallow areas, with large rocks and logs. The debris that a sailor or boater would steer clear of, we aimed for and flew right over it! We flew right OVER logs and debris! So it was counterintuitive in some ways.”

Even though at first Paul thought Fitzgerald “was a little crazy” to steer right into obstacles, he soon learned that flying a hovercraft is different than sailing a boat.

At the end of the day, Paul concluded that his HTC training course was a wise decision. “This was a good investment of time, there’s no question about it; it’s proven from every perspective. To venture out on a hovercraft without training would be craziness. The only way to go if you’re going to do this, and do it safely, is to get the training.”

Paul also observed that thorough training also increases the capabilities of your hovercraft. “If you’re going to spend the money for a hovercraft, training expands the use potential. Without it, you won’t get the full experience and will never fully understand the capabilities of the craft.  The things Chris taught me - by getting into some tight situations, flipping it around, doing some interesting things – if I were teaching myself, I never would have learned them. It was amazing what he did with the craft!”

Paul DiFuccia (left) accompanied by his wife Janice (right) earns his hovercraft pilot certification from HTC Senior Instructor Chris Fitzgerald (center).

Discover the amazing things you can do with a hovercraft:

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HTC trainee takes advantage of “Fly before you buy”

Allen Hoopes of Freedom, Wyoming has been interested in hovercraft since he was a kid. “I’d read about them over the years when I was younger. Then I starting seeing articles on the Internet -  one that really piqued my interest was the Neoteric hovercraft deer rescue.”

His interest was piqued even further by the Neoteric craft’s reverse thrust system. “It has the ability to reverse, whereas most of what’s out there is forward only,” he explains, “That’s a unique characteristic.”

So Allen contacted Neoteric to explore buying a hovercraft – and he was encouraged to first take a training course at HTC to learn about hovercraft in depth and learn to fly one before he buys one.

At the HTC training site on the Wabash River, Allen checks out the Neoteric hovercraft’s reverse thrust buckets
– which were a main factor in bringing him to Hovercraft Training Centers.

Allen is no stranger to flying – or to boating. “I enjoy water sports and I have a boat,” he says, “And I’ve flown in the past – I got up to a solo point, but didn’t finish. To stay safe in an aircraft you need to have at least one takeoff and one landing per month. There was just too much time involved, so I traded in my plane for a boat. And my wife was always concerned about my flying.”

He was quick to recognize that a hovercraft is a flying machine. “It’s definitely a form of aircraft because it’s airborne and has similar principles to an airplane,” he observes, “But a hovercraft is the best of both worlds because I can fly yet stay close to the ground.”

After full morning of classroom training, then learning how to conduct a preflight inspection,
Allen is ready to take off on his first flight training session.

And they’re off!

Allen enjoyed his day of learning to fly safely at HTC. “It was a great day, very interesting. The classroom session was a good review of the craft and its systems. It linked well with the afternoon flight training and helped me understand the principles that were going on, particularly the physics behind it. Really helpful.”

He added, “It would be hard to control without the reverse thrust buckets, especially in small spaces where you’d need to stop or back out or spin around.”

Both Allen’s sense of humor and Chris Fitzgerald’s were flying as well. “I think I might have made Chris nervous, flying around some trees and some carp! He said I was trying too hard, overcompensating, and kept telling me to loosen up,” Allen laughs, “He said maybe we should have brought a bottle of whiskey along!”

Smiling at the end of his training day, Allen Hoopes (right) receives his Hovercraft Pilot Certification
from HTC Senior Instructor Chris Fitzgerald.

After becoming a certified hovercraft pilot, Allen was asked what he thought would happen to someone venturing out in a hovercraft with no training. His response? “I don’t think I’d want to ride with them!”

Now that he knows what hovercraft are all about, Allen says, “I’m sure there’ll be a learning curve, but I’m still intrigued and still very interested in owning one. We have five children and the primary use will be family time on the lakes and rivers in our area, which we have a lot of. It will give us better access to some of those areas.”

See a photo album of Allen's hovercraft flight training ...

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“First things first: If you don’t know how to use it – stay off of it!”

Barry Eison of Tennessee has grand plans for his hovercraft. And since he’s a ‘first things first’ person, Barry based his future plans on a strong foundation of training: “My biggest concern is being able to safely operate the craft.” So, naturally, his first step was to enroll in an HTC training course. 

Barry trained during the coldest winter in a century: “We trained in the most adverse conditions I have ever encountered, but Chris’ determination and patience was exemplary and made it that much more enjoyable.”

Barry Eison (right) accepts his Hovercraft Pilot Certification from HTC Senior Instructor Chris Fitzgerald.

Barry trained during the coldest winter in a century: “We trained in the most adverse conditions I have ever encountered, but Chris’ determination and patience was exemplary and made it that much more enjoyable.”

After his training course, Barry emailed HTC to share his thoughts. They’re full of wisdom about the importance of training, and definitely worth sharing – especially for those of you who might be considering buying a hovercraft and just jumping in on your own. Barry says …

1) Training is absolutely necessary. If you don’t know how to use it, stay off of it!

2) A hovercraft is a flying machine. Its capabilities must be learned and it takes time to learn to operate it.

3) If one gets too “cocky” or arrogant in their familiarization with the craft, you can get hurt or damage the machine!

4) It’s important to learn to feel the response of the craft and recognize that it doesn’t take much to alter its flight.

5) Anticipate the path you will take when you’re executing turns or other maneuvers.

6) Think, think, think! Starting, stopping - every move requires thought until you know it by heart.

7) Do not overreact when responding to changes.

8) Learn the machine – inside and out, front to back.

Barry also wanted to be sure he purchased a state-of-the-art hovercraft – so he chose a Neoteric HoverTrek™, the craft we use exclusively at HTC. “I’ve looked at just about every hovercraft out there. If you go online and look at reviews, Neoteric is the only one that doesn’t have a single negative review.” 

But what about Barry’s future plans? He says, “I have a motive; it’s not just that I want a toy to play with.” Yes, he plans to use his hovercraft for hunting, fishing, etc., but he also plans to turn it into a business. From sportsmen and rice farmers, to first responders and game wardens, Barry says “I already have 14 people who are interested in taking test flights. One guy wanted to buy one sight unseen. I told him to hold off!”

That’s because Barry Eison keeps first things first – and thoroughly understands how important it is to fly before you buy!

What are your future plans? Opportunity hovers …

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Cold is cool when you have a hovercraft!

It’s now official: this is the coldest January in a century. But hovercraft pilots aren’t stuck inside huddled before the hearth – they’re outside indulging in some ice-capades! Watch Dirk Lohry soar over the broken ice last week on McCook Lake in South Dakota …

Want to see for yourself why hovercraft are the vehicle of choice for ice fishing, ice rescues and other ice operations? Schedule an HTC Test Flight before the Spring thaw!

Note: Dirk Lohry built his own hovercraft from a Neoteric Partially-Assembled Kit. Check out the photo gallery of its construction in the Neoteric Hover Garage …

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"Hovering" on the Coattails of Bubba's Hover

The Neoteric hovercraft exclusively used by HTC are the most copied hovercraft in the world – check it out at the World Hovercraft Organization’s Hovercraft Ripoff Report. As the old saying goes, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

And since the Bubba’s Hover phenomenon, even major companies like Fiat are jumping on the hovercraft bandwagon. Last week the MSC Divina Cruise ship was escorted into Miami by a fleet of “Fiat 500 Hovercraft” …

www.adelaidenow.com.au image

But wait – those Fiats are in no way hovercraft. They’re not flying on a cushion of air – they’ve just been made into boats by sticking a propeller or water jet beneath them. This is like calling a canoe a hot air balloon!

Watch the video – would you call these hovercraft?

You definitely wouldn’t after you take a Test Flight or go through Training at HTC. Rest assured – we use the real thing!

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