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Neoteric Hovercraft Playing a role in Alaska’s ongoing relationship with hovercraft for rescue purposes. Click here to see how hovercraft get rescued!
DHL Danzas Air & Ocean delivers first-ever Coast Guard approved, United States built, commercially constructed passenger hovercraft.
 Hovery: New hovercraft on the market! Watch out.New technology in the Making!!!
WDT Online Watertown Daily Times reports that Juneau has unseasonably warm weather this past week has caused a number of thin ice accidents on lakes in Dodge County. The Dodge County Sheriff's Department warns people to stay off the ice during dangerous conditions. Click here to read more.
 Athen, Hellenic Navy, brand new commissioned hovercraft, January 9, 2005. The Hellenic Navy on Tuesday announced a same-day flag-raising ceremony aboard a recently acquired 550-ton transport hovercraft. The vessel, a Zubr type, was commissioned at a brief ceremony at the Salamina Naval Station.
 According to the navy, the hovercraft can sail at speeds of up to 60 knots and has a range of 300 nautical miles. It can transport armored vehicles and up to 230 troops, or a total cargo of 130 tons. The vessel is the fourth such hovercraft acquired and commissioned by the Hellenic Navy.
TamilNet - NLF decries induction of foreign troops. Use of 5 hovercraft for rescue and logistic support in the tsunami disaster.
Air Cushion Vehicle - The Indian Coast Guard ordered a total of six Griffon 8000TD(M) hovercraft from Griffon Hovercraft Ltd, England. Under the terms of the contract, the first two hovercraft (H-181 and H-182) were made in England while the other four (H-183 to H-186) were assembled by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers in Kolkata from completely knocked down kits.
 An Endorsed Honda Powered Hovercraft - The first of two (in an eventual fleet) of futuristic hovercrafts has started service at Dock 2 in Long Beach's Rainbow Harbor, right next door to the Long Beach Aquarium. "Our Rainbow Hovercraft is the only one of its type in the continental United States that is U.S. Coast Guard approved for passenger transport," says Paul Buckley, Rainbow Hovercraft vice president.
 TechDigest - A Glasgow-based company has developed a new type of vacuum cleaner that rides on a cushion of air, gliding over carpets and hard floor surfaces like a hovercraft
Over 130 cockle hunters rescued - Hovercraft, helicopters and boats were used to carry out the rescue of more than 130 cockle pickers from Morecambe Bay in northwestern England.
 CBIRF response by landing craft air cusion. Submitted by: 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (Anti-Terrorism)
Take a 'Magic Carpet' Ride? Inventor Developing Hovering Platform to Aid Firefighters. An aerospace engineer in Israel may have a space-age solution to a problem facing firefighters. It saved Aladdin's neck in the children's story — and now a former Russian aerospace engineer is hoping his own magic carpet will do the same for others.
 San Juan Islands getting Griffon 2000TD built in Seattle, WA for tourism. We hope to be in operation with the craft by next summer. The new hovercraft will go from Seattle's waterfront, and travel on to Orcas Island with several stops. What an attraction we will do for the tourist industry!
The Kennebec Journal reports; U.S. Geological Survey tests hovercraft here at Augusta, Maine.
 ACV research and Development - Air cushions everywhere. The air cushion principle, once proven practical, was quickly adapted to apply to other vehicles and modes of transport.
 Moller International has developed the first and only feasible, personally affordable, personal vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle the world has ever seen.
 Links999 News - There seems to be surprisingly little objective information available on hovercraft news, and, except for hovercraft companies that build hovercraft and naturally beat their own drum the loudest, there seems to be no single magazine devoted entirely to Hovercraft and related air cushion and WIG-type vehicles.
Legislative News: from the Passenger Vessel Association
ADMINISTRATIVE COASTWISE WAIVERS FOR SMALL PASSENGER VESSELS
The U.S. Maritime Administration (Marad) has a procedure for the owner of a small passenger vessel carrying 12 or fewer passengers for hire to obtain an administrative waiver of the coastwise laws.
The coastwise laws (such as the Jones Act and the Passenger Vessel Services Act), provide that a vessel cannot transport passengers between two U.S. ports unless it is U.S.-built, U.S.-owned, U.S.-flagged, and U.S.-manned. Traditionally, the only way to receive a waiver from any of the requirements of the coastwise laws has been to convince Congress to enact a special legislative exception for a particular vessel.
The Marad administrative coastwise waiver process was initially enacted as Title V of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-383). Subsequently, Congress renewed the provision and amended it slightly in section 207(c) of the Maritime Policy Improvement Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-295)
The genesis of the administrative coastwise waiver provision was legislation introduced by Senator John McCain of Arizona, chairman of Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, the Senate panel that considers requests for legislative waivers to the coastwise laws. The small passenger vessel administrative coastwise waiver process is an effort to transfer some of the burden of considering certain waiver requests from the Congress to the executive branch.
The text of the most recent version of the statute is reproduced at the bottom of their document page. To review it, click here.
 The theengineer.co.uk News Magazine for Technology and
Innovation has stated that Hybrid hovercraft/boat will operate in all conditions. Click here to read the article.
The Ashburton Guardian in New Zealand reports that hovercraft land at airport. Here’s the article.
IC Wales, the national website of Wales, reports a threat to ditch the relaunch of hovercraft ferry service. Click here for more details.
Hovercraft return is timely, reported by The Post-Cresent.
They also report that ‘Two hovercraft sink, third stranded during rescue on lake ice’, click here for that story.
 Hovercraft rescues drivers on ice, reports ClickOnDetroit website.
Sir Christopher Cockerell invented the hovercraft, dies, by BBC News. 1999 Honorary Unsubscribe Recipients (Click here for award page)
September 15, 2006 - ATLAS Hovercraft
Floating an Idea: ATLAS chief hopes his hovercraft will soon be rolling on the river, Florida
PALATKA DAILY NEWS , By Anthony DeMatteo adematteo@palatkadailynews.com
GREEN COVE SPRINGS -- The head of a Green Cove Springs hovercraft company who addressed the Palatka City Commission last month said he hopes Palatka will have a port from which a ferry service can operate by next spring.
Kurt Peterson, the chief executive officer of ATLAS Hovercraft, said he is in discussions with the Jacksonville Transit Authority to permit his vessels’ commercial use of the St. Johns River.
 Peterson said the transit authority has a regional charter governing use of the river.
A hovercraft travels on a pressurized bubble of air over land and sea.
The company’s vessels are 100-125 feet long and cost approximately $10 million each. The company would maintain ownership of the boats, sharing passenger revenue with the city.
Palatka has procured $1.7 million in federal grant money to fund the construction of a vessel or related infrastructure.
The project is the brainchild of Vice Mayor Mary Lawson Brown, who for 12 years has worked on bringing a passenger riverboat to town.
The switch to a hovercraft might be necessary, Brown said, because the state Department of Transportation wants proof the city can pay for the operation of any watercraft and funds are limited.
A hovercraft port could be funded with the grant money.
Peterson said he pitched the idea of the hovercraft coming to Palatka to Brown at a seminar this summer.
Brown said if the city gets one of the crafts, she will likely apply for additional grant money to fund the purchase of a paddleboat that could take passengers to Crescent City for a catfish dinner or to Welatka to munch on crabs.
“We’re still working on the paddleboat,” Brown said. “At the same time, we are working on getting the hovercraft here.”
Regional transport system
Both Brown and Peterson said they view the hovercraft plan as “regional” and are working with neighboring cities to participate.
Peterson said ATLAS, based in Green Cove Springs, would pay for the crafts’ operation, fuel and crew. He said at the August meeting that the company is considering relocating to Putnam County if it can find a location with a “free path” of about 100 feet to the river.
Palatka General Services Director Ken Venables said the city would likely split the fairs with ATLAS. Tickets prices are tentatively planned for about $10.
“The ticket price has to be reasonable — we want volume,” Venables said. “I think this could be the biggest thing to hit this area in years. I think we’ll see new business grow from this. I think entrepreneurs will see opportunities that I don’t. And it is certainly going to go beyond Palatka’s borders.”
Peterson said the company plans to build two to three dozen vessels a year, requiring 10 to 15 people working on each boat.
“Imagine the jobs that would bring if he brings the business to Palatka,” Venables said. “And we could be, essentially, his showroom.”
Venables said the hovercraft fleet could transport ambulances with sick passengers inside, allowing a safer, quicker ride to Jacksonville hospitals. He said the vessels have water-pumping capacity that might help extinguish fires on the river and could be used to evacuate people during a hurricane, when roads are often blocked with vehicles.
“The hovercraft is actually going to change the way people are transported during an emergency,” Peterson said. “It provides a faster, safer trip with no traffic and no railroad crossings.”
Venables said the demand for a fleet of the crafts taking people and cars to and from Jacksonville and neighboring  communities might not be strong now, but with the city’s expansion, he wants to be ahead of the curve.
“I think we are going to have to create the demand,” he said. “This will open Palatka up.”
Brown agreed.
Peterson’s facility
At the ATLAS plant in Green Cove Springs, workers were busy putting together the first of the hovercrafts being built by the two-year-old company.
It has been ordered by a Chicago businessman to be used for diner cruises from the Navy Pier in the Windy City. It sits on an expanse of concrete at the industrial park ATLAS leases, needing two stories added to its deck and finishing touches completed before it’s ready for Chicago early next year. Peterson said it is constructed with space-age plastics bonded with glue rather than held together with rivets. When it’s finished, it will weigh about 90 tons and feature enough electricity to light two average subdivisions.
“If you didn’t know better you’d think it was made from steel or aluminum, but in reality, it’s an entirely plastic boat.”
Peterson demonstrates the maneuverability of the hovercrafts by controlling a scale model on a table in his large wherehouse, manipulating a joystick to turn the little vessel on a dime, smiling like a child operating a toy boat in a swimming pool.
Peterson said his business is booming. He expects to build between four and six hovercrafts next year and says ATLAS is growing at about 100 percent per quarter.
Other hovercraft uses
“Hovercraft can play a vital role in preventing terrorism because we are the ultimate patrol vessel,” Peterson said. “Hovercrafts can travel over the sea right up to the beach, on the beach and keep going. No other boat in the world can do this. We call it the ultimate Homeland Security vessel.”
The vessels are equipped with thermal imaging devices, allowing operators to travel at full speed in darkness.
“We have two types of radar on our hovercraft,” Peterson said. “One allows us to see the weather and one allows us to see through the weather.”
Peterson has a full-time staff of 20. With partners and satellite businesses, the workforce is about 100.
One facet of the business Peterson stresses is that it builds environmentally friendly vessels.
“Hovercraft technology is unique in that it is the only truly environmentally friendly watercraft in existence,” he said. “It has no propeller, no rudder and no hard structure touching the water when it’s in operation.”
He said the hovercrafts, which are glued together with “super adhesives,” run on soybean-based diesel fuel — a blend of organic and petroleum oils. He said all hydraulics have been eliminated from the vessels.
“Our diesel system from day one is positioned to take advantage of alternative sources,” he said. “We are stewards of the environment and this world. And it’s important for every company to strive to be as environmentally conscience and correct as you can be.”
Peterson said one of Florida’s favorite sea creatures should not fear an approaching hovercraft.
“We are completely benign when it comes to working in habitat with seas creatures like the manatee. You could literally drive over a manatee and he wouldn’t even know your’re there.”
Peterson said the St. Johns River is one of the most underutilized modes of transport in the state.
“I envision the St. Johns being a liquid highway for the entire region,” he said. “It’s just so easy for us to put down some asphalt and build a highway.”
Peterson said hoverports n essentially concrete slabs — are the cheapest docking facilities available.
“We’re not going to eliminate buses, cars or airplanes,” he said. “We are going to enhance and augment existing forms of public and private transportation.”
Peterson said ATLAS takes steps beyond those required by law in building the vessels to ensure their safety and quality.
“Our boats are not cheap,” he said. “Our hovercrafts are the most expensive in the world. But if I can give you a passenger vessel comparable in price to a conventional boat that consumes one-third to one-half the fuel and travels at two to three times the speed, in fuel savings alone an average commercial operator would save $2 to $3 million a year.”
Extreme Innovations, Inc. Introduces HovPod to the U.S. Market
TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 20, 2005 (PRIME) -- Extreme Innovations, Inc. is pleased to announce the introduction of Hoped, a personal recreational hovercraft, to the United States, starting with Florida and Illinois.
This revolutionary new hovercraft travels on a cushion of air over any surface, including ocean, lakes, rivers, grasslands, marsh, sand, snow, and ice.
CEO Nazarith Dewoodi says, “Having seen this previously in London, I knew it would only be a matter of time before this extraordinary vehicle made its way to the United States. To view this amazing craft in action please visit http://www.hovpod.com/video/hovercraft-video.html.“
About Extreme Innovations: Extreme Innovations, Inc. markets, sells, and distributes cutting edge recreational vehicles. Extreme Innovations, Inc. is devoted to providing new, extreme recreational products with a marketing platform as well as sales support to help bring them to market.
 Statements regarding financial matters in this press release other than historical facts are “forward-looking statements“ within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company intends that such statements about the Company's future expectations, including future revenues and earnings, and all other forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbors created thereby. Since these statements (future operational results and sales) involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, the Company's actual results may differ materially from expected results.
Contact: Extreme Innovations, Inc., Tampa
Nazarith Dewoodi
813-223-7627
Other News
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Old News but good news
Winter 2002 - USPS Hovercraft Challenged Again
Two years ago, Trustees represented numerous Alaska Native villages and the Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) in a federal court challenge to the U.S. Postal Service’s temporary use of a military-surplus hovercraft to deliver mail along the lower Kuskokwim River. We argued that the use of the hovercraft project violated the federal Coastal Zone Management Act because it was inconsistent with the habitat and subsistence standards of the Alaska Coastal Management Program (ACMP). In the end, the federal court found that the Postal Service was effectively insulated from federal judicial review, so long as the State of Alaska concurred with its finding that the project was consistent with the ACMP.
When the Postal Service came back with a proposal to use the hovercraft permanently, local residents were again upset. The Cenaliulriit Coastal District, the regional district under the ACMP charged with determining consistency of proposed activities with the regional coastal plan, examined the proposed year-round hovercraft use on the Kuskokwim. The Cenaliulriit District found that year-round use would negatively impact bird and fish habitat, and thus disrupt the traditional Yup’ik subsistence way of life. This rendered the project inconsistent with the district’s subsistence standard. The Cenaliulriit District urged the State of Alaska to restrict hovercraft operation to the winter months, when bird and fish habitat — and associated subsistence uses — would not be harmed.
The State initially heeded the locals’ call. In its proposed finding, the Alaska Division of Governmental Coordination (DGC) found that summertime hovercraft use was inconsistent with the district and state coastal plans because it would negatively impact subsistence. The Postal Service then appealed the decision to the directors of the state resource agencies. These agency heads relied on the Postal Service’s environmental assessment and reversed DGC’s proposed finding, in spite of the fact that DGC is to defer to the Cenaliulriit District’s interpretation of its own plan. The DGC authorized year-round hovercraft use on the Kuskokwim. The DGC failed to explain why it was choosing the Postal Service’s study over that of the Cenaliulriit District, and it appears that it did not give proper deference to the District.
Now AVCP and the Kuskokwim villages are back in court — this time before an Alaska Superior Court judge in Bethel. Trustees for Alaska is working on the case as co-counsel with Eric Johnson, an AVCP attorney. The appellants are fighting for the proper deference that must be given to coastal district’s interpretations of their plans under the ACMP, made particularly important here because of the region’s reliance on subsistence resources for survival.
Ecological Monitoring of Alaska Hovercraft
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has completed a 3-year demonstration program to transport bypass mail and non-priority mail by hovercraft on a year-round basis in the Kuskokwim Delta of Alaska. The hovercraft would replace the current method of using fixed-wing airplanes for the transport of bypass and non-priority mail. The program involved Bethel, Alaska, and seven remote Alaskan villages along the Kuskokwim and Johnson Rivers. The USPS Alaska Hovercraft Ecological Monitoring Program evaluated the nature and extent of impacts, if any, from use of the hovercraft to fish, waterfowl, and subsistence efforts. Little is known on the ecological impact of the hovercraft and even less on its potential impact in an arctic environment.
Approximately 1,300 waterfowl were observed along Hovercraft routes on the Kukowkwim and Johnson Rivers. Aerial surveys for breeding waterfowl and general waterfowl use of habitats on and near the rivers were conducted during which approximately 4,900 waterfowl were observed. The Hovercraft was trailed and the hovercraft's route was surveyed for approximately 4,000 miles to observe the direct mortality of adult fish. Approximately 9,000 juvenile fish were individually identified and vitality assessed as the hovercraft purposely passed in shallow water. Approximately 20,000 yards of beach were surveyed as the hovercraft passed by at various distances. A total of 85 stranded fish were observed at 73 Hovercraft landing events. A total of 101 paired gill-netting tests were conducted on the Kuskokwim and Johnson Rivers. Winter blackfish observations revealed that blackfish sometimes slowly swam down away from the surface of the water within fishing holes when the hovercraft passed by, while at other times no reaction was apparent. The result of the ecological monitoring suggests that the hovercraft has an insignificant impact on waterfowl and fish. Furthermore, the monitoring on subsistence gill-netting and winter blackfish fishing showed a negligible impact. Consequently, the hovercraft had an insignificant impact on subsistence gathering of waterfowl and fish resources.
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