Neoteric Hovercraft welcomes Wabash River Heritage Corridor Commission

Celebrating Heritage and Innovation: WRHCC Visits Neoteric Hovercraft

On May 14, 2025, Neoteric Hovercraft welcomed 20 members of the Wabash River Heritage Corridor Commission (WRHCC) to our Terre Haute facility as part of their Heritage quarterly meeting activities. The visit offered a unique blend of history, environmental stewardship, and cutting-edge innovation—highlighting the shared significance of the Wabash River to both our company’s past and the region’s future.

A Full Day Rooted in Community

The day began with a morning wetland walk at Dewey Point, followed by a mid-morning tour of Neoteric’s factory at 1649 Tippecanoe St., where WRHCC members—including President Brendan Kearns, Vice President Arin Shaver, and Secretary Dale Brier—received an up-close look at how hovercraft are designed, assembled, and tested.

As part of the tour, Chris Fitzgerald delivered an informative heritage presentation that connected the evolution of hovercraft technology with the ecological and cultural history of the Wabash corridor.

Innovation Inspired by the River

In his presentation, Fitzgerald spoke to the origins of the hovercraft, his early interest in aviation dating back to 1959, and his motivation for establishing Neoteric in Terre Haute—a choice driven by the proximity of the Wabash River and its potential for hovercraft application, pilot training and testing.

He shared anecdotes about early hovercraft testing, including a significant journey on July 29, 2015, launching from Shawnee town, Illinois, 10 miles south of the confluence of the Wabash and Ohio rivers, and continuing to Fort Recovery, Ohio on the 2^nd of August at 5pm. These moments underscored how essential the river has been to our development, testing, and community engagement said Fitzgerald.

Behind the Scenes: How Hovercraft Are Made

Visitors were treated to a rare inside look at Neoteric’s manufacturing process:

• Lightweight structural fabrication with aluminum, plastics, and fiberglass
• Skirt system testing
• Fiberglass Fabrication and part removal demonstrations
• Briggs & Stratton and aircraft engine setup and assembly

In our best year over 55 hovercraft were built, exported to 55 countries, and our largest team of 22 employees which varies with orders. Neoteric stands as a global leader in light hovercraft technology. Our largest customer to date has been in Russia, but our roots remain deeply planted along the Wabash.

Fitzgerald Reviews the manufacturing process

Looking Ahead: The Future of Hovercraft and the Wabash

During the tour, guests learned of our plans for a new, expanded facility, which will include the U.S. Hovercraft Museum—a future destination on the Wabash that aims to educate and inspire. As Chris noted, the river isn’t just part of our history—it’s central to our future.

Hovercraft have the potential to become an iconic part of eco-tourism and historic exploration on the Wabash, supporting both recreation and conservation efforts along the corridor.

WRHCC Visit Neoteric

A Thank You to the WRHCC

We are pleased to have hosted the WRHCC and thank them for their ongoing work to preserve, protect, and promote the heritage of Indiana’s most storied river. This visit reaffirmed the mutual value in uniting environmental preservation, cultural history, and technological innovation.

  

Neoteric visits Hulman Links golf course with Youtuber Josh Mayers to create the video below:

https://youtu.be/QhsW8QDr6dc

First Responders: Did you miss Neoteric Rescue Hovercraft at #FDIC2022?

 #FDIC ATTENDEES: Thanks to all who visited us this year. We hope you had the chance to see a Neoteric Rescue Hovercraft in action. Why is this important? In 2016, Neoteric’s first year at the FDIC, Fire Apparatus Magazine reported … 

“Neoteric Hovercraft Inc. … The Terre Haute, Indiana, manufacturer produces a hovercraft product that is used in recreational and rescue service applications. Hovercraft units have been used in rescue units for more than 40 years, providing a unique and safe way to save lives. Water and ice conditions are main areas of use; however, rough terrain, mud, and wetlands are additional areas where a hovercraft can be efficiently used. The purchase price of this life-saving piece of equipment is surprisingly inexpensive.”

 For these, and many other reasons, first responders worldwide rely on Neoteric rescue hovercraft …

The Neoteric Rescue Hovercraft is the industry standard worldwide. Not only can it take you where no other vehicle can go, it operates more like an aircraft than a boat, flying 9 inches above the surface. An added bonus is it's constructed so that neither the propellers nor any other part of the craft will strike submerged objects. Hovercraft are safe from outboard motor or propeller damage

See what just a few of your fellow first responders have to say about the effectiveness of their Neoteric Hovercraft …

 Mansfield Fire Department, Texas: "The benefit of having the hovercraft is we do not have to send our personnel into the water to retrieve victims. It can also hover over logs, car tires and any other debris, unlike boats, that could be a hazard in the water. A hovercraft is the answer to a faster rescue - a safer rescue."

Davis County Sheriff's Office, Utah: "Our hovercraft, without question, has saved lives. Much of our county is covered by the Great Salt Lake, and when the water is low it leaves miles of mudflats boats can't reach. We can't get airboats out there. When it's extremely windy it's hard to get an aircraft or helicopter out there, and even walking out is impossible. We were putting rescuers in harm's way, but the hovercraft allows us to hover over mud, ice or water and get right to the patient - to literally reach out our hand and pull them out."

Central Fraser Valley Search & Rescue Society, Canada: "The hovercraft gets us into areas that, before, we weren't able to reach, areas that our jet boat can't get into because we ingest debris into the impeller. And the hovercraft saves us a lot of time."

North Muskegon Fire Department, Michigan: "Our hovercraft have saved more lives that all our fire engines combined. Since 1985, more than 255 people have been rescued from Muskegon area lakes using the hovercraft. More than half of them would have drowned not having the hovercraft as a safe rescue tool."

WOPR, a national water rescue organization in Poland: “Regardless of the weather, our hovercraft can fly over water, ice, mud, sand, grass or wetlands – allowing us to get to those places you can’t reach either by boat or by foot. This machine can save people under the most difficult conditions that prevent the use of a helicopter.”

Council Bluffs Fire Department, Iowa: "Our hovercraft can handle some of the most dangerous rescues that would otherwise be out of reach. It's the only vehicle able to operate on any surface; you can get it anywhere that basically nothing else can get to. With it, we're not sending first responders out into bad water or ice. We can go over it all with the hovercraft, grab the victim and bring them back."

If you missed Neoteric at #FDIC2022, be sure to visit us next year at #FDIC2023.

 And in the meantime …

Follow Neoteric’s blog, Facebook and Twitter

and

Check the Neoteric Hovercraft website for frequent updates and news

Only one more day to see a Neoteric Rescue Hovercraft in flight at #FDIC2022!

Today is the next-to-the-last day of the FDIC. And it was a busy day at Neoteric Hovercraft’s FDIC Outdoor Booth 19403 – where every half hour, attendees watched a rescue hovercraft take flight …

Coincidentally, one FDIC attendee who visited our booth today is closely connected to Neoteric's history. Neoteric Founder/President Chris Fitzgerald (right) was a founder of the Hoverclub of America in 1974 … and visitor Michael (left) is the son of another founder of the Hoverclub. Michael has spent his life in the fire service and is now a Fire Chief.

This is just one association between fire departments and Neoteric Rescue Hovercraft. Fire Chief Michael explains why there should be closer connections between firefighters and hovercraft … 

As Maritime Reporter and Marine News reported in 2014: "Hovercraft have a growing role to play in search and rescue, commercial and military operations around the world. Hovercraft can be a practical proposition for operations in areas inaccessible to other vehicles including frozen water, mud flats, intertidal areas, shallow rivers and flooded inland areas. Perceived to be environmentally sound, as they don’t exhaust into the water, create no wash and do not disturb the sea bed, they are also economical and do not endanger marine animals as there is no propeller in the water."

There are so many more reasons why hovercraft are necessary for safe and successful search and rescue operations. In brief,  hovercraft do not suffer from outboard motor or propeller damage – which are big problems with Jon Boats, inflatables and anything that has a prop under the boat. Beneath a hovercraft there is nothing but a 9-inch deep, soft cushion of air. Because they travel above the surface on a cushion of air, hovercraft fly over obstacles rather than colliding with them. A hovercraft can fly over a bird nest full of eggs – or even a human being – without doing any harm!

 And, unlike boats, the Neoteric Hovercraft hull is filled with US Coast Guard-approved closed-cell foam, which prevents sinking.

Over the Neoteric's 62 years of existence, our hovercraft have proven to be quite possibly the safest rescue vehicle ever built. And #FDIC attendees, you have only one more day to visit Neoteric Hovercraft's Outdoor Booth 19403 to see why this is so!

See Fire Rescue Agencies worldwide that use Neoteric Hovercraft ...