Swedish entrepreneurs complete hovercraft pilot training

Fredrik Hedberg and Eric Groenlund, two young entrepreneurs from Vastervik, Sweden, recently traveled to the USA to undergo hovercraft pilot and maintenance training at Hovercraft Training Centers' headquarters in Terre Haute, Indiana.  Neoteric is the exclusive provider of the hovercraft employed by Hovercraft Training Centers.

With the Neoteric hovercraft's 100% buoyancy, Eric Groenlund and instructor Chris Fitzgerald stay

comfortably afloat during flight training on the Wabash River while Eric reviews the craft's controls

and its behavior with the engine shut down.

Hedberg and Groenlund’s company manufactures specialty trailers, both for the private sector and for the military. There is a growing need for hovercraft in Sweden, which has a large number of small coastal islands where the population doesn’t have direct access to rescue vehicles other than a helicopter, which is costly and often unavailable.

After researching hovercraft manufacturers they decided that the Neoteric Hovertrek, with its light weight and unique reverse thrust system, was ideal for operation in Sweden so they decided their first step would be to enroll in the pilot training program. 

Eric said, “We want to master them and know everything about it. The training sounded for us like a natural first step; we wouldn’t even go near it without the training. It’s like selling a helicopter to someone, thinking it’s a cool thing to have, but one needs to know how it works too! “.

Fredrik Hedberg (left) and Eric Groenlund (right) receive their
Class 3 Standard hovercraft pilot certification from instructor Chris Fitzgerald.

See a complete photo gallery of the Hedberg / Groenlund pilot training session.