First responders: Don't miss Neoteric at the FDIC

The FDIC (Fire Department Instructor Conference) is the world’s largest fire training-based conference and exhibition, attended by more than 35,000 firefighters, fire chiefs, officers and instructors from more than 53 nations. It’s the fire industry’s most comprehensive exhibition, showcasing more than 1,000 companies who manufacture and supply firefighting/rescue apparatus and technology.

This year, Neoteric and Hovercraft Training Centers are honored to be the only rescue hovercraft and hovercraft flight training exhibitor at the FDIC. The event will take place April 18-23 at the Lucas Oil Stadium and Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, IN …

The FDIC is held at Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. Opened in 2008,

the Stadium replaced the RCA Dome as the home field of the Indianapolis Colts.

As a quick preview, here are photos taken during the hand-manufacture of the two Neoteric Rescue Hovercraft that will be on display at the FDIC ...

A stretcher mount is installed on the Neoteric 4-passenger rescue hovercraft to be exhibited at the FDIC.

The skirt retention strip is installed on the Neoteric 6-passenger rescue hovercraft, also to be on exhibit.

It's only fitting that the FDIC, with its 87-year mission of training the fire service, is including Neoteric - the world's original light hovercraft manufacturer whose rescue hovercraft have been saving lives safely for more than 40 years in over 50 countries.

Visit us at Booth 2540 during this year’s FDIC and let us show you the safest, quickest way to rescue ice, water, mud and flood victims. A Neoteric Rescue Hovercraft will take you where no other vehicle can go, on the only hovercraft with reverse thrust for braking and backing up – critical in rescue operations. 

It's the most versatile rescue apparatus available. And it keeps you above the danger
 – not in it.

Learn more about Neoteric Rescue Hovercraft ...

A Week of Historic Hovercraft ‘Firsts’

From Washington D.C. to Arizona, this is a week of hovercraft ‘firsts’ in the U.S.

Tomorrow the Supreme Court will hear its first hovercraft case in history, Sturgeon v.Masica et al.

And, on a lighter side, at the Havasu Balloon Festival in Arizona, Neoteric customer Gary Meyers has discovered a brand new use for his HoverTrek™. For the first time ever, a hovercraft was used to inflate a hot air balloon. Watch the video …

We all know a Neoteric hovercraft can take you where no other vehicle can go. But now we see its usefulness covers even more territory!

But maybe this isn’t news to you ...

 Leave a comment and let us know what unusual ways you’ve used your hovercraft!

Supreme Court to determine hovercraft use

A hovercraft can take you just about anywhere – even to the U.S. Supreme Court.

There are places, however, where a hovercraft cannot take you … places such as every national park in the United States, where the National Park Service forbids hovercraft use. This ban is at the heart of the first hovercraft case in history to come before the Supreme Court. Sturgeon v. Masica, et al. will be heard next Wednesday, January 20 … and the final verdict could affect you personally.

This video helps explain what is at stake in this lawsuit filed against the National Park Service by John Sturgeon of Anchorage, Alaska, a long-time member of the Hoverclub of America …

Sturgeon v. Masica, et al. is about much more than one man and his hovercraft, or even about only one state. There is a possibility that the Supreme Court’s decision could have a nationwide impact and be of great significance to all hovercraft owners.

The case asserts that navigable waters on federal land are state-owned, and that federal land regulations - such as the ban on hovercraft in national parks – infringe upon state sovereignty in a way that exceeds the constitutional powers of Congress. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Sturgeon, it could apply that ruling to Alaska only, or it could apply the ruling to the entire United States. That means this case could possibly lead to fewer restrictions on your hovercraft use.

That’s why we encourage you to help John with his case, because it could be your case, too. The lawsuit has been in the lower courts for several years, and so far John has personally footed most of the $300,000+ bill. This is a 100% public interest lawsuit, which means if the Court decides in John’s favor, he won’t win money or anything else. He’s fighting strictly for the rights of the public – your rights.

But justice does not come cheap. Warren Olson, Chairman of Trustees of the Alaska Outdoor Council, one of the many organizations supporting John Sturgeon, explains, “$450,000 is the standard cost to appear before the Supreme Court. We’re promoting the cost of a “tank of gas” so John can go to Washington D.C. It’s amazing that boat owners throughout the entire nation with serious investments in outdoor equipment have to go to the “boiler room” to chip in for a “tank of gas.”

All of us at Neoteric urge you to click the button below and make a tax deductible donation to this important cause – one that could affect your hovercraft use in the future. 

The Supreme Court decision on Sturgeon v. Masica, et al.

will be handed down this summer. Until then, follow our blog 

and visit the Neoteric website for new developments. 

Russian counterfeiter – AirWing.ru – illegally copies the Neoteric HoverTrek™

Due to their sleek design, state-of-the-art engineering, patented reverse thrust system, and more than 40 years of proven excellence, the Neoteric HoverTrek™ is an extremely popular hovercraft. Unfortunately this also makes the HoverTrek™ a favorite target for industrial espionage and intellectual property infringement.

In a recent report to Congress, the U.S. national Counterintelligence Executive named China as the world's worst counterfeiter, followed closely by Russia. The Russian Interior Ministry reports that nearly a third of every product sold to consumers in Russia is counterfeit.

AirWing (AKA Production Company MSK / 000 Aeroslava) in St. Petersburg, Russia is committing industrial/economic espionage and intellectual property theft against Neoteric by illegally manufacturing counterfeit copies of our HoverTrek™ and using copyrighted material owned by Neoteric to falsely market them as a Neoteric product. 

Neoteric and our licensed agent in Russia, LL Sirius / Christy Hovercraft, have been working with Russia's General Directorate Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as with the FBI, CIA, U.S. Department of Commerce and other agencies to stop AirWing's crimes. 

AirWing has not complied with the Cease and Desist orders issued to them, as evidenced by this video recently posted on YouTube, which shows a modified counterfeit HoverTrek™ illegally manufactured by AirWing ...

AirWing has marketed their counterfeit hovercraft as the "Niaterek", the "AirWing Neoteric" and most blatantly as the "Neoteric HoverTrek". In a 2013 court action, AirWing directly admitted to committing intellectual property theft, saying that they used these names because they would attract more customers who would associate them with "the famous American manufacturer."

This problem cannot be underestimated. This is not a simple matter of knock-off Gucci handbags or Rolex watches. Since hovercraft are increasingly used in rescue operations, there is serious international concern that these illegal counterfeits are a major threat to the lives of first responders as well as to the lives of those they are tasked to save. 

And while the bottom line of a business may take second place to the health and safety of consumers, the economic loss due to counterfeiting is huge. Intellectual property theft and counterfeiting inflicts serious damage on the U.S. economy. The Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property found “the scale of international theft of American IP to be unprecedented,” causing at least $320 billion in annual economic losses to the U.S. and job losses “running into the millions."

The FBI says the Cold War is not over. It has merely become the Economic War, and economic espionage has been designated as the FBI's #2 priority - second only to terrorism.

For these reasons, Neoteric strongly urges all potential hovercraft buyers in every nation to:

1) Thoroughly research companies to make sure that you're buying from the original, experienced, reputable hovercraft manufacturer and not a counterfeiter. 

2) Check the World Hovercraft Organization's Ripoff Report 
to stay informed on what hovercraft companies are counterfeiters.