Sugar Creek Cruise — Hoverclub of America (Sept 27, 2025) By Neoteric Hovercraft On September 27, 2025, hovercraft enthusiasts gathered at Reeder Park in Montezuma, Indiana for the long-awaited Sugar Creek Cruise hosted by the Hoverclub of America. The day was a perfect blend of nostalgic cruising through covered-bridge country, technical camaraderie, and hands-on demonstrations of lightweight rescue and recreational hovercraft. Neoteric was proud to attend and hovering our Hovertrek™ Inline Seat 4 Passenger Rescue Model and to demonstrate why Neoteric craft remain a favorite of rescue teams and recreational pilots worldwide. Founded originally in 1960 and registried in 1976, Neoteric is the original light hovercraft manufacturer and our patented reverse-thrust system gives unmatched maneuverability for precision work such as pond spraying, rescue access, and tight waterway operations. Sugar Creek’s winding waterway, shallow shoals, and scenic banks make it a perfect venue to show the versatility of hovercraft. The craft’s soft surface footprint and ability to transition from water to land without damage make them ideal for conservation-sensitive shoots, access to isolated banks, and practical tasks like precision spraying or shoreline inspections. Six hovercraft made it all the way upstream to Turkey Run State Park about 45 miles round trip, two craft experienced mechanical difficulties on the return trip but both were successfully retrieved. Midday cruise through the covered-bridge stretch, pilots swapped tips on skirt care, throttle setups, and accessories. Several craft performed low-speed precision maneuvers to demonstrate spray and rescue capability. In the afternoon, the pilots and guests reviewed the day’s footage and discussed upcoming events in the Midwest hovercraft calendar. Below are the individuals who attend at Sugar Creek: • Chris Fitzgerald-Founder / Chief Executive Officer / Neoteric. Neoteric pilots and staff participated in demos • Jason Kuehn — Founder & President, Hoverstream LLC (long-time industry figure and Hoverclub of America board involvement). Hoverstream attended/exhibited and Jason was visible in event postings and industry coverage. • Marquis Songer — active hovercraft community member; listed as Machine Tool Technology Program Chair / educator, Indiana Ivy Tech. Marquis is also a long-time hovercraft enthusiast and contributor to club activities. • JianJun Huang —Attend as an engineer at Neoteric Hovercraft. • Terry Chapman • Larry Weirich • Gary and Terry Jensen • Dan Heidel Thanks to the Hoverclub of America and everyone who made the Sugar Creek Cruise a spirited and enjoyable event. If you attended and would like your photos or helmet-cam clips included in the Neoteric video, please email them to team@neoterichovercraft.com with the subject line “Sugar Creek Cruise – Media”. We’ll credit contributors and ask for permission before naming people in captions.

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 …

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