IN THE NEWS: Oak Island Water Rescue Team's new Neoteric Hovercraft

The State Port Pilot
Southport, North Carolina

By Lee Hinnant, Jan. 20, 2021

Oak Island Water Rescue has acquired a hovercraft specially designed for use by emergency responders.

The department is now among the few in the Southeast with such a tool. Made by Neoteric Hovercraft, Inc. of Terre Haute, Indiana, the craft weighs a mere 480 pounds but can lift a payload of 800 pounds, said Tony Young, Water Rescue Chief. Responders hope it will be of service when someone gets in trouble in the area’s numerous marshes. In the past, responders have struggled to reach stranded kayakers using a jon boat. In one instance, it took the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office airboat to get to victims grounded on the mud flats and surrounded by beds of sharp-shelled oysters.

 “The beauty of this is that you can go from the marsh to the beach,” Young said. “It’s the next best thing to having a helicopter.”

The hovercraft uses one-third of its power to lift the craft; the rest provides thrust. Powered by a German-made two-stroke motor designed for small airplanes, the hovercraft has only 65-horsepower but can go as fast as 60 mph under ideal conditions, such as on ice.

“What makes this unique for rescue is that it has thrust reversers to stop, spin around or go backwards,” Young said.

The specialized skirts around the edges of the hovercraft hold it on a cushion of air. The skirts must be maintained and kept clean to work at their best.

It takes at least 30 hours of training to learn to pilot the hovercraft. Simple actions, such as leaning too far one way or sticking an arm out while under power can affect the sensitive steering. “It’s tricky,” Young said. “It’s not like driving a boat. We’re taking bets on who puts the first scratch on it.”

Young said an anonymous donor contributed the $60,000 needed for the hovercraft. The same donor also made a substantial contribution toward repairing the station from the damage caused by Hurricane Isaias last August.

Work on the station has slowed and Water Rescue is discussing the possibility of adding a second floor for offices and using the downstairs portion as a garage and workshop. Members expect to have a contractor on the job by next month.

With the support from the community, the Town of Oak Island and Brunswick Electric Membership Corp. the team was also able to replace an aging surf boat with a newer, slightly larger model with a tougher aluminum hull.

The storm took a toll on the station, but members said they’re building back better than ever, with a lot of help from donors.

“The community really came together to support us,” said team member Melissa Wilson. “The storm was a blessing in disguise.”

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Learn more about Neoteric Hovercraft ...

First responders say Neoteric Hovercraft is "an awesome asset."

The Davis County, Utah Sheriff's Office has relied on a Neoteric rescue HoverTrek™ for three years now and they say it has, without question, saved lives.

The hovercraft is ideal for the terrain in Davis County. Much of the county is covered by the Great Salt Lake, and when the water is low it leaves miles of mudflats boats can't reach. A particularly hazardous area is Farmington Bay, a muddy marshland that has been the scene of chaos many times for search & rescue teams. Not long ago, the hovercraft saved some duck hunters on the bay. "We had an individual who was stuck in the mud," says DCSO Search & Rescue Commander Erik Bornemeier, "They get out there too far, then they get extremely tired and literally can't move."

 "We can't get airboats out there," he adds, "When it's extremely windy, it's hard to get an aircraft or helicopter out there, and even walking out there is impossible."

But their hovercraft overcomes these obstacles and is literally a life saver - for both victims and rescuers. "You have to get there in time, but you have to get there safely," says Bornemeier, "We were putting rescuers in harm's way, but this allows us to hover over ice, mud or water and get right to the patient - to literally reach out our hand and pull them out."

He continues, "It's built like a plane: light, fast, maneuverable. It fills that "what if" need. And it's an awesome asset to have."

Watch Davis County's hovercraft in action when Salt Lake City's Fox 13 News recently took a spin ...

First responders are saving lives worldwide with their Neoteric rescue hovercraft ...

Read their reports ...

Hovercraft: new flexibility for Wilderness Place Lodge

Wilderness Place Lodge in Lake Creek, Alaska has the honor of being one of the top five salmon and trout fishing lodges in the state. But in their quest to be the best, co-owners Cory Wendt of Madison Wisconsin and Jason Rockvam of Clancy, Montana found a way to make it even better. That’s what led them to Neoteric and Hovercraft Training Centers.

The Lodge, located on Lake Creek River, offers some of the finest spin and fly fishing in Alaska. But the river and its surrounding streams have gravel bars, pinched-off oxbow backwaters, shallow areas and midstream islands – areas that boats and other vehicles can’t reach. And, as Cory says, “If one point is an impasse for our guests, it spoils the trip.”

To overcome these limitations, Cory and Jason explored their options and decided to add hovercraft to their fleet of 18-foot boats. But why hovercraft rather than other vehicles, such as airboats? “I don’t think airboats are that great. We wouldn’t use one. Our guests wouldn’t come; it would be too loud. They come up to get away from everything and airboats are just deafeningly loud,” Cory explains. “A hovercraft is the practical tool to get us from point A to point B.”

To determine whether 4-passenger or 6-passenger hovercraft would work best for them, Cory took advantage of our Fly Before You Buy opportunity and came to us for Test Flights on Neoteric craft at Hovercraft Training Centers.

After his Test Flight on a 6-passenger craft, Cory (center) and his father Bob Wendt (right) board a 4-passenger Neoteric HoverTrek for their flight on the Wabash River with HTC instructor Steve Stafford (left) …

And they’re off – joining a 6-passenger HoverTrek giving a Test Flight to a different group …

Before landing onto the boat ramp, Steve gives a final demo of how the Neoteric reverse thrust gives our hovercraft their extreme maneuverability. (And no, he didn't lose a passenger on the river! The two Test Flights in progress switched passengers downstream.) …

After touring the Neoteric factory and taking two Test Flights, during which Cory had the opportunity to take the controls, he was impressed with the flexibility of the HoverTrek. “It was smoother than I expected. I didn’t expect it to be able to go through all the mud and sticks. I figured all those sticks would break up the air flow, but they didn’t.” And it was certainly quieter than an airboat!

And he quickly grasped the importance of training. “I didn’t fully have an appreciation until I drove it; it started to feel more like an aircraft. I could understand why training is important – I’d read it and heard it but didn’t really appreciate it until I was at the controls.”

The season opens in June at Wilderness Place Lodge. And whether they’ll be flying with 4 passengers or 6 passengers, the guests will enjoy something new and exciting this year – a Neoteric hovercraft to easily take them wherever they want to go.

And the staff will enjoy the added convenience and safety. Currently they have to run boats to a village 25 miles away just to pick up their mail. And since they also operate as rescuers if there's an incident, a hovercraft will serve them well. He and his guests will feel much more secure with a Neoteric hovercraft - used by first responders throughout the world - on hand for safe and rapid rescue operations.

Visit Wilderness Place Lodge

Learn more about Hovercraft Test Flights

Roswell, Georgia buys rescue hovercraft with Homeland Security Grant

Once first responders experience the extraordinary capabilities of a Neoteric hovercraft, no other water or ice rescue vehicle will do - just ask the Roswell, Georgia Fire Department.

In March, Neoteric Training Pilot Steve Stafford demonstrated a Neoteric rescue hovercraft to Roswell officials. Fire Chief Ricky Spencer says, “At first I wasn’t too keen on the idea. Then when I saw what the Neoteric craft can do, I said, how soon can I get one? And after we saw Neoteric's reverse thrust, all other hovercraft were out of the question.”

Jeremy Adams of Roswell Fire Department's Logistics Division first suggested a Neoteric craft to the department. "We considered various rescue boats as well as airboats. But airboats are just not as maneuverable as hovercraft."

According to Chief Spencer, "There are 13 miles of the Chattahoochee River in Roswell, with lots of shallow areas. Rescue boats just didn't meet our needs."

Roswell's hovercraft cost the city only $9,995.33, thanks to a Homeland Security Grant it received. "It's a purchase well worth it," says Chief Spencer, "since the department will now have no issues navigating the river during rescue operations."

On June 1, Spencer and Adams traveled to Neoteric's headquarters to undergo pilot training in their new 6-passenger rescue HoverTrek ...

Left to right: Neoteric Training Pilot Steve Stafford; Roswell Fire Chief Ricky Spencer;

 Neoteric President Chris Fitzgerald; Roswell Logistics Officer Jeremy Adams.

In the video below, Neoteric Training Pilot Steve Stafford and Chief Spencer launch the Roswell craft on the swollen Wabash River in Terre Haute, Indiana for an afternoon of pilot training:

Read media coverage of the Roswell Fire Department hovercraft

Hovercraft Pilot Training: Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office, Hammond, Louisiana

Chief Deputy Dennis Pevey along with Captains Stuart Murphy and Robert Bel, emergency responders from the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office in Hammond, Louisiana, spent two days at Neoteric Hovercraft to complete Neoteric's Class III Hovercraft Pilot Training Course. The Parish purchased a Neoteric partially-assembled rescue hovercraft kit with a Homeland Security grant and the Sheriff's Office has nearly completed final assembly of the craft.

Upon arrival at the Wabash River training site, instructor Chris Fitzgerald (third from left) assists Captain Murphy (second from left) in rolling the hovercraft from its trailer, while Captain Bel (left) and Chief Pevey (right) observe:

Fitzgerald and Bel fuel the hovercraft in preparation for launching on the Wabash River ... while a gaggle of unsuspecting Canada geese feed on the river bank:

Fitzgerald reviews the Hovertrek's operational systems before turning the controls over to Chief Pevey for his practice session on the river:

And now, with Pevey at the controls in this video, the hovercraft glides gracefully through practice maneuvers ... while the Canada geese peacefully observe, which testifies to the fact that the Neoteric craft is the quietest light hovercraft on the market!

There are numerous bodies of water in Tangipahoa Parish, including the heavy-current Tangipahoa and Tickfaw Rivers as well as Lakes Ponchartrain and Maurepas, requiring the Sheriff's Office to be well-equipped for rescue operations and towing stranded boaters and fishermen. The Office has at least 8 water rescue vehicles, among them flatboats and an airboat, but the unusual maneuverability of their Neoteric hovercraft will open areas to the first responders that other vehicles can't reach and will save valuable time in reaching victims.