Hovercraft at work

Hovercraft are used throughout the world for a wide variety of commercial applications, including mosquito control, oil spill cleanup, gold mining, wildlife conservation, commercial fishing and tourism.

Hovercraft were used on Kuwait's intertidal zone to survey the environmental damage inflicted by the 1991 Persian Gulf War oil fires. The hovercraft was the only vehicle capable of operating on the thick mud ...

The Racine, Wisconsin airport has a large quarry at the end of the runways in which geese collect - a hazard to aircraft operation. A hovercraft is used to haze the geese and drive them away. Read the full story ...

 Club Montee in Austria performs hovercraft shows to entertain audiences at special events ...

See a photo gallery of commercial hovercraft at work ... 

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How are hovercraft used?

Hovercraft are so versatile that their applications are as diverse as the people who use them. They are most often used to reach areas that are inaccessible on foot or by conventional vehicles. Hovercraft can go where most other vehicles can't.

Hovercraft are the ideal vehicle for ice fishing and for ice rescue operations

due to their ability to fly safely over thin or broken ice.

 A partial listing of hovercraft uses includes:

• Exploring the vast number of shallow and narrow waterways that cannot be reached by boat
• Rescue work on swift water, ice, snow, mud flats, deserts, wetlands, shallow water, swamps, bogs, marshes and floodwaters.
• Affordable, safe way to fly without a pilot's license.
• Transport in environmentally sensitive areas where habitat, erosion and soil compaction are a concern; wildlife conservation research; environmental testing

• Oil spill cleanup
• Tourism; transportation or "island-hopping"
• Fishing anywhere ... including ice fishing
• Military services
• Water management
• Port authorities/drug enforcement
• TV and film companies; entertainment at Disney World water shows
• Agricultural spraying
• Survey work
• Heavy load movement across difficult surfaces
• Mosquito abatement
• Removing leaves from Pecan farms
• "Bird hazing" – chasing geese from lakes in the vicinity of airports 

To learn more about hovercraft, read About Hovercraft …

Have a question about hovercraft? Just post it as a comment.