#TBT: Neoteric Hovercraft in 1980s TV commercials

For #ThrowbackThursday, let's hover back to the early 1980s, when Neoteric's new LeMere and Neova II hovercraft gained international fame in television commercials. They were featured in TV ads for Canada's Labatt's Beer, Germany's Lord Extra Cigarettes and Brazil's Hollywood Cigarettes.

Watch the Labatt's Beer commercial, filmed on Lake Isabella in California. When commonplace boats are too ordinary for the job, it's Neoteric to the rescue! ... 

Cabin Fever? Here's the cure!

It’s that time of year in much of the world: the time when outdoor lovers have stowed away their boats, jet skis, kayaks, canoes and ATVs and are sitting inside hoping for some snowmobile weather.

But that’s not the case with outdoor lovers across the globe who own a Neoteric hovercraft. Here’s what they’re up to …

You don't need that whole stowed-away fleet of vehicles when you have a hovercraft. It's the only all-season recreational vehicle that replaces that fleet - and it takes you places your other vehicles can't reach: you'll fly easily over land; swift water; shallow, frozen or flooded rivers; sandbars; swamps; mud; snow and even thin or broken ice. What a great way to save money and guarantee year-round fun!

But don't take our word for it - check out what our customers say ...

Still not sure you want to have a Happy "Neo" Year? It's easy to fly before you buy and find out if a hovercraft is right for you ...

Take a Test Flight or Training Course

Hovercraft: The novelty never ends

Here’s a familiar scenario: someone buys a vehicle for recreation – a jet ski, a boat, a snowmobile – to use it a few times, then the novelty wears off and it ends up languishing in their garage, or they sell it.

This is rarely the case with a hovercraft, and Barry Eison’s story is the perfect example. Barry, a 56-year-old mechanical engineer from Tennessee, purchased a 4-passenger Neoteric HoverTrek™ a year ago and his enjoyment of his hovercraft continues to grow.

Barry bought a hovercraft because “Every time we go out hunting, fishing, exploring, we see places we can’t get to. So many areas are inaccessible. Duck hunting is big in my area and one of the biggest frustrations for duck hunters is you have to be able to go from water to land to water – a hovercraft makes that possible.”

One reason the novelty of his hovercraft hasn’t worn off is that Barry entered his new adventure wisely - first, by purchasing the right hovercraft. “I’ve been looking at hovercraft for five years,” he said. “I’ve looked at every hovercraft company out there … Neoteric is the only one that doesn’t have a single negative review.” And next, by undergoing pilot training at Hovercraft Training Centers.

Barry Eison (right) accepts his Hovercraft Pilot Certification from
Neoteric President/HTC Senior Flight Instructor Chris Fitzgerald.

As do most of our customers, Barry stays in frequent communication with us at Neoteric. You can see from a few of his emails over the last year how his hovercraft is definitely not going to end up languishing in his garage! …

August 27, 2014:

“My overall thoughts to date are:

1) I love this machine. The more I use it, the more I realize the engineering and research & development that went into its development.

2) I want to experiment with different material for the bags.

3) This craft would be easy to learn to drive if someone drove it who had never driven anything else.

4) I am becoming quite confident with it and absolutely cannot wait to get it out hunting this winter. It has already opened up areas that I have hunted my entire life but have never been able to access. Well done, Neoteric, well done.”

November 12, 2014:

“The hovercraft has performed very well on the Mississippi River and in and around the barge traffic we encounter. I was able to harvest my first deer from an area that I was previously unable to access but can now using the hovercraft. The state game wardens think it is fascinating and have given me the green light to use it freely on land or water within their motorized vehicle guidelines.”

December 15, 2014:

“I took the hovercraft out on the Mississippi River on Friday afternoon and deliberately targeted rough waters (barge wakes, small whirlpools, traversing small rapids over rock dikes, swift current) and the craft performed absolutely flawlessly. The more I use it the more impressed with it I am. My only regret is that I wish that I had ordered the six person craft versus the four person. 

You may want to pass this on to other clients who purchase your hovercraft in the future. Do not take the training manual home and set it on a shelf. Print it, put it in a notebook and READ IT. Everything you need to know about the craft is enclosed! It has been a godsend for me.”

Read more comments from Neoteric customers …

The Perfect Cure for Cabin Fever

It’s that time of year when outdoor lovers start dreading winter … that is, outdoor lovers who don’t have a hovercraft – who are getting ready to stow away their jet skis, boats, kayaks, canoes and ATVs and then hope for some snowmobile weather.

But you don’t need this whole fleet of vehicles when you have a hovercraft – it’s the only all-in-one, four-season recreational vehicle that replaces them all. What a way to save a bundle of money and guarantee year-round fun!

In a hovercraft, you fly smoothly over land; swift water; shallow or flooded or frozen rivers; sandbars; swampland; mud; snow; and even thin or broken ice – rising above it all on a cushion of air. Hovercraft are not only safer and more fuel-efficient than boats; they’ll take you places that boats and other recreational vehicles just can’t go.

A Neoteric hovercraft flies over thin and broken ice on St. Petersburg Harbor in Russia. 

Why not find out for yourself? Take a Test Flight on a Neoteric hovercraft at Hovercraft Training Centers and experience the greatest way on earth for an outdoor lover to dump the winter doldrums.

And why not beat the budget blues at the same time: Check out the Neoteric Trade-in Showroom for great deals on recreational hovercraft.

 

Pete Garland: Retirement is just the beginning

When some people retire, they pick up the remote control and that’s it – but not Pete Garland. This retired oil company engineer from Coldspring, Texas was attracted to hovercraft for the same reason he was attracted to the oil business: “It’s interesting – and I look for excitement, adventure.”

Garland is a vehicle connoisseur – he owns jet skis, four wheelers, boats and ATVs – and will soon own a Neoteric hovercraft. But before he placed his order, he signed up for a Hovercraft Training Centers course. “I don’t think you can just toss the keys to your grandkids and say, ‘Here, give it a go’ like you can with jet skis. You’ve got to know what you’re doing. And I’m not sure how you repair these things, so today I’ll learn,” he explained as he began his training.

After a day of maintenance and flight training, Garland accepts his hovercraft certification from Neoteric President / HTC Instructor Chris Fizgerald …

Garland expected that flying a hovercraft would not be like jet skiing: “Directly on water you have a lot of control, but from reading the manual, when you’re floating on air there’s a little more of a control issue.” During his flight training on the Wabash River, however, he was pleased with the exceptional control capabilities its patented reverse thrust system gives the Neoteric Hovertrek™ …

Garland, at 74 years old, describes himself at as “adventurous, outgoing, in good health” - and he adds emphatically, “I’m not too old for this!”

He certainly isn’t. In fact, he’s the perfect example of what Henry Ford – another vehicle connoisseur – had to say: “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.”

And a youthful smile definitely lit up Garland’s face when he learned that Neoteric deducts the 

training fee from their hovercraft price for all Hovercraft Training Centers graduates!

Hovercraft save lives

First responders worldwide recognize that the hovercraft is the only rescue vehicle able to perform fast, safe rescue operations on swift water, thin or broken ice, flood waters and snow. Because it safely hovers 9 inches above the terrain, a hovercraft keeps the rescue team above the danger – not in it – and gives rescuers access to areas boats and helicopters can't reach.

Read comments from first responders who rely on hovercraft in their rescue operations ...

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

How does a hovercraft work?

Although often seen as a mysterious, even bizarre mode of transportation, it is conceptually quite simple. To understand how hovercraft work, it is necessary to realize that the dynamics are more closely related to aircraft than to boats or automobiles. 

As a member of the family of air cushion vehicles (ACVs) or ground effect machines, which includes wing-in-ground-effect or ram wings, surface effect ships, sidewall hovercraft, and surface skimmers, hovercraft, are the amphibious member of the air cushion vehicle family. They are the most novel among vehicles that are supported by pressurized air …

Learn more about hovercraft operation ...

Have a question about hovercraft? We’re here to answer – just post a comment.

Recreational hovercraft pilot training

Aspiring pilots from throughout the world recognize that Neoteric’s exclusive Hovercraft Pilot Training Program is the most comprehensive course available. And in addition to first responders and military personnel, recreational hovercrafters also come to Neoteric for quality hovercraft flight training.

Steven McVeety from Perth, Ontario, Canada (left) and Ryan Dagey from Bloomington, Indiana USA (center) exemplify the leisure hovercraft pilots trained by Chris Fitzgerald (right) at Neoteric. Here, Fitzgerald shows Steve and Ryan how to conduct a pre-flight inspection before the Neoteric training craft was launched yesterday on the Wabash River ...

Steve is employed by 3M in Canada as a plant engineer in charge of quality control and safety. Ryan, as President of Dagey Technology Solutions LLC, directs Neoteric's information management needs. Steve is in the process of building his own hovercraft from a kit; Ryan participated in the training course to increase his first-hand familiarity with a client's product.

Below, Fitzgerald describes how Neoteric's patented reverse thrust system makes the Hovertrek the only light hovercraft in the world with effective brakes ... 

Steve has organized power boat events, has raced hydroplanes and go-carts and is a certified scuba diver. He has always had a passion for hovercraft, but his training yesterday is the first time he's ever been aboard a hovercraft in flight - evidenced by his anticipatory smile as Fitzgerald prepares to launch ... 

And they're off ...

 

Steve wanted to undergo thorough pilot training and says he found, after considerable research, that “The only place to get proper training is here at Neoteric. I’ve really learned a lot ... and the maintenance instruction part of the Training Course has given me ideas that will expedite the building process on my own hovercraft."

At the end of an afternoon on the river, back at Neoteric the two new pilots accept their Class III Hovercraft Pilot Training Certification from Chris Fitzgerald ...