Now, let’s
give you a sneak peak of the Neoteric episode with some behind-the-scenes photos
of the filming that took place at Neoteric’s headquarters in Terre Haute, Indiana …
You can
see Aaron’s excitement about being at Neoteric in this photo with Steve Stafford,
Flight Instructor and founder of Project H.E.R.O. (Hovercraft Emergency
Response Operations) …
Aaron says
his interest in hovercraft began as a child. “When I was a little kid I was always into trouble. I had this old dog
named Ugly and a wagon, and I found some helicopter plans in Popular
Mechanics so me and Ugly went sniffing around the neighborhood digging up what
I deemed to be future helicopter parts. But they didn’t materialize into
helicopter parts - because they weren’t helicopter parts. So I set my sights on
hovercraft, and went around the neighborhood collecting hovercraft parts. As
you can imagine, I never hovered or crafted. So it’s really neat to be standing
now in a hovercraft facility!”
His
excitement continued as company President Chris Fitzgerald showed Aaron how the
Neoteric hovercraft’s patented reverse thrust buckets work …
As he
learned how to build a Neoteric hovercraft, Aaron observed, “This isn’t mass production – these
hovercraft are made specifically for each customer. I’m such a big fan of this type
of production, where you’ve got a small number of employees putting their heart
into whatever they do. And it’s a thing I can relate to, in my world of manufacturing;
we have a small team and we love what we do and we keep things manageable.”
In
addition to learning and participating in Neoteric’s manufacturing procedures,
Aaron also had the chance to operate a “hovering billiard ball”, one of 15
created for the U.S. comedian Gallagher – although Gallagher’s were built with
a billiard ball top, not attached on this model …
After his
time in the factory, Aaron spent the rest of the day learning to pilot a
hovercraft on the Wabash River with President Chris Fitzgerald. Here, he
readies for his first-ever hovercraft flight …
You can
see more photos at the gallery link below. And check in with us often here and on Facebook – we’ll have lots more photos and videos of the filming for you before and after the Discovery Channel 10:00 p.m. Monday, September 9 air
date of the Aaron Needs a Job episode
featuring Neoteric.
In the
meantime, you might want to watch the show’s premiere episode, “What’s Old is New”, where
Aaron tests a restored Sherman tank and fires the cannon, braves the dangers of
coal mining and works on a steam train that has run for 150 years.
And don’t miss
tonight’s episode, “Salvaging Speed”, where he flies an F-18 fighter jet,
shreds old vehicles and takes on the world of tires at 10 p.m. on Discovery
Channel.
