A rash of
tornadoes and thunderstorms battered Texas and Arkansas last Sunday, leaving a
path of destruction that caused five deaths and dozens of injuries.
Mansfield, Texas was one of many communities where torrential rains
led to widespread flash flooding. Fortunately, the Mansfield Fire Department operates
a Neoteric rescue hovercraft, which was used to successfully rescue victims
whose vehicles were fully submerged in floodwaters …
Hovercraft
are extremely effective in flood rescue operations because they can access
areas that boats and other rescue vehicles can't reach. Flat bottom Jon boats
and other propeller-driven watercraft are of little use in shallow water or in
flood water; debris and obstructions can not only damage rescue boats, but can
pose a serious danger to first responders and to those whose lives they are tasked
to save.
As
Mansfield’s Captain William Franks says about their hovercraft, shown below, “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.”
Unlike
other vehicles, hovercraft fly on a cushion of air 9 inches above the surface,
so they simply glide over swift flowing, debris-filled floodwaters. And, unlike
other hovercraft, the Neoteric Hovertrek's patented reverse thrust system gives
it the unique capability to brake, back up and hover in place - maneuvers that
are critical in flood rescues.
First
responders, it's easy to experience for yourself how a Neoteric hovercraft can operate
in conditions that prohibit the use of rescue boats - keeping you above the
danger, not in it ...
Take a Test Flight or Training Course
and
