Eric Halvorson’s Blog
WISH TV 8, Indianapolis, IN

Eric Halvorson, News Anchor, WISH TV 8, Indianapolis, IN

October 31, 2007: A trip to Terre Haute gave me another reason to enjoy my job. A photographer and I went there, today, to visit Neoteric. That's the company that made the hovercraft for Marion County's Emergency Management Agency. We're still waiting for the official unveiling of the Marion County craft. So, the demonstration today on the Wabash River gave us a chance to see what the machine will do.

This would be a fascinating story, if we focused only on the business side of Neoteric. The company's president, Chris Fitzgerald, leads a company that devotes an amazing number of hours -- 600 -- for each craft. He says you can compare that to 35 hours for a boat. Even fewer hours for other vehicles. It's not a mass production shop. So, most of the work is done by hand.

The skirt that rings a hovercraft is made of a fabric commonly used in backpacks. But, it's not one piece. It's individual pillows that fill with air when the engine comes on. Since they are individual pieces, the craft can operate even if one happens to snag on something and tear.

Seeing a hovercraft operate also becomes a science lesson. Weight and balance. Physics. Aerodynamics. That's why Fitzgerald also hopes teachers find the following website: DiscoverHover. It teaches the hovercraft concepts and offers plans for schools that might want to build a hovercraft of their own.