What's Snow without a hovercraft

Winter is fast approaching and my hover is poised ready to take on the winter weather fun. If you've never flown on ice and snow you really need to get out and try it. A lot of hover owners put the thing away in the winter but if you dress for the occasion or are like me and have a winter front on your hover it is a blast. I like open fields and flat ice when you can find miles of this type of terrain it's almost heaven. The Kishwaukee River starting in Belvidere IL is one that offers a lot of variety and has point that you can exit the river and fly the fields or parks. I would highly recommend Northern IL for this awesome sport. Come join us where everyone else has to stop we're just getting started. Hills, frozen lakes and rivers, open fields wooded areas all become our playground in the winter. If you would like to try an Illinois Ice Road Adventure please contact me. We look forward to helping you experience Winter in a Hover. Happy Holidays

Redneck Fishing Tournament

Redneck Fishing Tournament

Asian Carp Hunt Bath Illinois

Many thanks to Betty Deford owner of The Boat Tavern for allowing us to attend the event

Up until recently I was not aware that there was a Bath Illinois but there it was right out in the middle of nowhere. I believe the population is around 200 in non-tournament times but on this day the population swelled to somewhere around 15-20,000 people. We arrived around 10:30 AM to what I thought would be a quiet little fishing tournament. Man was I shocked by the numbers that turned out for the event. There were over 100 boats signed up to participate and according to the first nights results of 7,000 fish captured the tournament was going to be very successful in both hunting the fish and participation by those who registered.  Due to the huge turnout we were unable to demonstrate our hovercraft during the tournament but we certainly plan to attend and demonstrate the hovercraft next year. If you missed it this year don’t miss next years event I’m sure it will continue to grow. The Silvers were popping out of the water even at low speeds and in the catch zone it was crazy. Check out Betty’s web site for details on the event.

Thanks again Betty for the wild experience and I hope next years event brings you and your community increased attendance and success.

Hovercraft Search and Rescue Damage Assessment How to use a hovercraft 7

I walked over to my hover and fired it up let it warm up for a minute while I unhooked the front tie down strap and removed the security chains, I swung the hovertrailer 90 degrees to the side and put on my life jacket. When I got into the hover and throttled it up and let it hover off the trailer onto the road and then over the curb and onto the grass even the guys in the water pushing the boats were looking to see what was going on. I maneuvered my Hovertechnics 700 over to the area that I decided would be the best to launch from and set it down turned off the key and waited for my instructions. My son Paul was taking pictures and one of the firemen commented, “Why the heck don’t we have one of those?” after a few minutes one of the firemen, I presume he was a Lieutenant walked over to me and introduced himself he said I want you to take me around the area to do damage assessment. I gave him a few instructions about where to sit, got into the hover and off we went. It was sad to see the damage that flood water had done to peoples homes and the disruption it caused in their lives. 

My passenger would point and I would fly him where he pointed. It didn’t matter where he wanted to go I could easily take him there. It was obvious he had never had the ability to do such up close examination of a flood area before and we were able to assist with the effort in a small way. I had really hoped this would prove to the department the value of a hovercraft and I think they now understand that to have a hover could create a safer environment for their rescue crews. Which would you rather do walk through that flooded area or fly through it. I believe it is our responsibility to support our firemen and their efforts to assist people in difficulties such as this flood. To do that we forming a network of volunteer hover pilots. Part of our strategy is to align hovercraft owners with fire departments for volunteer of services. If you own a hover and would like to volunteer your services and would like to know if you meet the requirements please contact us, we would like to help you get aligned with a department in your area.  Even if you don't own a hover you can become a part of this effort please contact me  terry@tlswindsled.com 

Thanks and remember, “Where everyone else has to stop we’re just getting started” Hover up

Hovercraft Search and Rescue Damage Assessment How to use a hovercraft 6

It was August and in Illinois that typically means hot and dry, this year was no exception until one particular morning. The morning started out like any other with the exception of the 5 inches of rain in about a two-hour period. My son was watching the news and they were telling of flooding in Rockford IL and that people with boats were showing up to volunteer to rescue of stranded home owners so he thought it would be a great opportunity to show off our hovers. We decided to take the Hovertour 700 over I quickly took the side panels off it and headed to Rockford. We got to the affected area and were allowed to pass through the barricades and proceed to the command post. By the time we got there everything had settled down and we were put on standby.  I watched as these brave firemen were walking along beside and behind boats basically pushing the boats into position to load people off their front porches into the boats. They had to push the boats because they were not sure what might be under the water and were concerned about damaging props, running aground, and boat bottoms on hidden debris. As I watched this scene unfold I thought about how dangerous it was to walk and secondly how foolish it was to use boats in such a situation as this. One step by a fireman and he could be sucked into a hidden hole or drain, or he might step on something in this filthy water and be injured, at any rate the entire situation was so uncalled for if they were to just use my hover. Off to the side of the command post unloading area was a high power relay station that was getting dangerously close to being submerged and they were working to shut the power off to it. I couldn’t believe the willingness of the firefighters to enter this situation with this going on, but there they were right in the mix helping people who were in trouble. It was amazing to watch. After about 30 minutes I was asked to unload the hover. I was directed to an area that they had been launching the boats into it had a rather deep drop into the water. They decided this was the best place to launch boats to protect the bottoms and the props while entering the flood zone. I was told to back my hover trailer down into the unknown ramp to launch. As I have said before I hate backing down into the water with my Hovertrailer. So I looked at him and said, “Do you mind if I launch over there?” pointing to the road where I had the hover parked. The Chief looked at me rather puzzled and said “sure?” You could tell he had no idea what a hovercraft is capable of. Unloading on the grass not in the water he was baffled.  

How to use a hovercraft 5 Sporting Event Promotions

Once we were invited to bring our hovers to a sporting event, our local semi pro baseball team asked us to bring our hovers out to the ball diamond to first promote our business and second add novelty to their show for the night. We had a great time and our hosts were excellent. They have a mascot who had a good time showing off with our hover. As we began talks with the management team of the ball team we asked them if they would like to have us fly around their field they were a bit hesitant at first then I suggested we do a small demonstration for them prior to our show night. The real problem they thought the hover would tear up the ball field. I have to share this story because it was one of the special moments when something rather fun happened. I got to the ball diamond on the date they requested the demonstration. The top grounds keeper was there and to say he was very negative about the entire idea would be an understatement. I kept assuring him it would be all right but that was not something he was going to believe. I unloaded the hover in the parking lot about 200 feet from the entrance to the ball field and flew down the drive to the entrance. That in and of itself was rather interesting because only wheeled vehicles had been down that path and here I was in the hover thing driving it like a car. He stopped me at the entrance and cautioned me that if I damaged his field I would be liable. Sometimes I have a little mean streak in me so I made a few comments about divots and fired up the hover so I couldn’t hear him I looked back at him as I began to hover out onto the outfield and he was muttering something about his sod and he had a very sick look on his face as the hover hit the turf. I flew a few feet along the edge of the outfield then turned back toward him and went into a 360-degree turn and then flew back toward him. He had this puzzled look on his face examined the turf and then smiled as I shut the hover off. He said “Can you maybe fly over that area over there?” one of the unique features of our hovercrafts is the segmented skirt versus a bag skirt. The segmented skirt has multiple edges or fingers reaching down that gently drag the surface as you fly, these edges allow the hover to rake the surface, as you are moving over it. The hover also blows air down which causes any debris under the craft to be loosened up and with the outward flow of air in combination with the fingers raking the surface you remove all the debris and what is left is some very nice grass. He instantly saw the improvement in his ball field grass and wanted to see more. So I flew all over the field after that he then started directing me to areas where the grass was really a bit on the nasty side and he explained that he couldn’t get grass to grow in that spot very well. I obliged him and by the time we were done he was not only ready to let me fly but very close to hiring me to fly the field on a regular basis. I realized then and there the potential for using the hovercraft or at least our style hovercraft for lawn care. 

Rockford River Hawks Mascot above

At Road Ranger Stadium Home of the Rockford River Hawks it's a beautiful ball field, fun, and inexpensive to attend a ball game here Rockford River Hawks Loves Park IL

How to use a hovercraft 4 Party

We had an option on our web site for a while that suggested using the hovercraft for parties and events. From that we have flown people at various events such as car shows, motorcycle gatherings, birthday parties, church group events, and county fairs. The potential for this is unending. The income is substantial however the cost and control of the environment around the event can be a little difficult and has to be researched prior to accepting the offer to fly your hover. One of the largest costs for such a business is the insurance; it is not that difficult to secure insurance for such a business you just have to be a little creative in your search. If all else fails you can turn to a company such as a high-risk insurer Lloyds of London for example.  

 TLS WindSled at a motorcycle event.

The hosts were kind enough to fence off an entire area for us to not only show the hovers but also fly them it was a blast.

 

How to use a hovercraft 3 grass drying 101

This pond was even larger than the last and I thought to myself if I get all the water out of this would we find fish at the bottom? Not to worry there was no way we were going to get this water to dry up it was probably two feet deep and covered about an acre of his property but I tackled it anyway, its not like I was working or anything flying a hovercraft around a wide open smooth fairly short cut grass field and over a few ponds was what most of us hope for when we hover so this was like an outing for me. In fact I wished I could just fly all over the place on this nice warm summer day. It was rather funny now that I think about it because when we started Tim didn’t really want me on the sod but now he was directing me all over the place. We did as he asked and flew where he wanted, after attempting to dry up his ponds (puddles) he directed me to a spot that had some dead grass and open spots on it. I was rather puzzled so I stopped and asked what he would like me to do at that spot. He explained that the soil was depleted of oxygen and he thought perhaps the down flow of air from the hover might inject air into the soil so I basically sat on the spot with the hover and let it hover for about five minutes. It would have been neat to have grass instantly appear but that would have required the heavens to open and the angels to begin singing and I didn’t see that happening so I figured I would humor the guy and do what he asked when I was done we ended our little attempt to dry the field and put the hover back on the trailer. We stood there looking at the sod field still covered with water and pretty much concluded that the experiment into hover grass drying was pretty much a failure and with that I left.

It wasn’t until the next day that the true results of my effort were made known. A few of the ponds I had flown over were dried up! Tim was actually very pleased with what he saw and called my son Paul to tell him the results of our efforts. I was completely puzzled over the results and so I called the University of Illinois Department of Horticulture to ask them what might have caused the overnight sensation. They explained to me that in a standing water situation the thing prolongs the pond is the soil under the water. It seems the problem is not that the soil is so saturated with water it can’t run of but rather the weight of the water packs the soil and turns it into something similar to clay, which acts as a barrier. It is kind of like putting a sheet of plastic wrap on the ground and the water is left to evaporate into the air rather than seep into the ground. My activity with the hover caused the soil under the water to be loosened up which allowed the water to drain off. That little change in the soil allowed the water to drain rapidly into the soil and dry off the field. I pretty much saved Tim thousands of dollars in damage and he was real happy about that. I realized at that point there was some potential for some income from doing not only this but applying some other applications to this type of crop using the hovercraft. One of the worse things you can do with grass is pack it down, think about this would you want to have tire tracks from a tractor running across your newly sodden lawn? The less you have to run a tractor tire across your sod the better so a hovercraft with a sprayer on the back could apply liquid fertilizer and other applications onto the sod and never touch the ground. This could apply to a lawn as well as a sod field. I will continue this thought later.