A really bad day hovering 1

The purpose of this blog is to help anyone reading it catch the excitement and thrill of hover crafting. I hesitate to say it but I am really hoping readers will get caught up in the reality of hovering, I have always believed that there is nothing quite as exciting as twisting a throttle and lifting off the ground and flying at a very low level. I strive to make this blog as real as possible. My son Paul says to accomplish this I need to share the good and the bad and I’ll be real honest with you this one is about as bad as it gets. I still get this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I think about this day and it has been a struggle for me to write this and you will see why. I’m sharing this story under protest.

I was going to take my hovers to a fair in the area and I had scoped out the place with my Hoverjet GT. I had recently picked up my 800 and wanted to show it off. So I figured we needed to know what it could do. Now normally I would think through things before I did them but this day I believe I did think but not through the events I am about to share with you. Let me give you a little piece of advise never do with your hover something that could ultimately destroy you and your hover. It was a great idea I figured if I did it with the GT I could certainly do it with the 800. Laws of physics are laws not suggestions and it would have been better for me to have considered this prior to the stunt I am about to share. A 400 lb ten foot GT verses a 1500 lb sixteen foot 800 what could go wrong? The first challenge was getting the 800 from the level grassy field I was parked in to the boat ramp and then down it. I surveyed the situation and realized I could indeed make it down the ramp and back up the ramp with the 800. See, I’m not completely stupid. Prior to taking the craft down the ramp I checked out the small river to determine whether I could fly on such a narrow body of water. Where I was launching was about thirty-five feet wide so I figured I could make a turn even if I had to shut it down and do a 180 from a stopped position. So down the ramp I went slowly and cautiously turned and brought the twin prop to rest on the base of the ramp. That was easy and I was impressed with the maneuverability of the Hover 800 I was really feeling pumped about this as I loaded my son and his two buddies into the craft. The night was warm and the air drawing around us felt good. I just knew this was going to be an exciting night. As it turned out there was going to be a lot of excitement all right just not the kind I was hoping for.