I don’t live In the UK anymore but on a recent trip to UK with my family we went to Southsea so that we could ride the worlds last commercial passenger hovercraft. 30 years ago when I did live In the UK I used to make frequent trips from Dover to Calais on the large car ferry hovercraft operated by hoverspeed.
So much more efficient than planes AND boats, yet they are nowhere to be seen in these supposedly eco-aware carbon-conscious times. I assume the Airline Pilots Association owns all the patents now...
I'm not persuaded that a hovercraft is more efficient than a boat since the boat doesn't consume energy to create the air cushion to lift its load above the surface; doesn't pay the cost of maintaining the machinery required to do that; and doesn't have to write the check to pay for the fuel required to create the energy to do that.
I don’t know why no one’s put one in Survice across Morecambe Bay from Barrow in Furness to Heysham they’d make a killing.... not much bover with a hover......😉
The hovercraft service between Wallasey and Rhyl was a novelty that soon wore off and only briefly ran in the summer of 1962. The £1 fare was the equivalent of £55 in 2022 and would never paid its way It should have run from Liverpool but there was no suitable landing place for a hovercraft. Passengers would have had to approach Wallasey by train adding to the fare and would have cost less by coach or rail to travel directly from Liverpool to Rhyl so the hovercraft service was doomed. Morecambe Bay lacks the population and would only be busy in the summer months. So the hovercraft settled on to the English Channel where the regular passenger demand was.
I don’t live In the UK anymore but on a recent trip to UK with my family we went to Southsea so that we could ride the worlds last commercial passenger hovercraft. 30 years ago when I did live In the UK I used to make frequent trips from Dover to Calais on the large car ferry hovercraft operated by hoverspeed.
Hovercraft wheelbarrow at 2:19 makes it literally in your face obvious why that idea evaporated, the amount of dust it raises to your face.
These are great, it's so fascinating to see this
Apparently, hovercraft are still in the future.
Shame, it never really took off. ;)
I see what you did there! :)
My hovercraft is full of eels.
I vweel not buy this record, it is scratched.
I clicked on this video just to see if eels were mentioned.
Back when Britain led the World in almost everything.
7:05 - ‘41 years-old test pilot Lets Go Home’?
So much more efficient than planes AND boats, yet they are nowhere to be seen in these supposedly eco-aware carbon-conscious times.
I assume the Airline Pilots Association owns all the patents now...
I'm not persuaded that a hovercraft is more efficient than a boat since the boat doesn't consume energy to create the air cushion to lift its load above the surface; doesn't pay the cost of maintaining the machinery required to do that; and doesn't have to write the check to pay for the fuel required to create the energy to do that.
I don’t know why no one’s put one in Survice across Morecambe Bay from Barrow in Furness to Heysham they’d make a killing.... not much bover with a hover......😉
The hovercraft service between Wallasey and Rhyl was a novelty that soon wore off and only briefly ran in the summer of 1962. The £1 fare was the equivalent of £55 in 2022 and would never paid its way It should have run from Liverpool but there was no suitable landing place for a hovercraft. Passengers would have had to approach Wallasey by train adding to the fare and would have cost less by coach or rail to travel directly from Liverpool to Rhyl so the hovercraft service was doomed. Morecambe Bay lacks the population and would only be busy in the summer months. So the hovercraft settled on to the English Channel where the regular passenger demand was.