Rudy Heeman and his homemade hovercraft, hoverwing - drove people out of home in Atawhai Drive, when he came down to Nelson Hover in order to test his spare time invention, which took him, good 800 hours to prepare.
What he did for the project was, own a new workshop, a Subaru car engine modified to power the machine under peculiar set of applied aerodynamic principles and acquired knowledge of fiberglass lamination. After 11 long and innovative years and thousands of dollars, he managed to create a creature that did more than just skimming over the surface.
The test was conducted at the Nelson’s hover and the hoverwing managed a flight at about 1.5m above water, reaching mesmerizing speeds of 98kmh. The flight was merry but the landing wasn’t, hoverwing met with a crash, but Heeman had peers to rescue him, who had followed him all the while.
Heeman showed no interest in commercializing the machine which not an aircraft as its air cushion relies on water. However, he seems more enthusiasm in working on new models, which he will definitely put on test over Nelson hover again.
Via: Stuff
