Hovercraft flips on ice after snagging a skirt

The Whitefish Fire Department's rescue hovercraft ran into problems on Saturday when its skirting caught on an ice shelf on Whitefish Lake causing the craft to flip over.

The two firemen inside the craft were not hurt, fire chief Dave Sipe said. They were wearing helmets and dry suits and broke through the thin ice, he said.

"They got a little bruised, but they swam back to shore," Sipe said.

The two were making a practice run on the ice, which is quickly disappearing from Whitefish Lake, when the hovercraft's rubber skirting caught on an ice shelf as it rounded a corner at 25-30 mph.

"These weren't the types of ice conditions you would expect to do a rescue in," Sipe said.

Fire personnel launched their inflatable Achilles raft and brought the hovercraft back to the dock at City Beach, where it was loaded on a trailer and taken to the fire station for repairs.

"Everything looks to be in good shape," Sipe said. "We're just cleaning it up. The manufacturer said most of the components are waterproof — the radio was still working when we righted it."

Sipe said the two-stroke engine automatically shuts off when upside down and has a watertight crankcase. The spark plugs were removed and the engine turned over several times, but no water came out.

Neoteric Hovercraft Inc., of Indiana, told Sipe there have been other instances where hovercraft have flipped, especially on rivers.

The custom-built $30,000 four-man hovercraft is capable of traveling up to 60 mph on ice and 45 mph on water. Jim and Lisa Stack and Mike and Marie Shaw donated the money to purchase the craft in hopes of preventing accidental boating deaths when the lake water is still cold from winter.

Sipe said fire personnel have trained quite a bit on the hovercraft through the winter. Eight people have taken the training, and six are finished and capable of operating it on their own.

In March, an actuator that moves one of the buckets that directs air and helps steer the craft stopping working properly. To be on the safe side, the actuators for both buckets were replaced, Sipe said.