BeechTalk - BT

Username Protected · **Posted:** 25 Jan 2011, 13:47

Okay, maybe it's the Orbitz commercials, but wouldn't it just be seriously cool to have a hovercraft?!

http://www.repocast.com/items.cfm?aucti ... location=0

Username Protected · **Posted:** 25 Jan 2011, 18:22

The hovercraft would be cool. But, what is up with the aerostar. It is still listed for sale by Aerostar Aircraft in Idaho for $625K and the auction starts at $50k. Sounds a little fishy. Flightaware shows it in Michigan as of this past August.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 25 Jan 2011, 18:25

Do you need an endorsement or type rating to operate a hovercraft? :lol:

Username Protected · **Posted:** 25 Jan 2011, 18:49

Username Protected wrote:

Do you need an endorsement or type rating to operate a hovercraft? :lol:

Well, that depends. In the early '70s I was living in Greenland. Some Danish friends decided having a hovercraft would be cool, so they threw in together and bought one. It was pretty simple with a couple of 2-stroke engines for thrust and one for lift. It would do about 40 mph and was good for traveling over sea ice. Well, the local Danish gendarme got word of it and said they couldn't use it without pilots' licenses. As silly as it was, they were "grounded" for some time until they could get things sorted out with the authorities.

I "flew" that thing quite a bit. It developed carb ice real bad (-30F temperatures), and the plastic fan blades would get brittle in the cold and shatter. Always took a tool kit with me with extra blades anytime I went anywhere with it.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 25 Jan 2011, 19:15

Username Protected wrote:

Do you need an endorsement or type rating to operate a hovercraft? :lol:

In Michigan they are treated as boats.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 25 Jan 2011, 20:14

So I am guessing the owner of the C90 owned a Jag dealer?

Username Protected · **Posted:** 25 Jan 2011, 21:35

Username Protected wrote:

So I am guessing the owner of the C90 owned a Jag dealer?

Beechcraft offered the Jaguar paint scheme for several years on several models.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 25 Jan 2011, 22:04

Were they doing it with Jaguar Motor Cars? I am asking because the logo on the tail is the same as Jag's.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 25 Jan 2011, 22:45

Username Protected wrote:

Were they doing it with Jaguar Motor Cars? I am asking because the logo on the tail is the same as Jag's.

I think they had a licensing agreement with Jaguar Motor Cars.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 25 Jan 2011, 23:15

That King Air has been sitting in that hangar for close to 3 yrs and has never moved. It's based out of the FBO that I took insurance dual requirements and IFR lessons at. One beautiful bird for sure. And I think my CFII said it had been sitting there for a year or more before that. I want to say the owner bought it, dumped alot of money in it, and then let it sit. But one thing I noticed, he had his name painted on rather than using a decal :scratch:

Gonna need some paint work to get rid of that.

Brett

Username Protected · **Posted:** 25 Jan 2011, 23:20

Username Protected wrote:

But one thing I noticed, he had his name painted on rather than using a decal :scratch:

Gonna need some paint work to get rid of that.

Brett

Ain't nothing. Get a nice bumper sticker and put it over the guy's name.

Classy!

Username Protected · **Posted:** 26 Jan 2011, 00:39

Username Protected wrote:

Okay, maybe it's the Orbitz commercials, but wouldn't it just be seriously cool to have a hovercraft?!

Not as cool as a flying carpet. :harhar:

http://www.landings.com/evird.acgi?pass ... umber=61fc

Best,
Dave

Username Protected · **Posted:** 26 Jan 2011, 13:33

Username Protected wrote:

Do you need an endorsement or type rating to operate a hovercraft? :lol:

Not in the US AFaIK, but some common sense and survival instinct might come in handy. When I was a teenager I worked at various marinas in Michigan and one winter some company came around demonstrating their "personal hovercraft". They let one of my co-workers drive the thing around the lot and he promptly crashed it into a telephone pole at about 35 mph when he discovered that turning the handle bars didn't have much effect, especially if you closed the throttle.