It's 60 years since the British inventor Christopher Cockerell demonstrated the principles of the hovercraft using a cat food tin and a vacuum cleaner. Great things were promised for this mode of transport, but it never really caught on. Why?
The hovercraft slides down a concrete ramp and into the Solent. Its engines, propellers and fans hum as it crosses from Southsea, in Hampshire, to Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, travelling 4.4 nautical miles in under 10 minutes.
The journey is more than twice as quick as the catamaran from Portsmouth to Ryde and more than four times as quick as the Portsmouth-to-Fishbourne ferry.
For that matter, why haven't hydrofoils caught on?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 11 2015, @10:10PM
Landing a dirigible on top of a tall building in Manhattan is cool.
Landing a jet there is not cool.
http://untappedcities.com/2013/05/28/daily-what-empire-state-building-zeppelin-docking-station/ [untappedcities.com]
(Score: 2) by fnj on Thursday November 12 2015, @01:08AM
No Zeppelin ever came close to mooring there, or ever could have. The air currents and proximity to obstacles are far too dangerous. There was also no provision for refueling or even ballasting. Any pictures you may have seen are staged science fiction.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2015, @04:09AM
Right, the page I linked to, which I read before posting, says as much.