Crawford County Scuba Team riding on air after latest addition

Feb. 28—Gliding soon toward a hard-to-access rescue situation near you — Look! Not quite up in the sky, but riding on a cushion of air about 8 inches above whatever surface has proven more difficult to navigate than expected...

It's a boat ... well, not exactly, though it's very much at home on, or slightly above, lakes, rivers and swampy areas.

It's a plane ... well, it is a flying machine, but no, not a plane, even though it floats above virtually any surface — also not a helicopter, if that was your next guess.

It's a hovercraft?

Achieving speeds of nearly 40 mph with a 65 horsepower engine capable of carrying a load of up to 750 pounds, it is indeed a hovercraft. It's also the latest addition to the fleet of vessels maintained by Crawford County Scuba Team.

"It is impressive," Crawford County Commissioner Scott Schell said in a phone interview last week. "This is going to be one of the most advanced pieces of equipment in the county as far as water rescues are concerned."

The hardly-used 2022 Neoteric hovercraft was purchased earlier this month from South Area Fire and Emergency Response in Rib Mountain, Wisconsin, located in the central part of the state about 90 minutes west of Green Bay, according to Jason Hudson, the scuba team's chief.

"Thirty-five hours — and just now two years old," Hudson said while showing off the shiny red craft at the agency's Ryan Road headquarters.

Boat Captain Brad Spring similarly marveled.

"The fact that it has 35 hours on it," Spring said, "is just insane."

Not only is the craft nearly new, it was a bargain at just $35,000. SAFER Fire District first purchased it for approximately $60,000 in May 2022, according to multiple news reports at the time. To buy one new today would cost $10,000 to $20,000 more, Hudson estimated.

Hudson said team members wanted to act fast when they learned the hovercraft was available and went to the Crawford County commissioners, who were quick to offer support.

The county provided approximately two-thirds of the cost, according to Schell.

"We made them an offer — we would pay $24,000 if they would come up with the rest," he said.

To help do that, Commissioner Christopher Seeley contacted Christian Maher, executive director of Crawford Heritage Community Foundation, a Meadville-based nonprofit "dedicated to making Crawford County, Pennsylvania, a better place to live, learn, work and raise a family."

"We rallied some of our donor advisors and quickly came up with the money," Maher said in a message to The Meadville Tribune. "It seemed like we had to support it after the most recent rescue on French Creek — seems like something happens every year and it will be put to good use."

The scuba team was among several departments that responded in early January to a duck hunter whose kayak capsized during an expedition on French Creek with two friends about 4 miles north of Meadville. In fact, familiar challenges experienced during the successful rescue spurred the department to pursue the hovercraft.

"French Creek's our biggest issue," Hudson said, describing how the creek's unpredictable variations in depth make it difficult to use the outboard motors that power the department's inflatable boats.

"We've had issues over issues and we've spent thousands of dollars and upgraded the different motors over the years and we have not found the right thing," he continued. "About a month and a half ago we had that rescue on French Creek up there in Saegertown with the duck hunters and we had issues there. We decided it's time to get something."

The hovercraft will be similarly useful in the department's responses to stranded drivers, Hudson said.

Drivers who ignore signs directing traffic to avoid flooded areas have become the department's most frequent type of calls in recent years. While floodwaters may be too deep for vehicles, they are often too shallow to make use of the department's outboard motors.

The hovercraft solves that problem and numerous others. Hudson and Spring recalled wading through flood waters on a rescue call in Cambridge Springs last winter, traveling almost a quarter of a mile in water that reached up to their chests at some points.

"Oh that was frigid," Hudson said, his hand resting on the side of the new hovercraft. "This would have been ideal that night — we could have zoomed down and get them and be done — and dry."

Thin ice will no longer present a problem to rescue crews as well, and the lightweight nature of the hovercraft means that just one person is needed to transport, unload and begin using it.

"Breaking through an inch of ice the whole way — you can't put the motor in, so you're just kind of smashing and wading, where we could have zipped right out with this," Spring said.

The impact won't be noticeable immediately, however, both men cautioned. Learning to pilot the hovercraft takes time — it's not as simple as Luke Skywalker hopping in his landspeeder, the futuristic hovercraft-like vehicle in "Star Wars," and taking off across the sandy surface of Tatooine.

"It's like driving an air hockey puck," Spring joked.

With about 12 active divers and about 20 total active members, extensive training is being planned for the coming months to get hovercraft pilots up to speed. They'll start on grass work up to ponds and lakes and eventually tackle French Creek, Hudson said. Members of the team must first be members of a volunteer fire department, he added, and like many fire departments, the Scuba Team is always on the lookout for additional personnel.

Last year, the department's call volume was lower than usual with just 11 responses. Each of the previous two years, Hudson said, that figure was closer to 30 and already this year the department has been on nearly as many calls as last year.

"This is going to be a pretty good asset to the county and surrounding counties," he said. "I think we're going to be going all over the place with this."

Mike Crowley can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.