A 16-year-old boy upstaged his entire school year by showing up to his 11th grade prom on a custom-made hovercraft built by his hovercraft pilot father.
Josh, 16,’s family has been racing hovercraft for “years and years,” according to his mother, Marie.
Marie said Josh was “born with it”, while the youngster said it was “pretty cool” to turn up at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton, Hants., on his hovercraft.
Josh said: ‘It was really fun to see everyone say ‘wow, look at that…’
The young man said that some of his friends and his year head knew what he was planning, but everyone else had no idea.
Sixteen-year-old Josh surprised his friends by arriving at his junior prom on a hovercraft built by his hovercraft pilot dad.
He said: ‘Everyone else had no idea, so it was really fun to watch them all.
‘There was a lot of applause and smiles from happy people because it’s obviously something different, so I was very happy with that.
“It was cool just being there… obviously I do it a lot, but it’s a lot cooler to have all those people there watching you and watching you do it.”
Josh parked the vehicle at the back of the stadium and then drove to the main entrance.
Josh’s father, a hovercraft pilot, designed and built the vehicle after Josh said he wanted to ride to the Wildern High School prom in a hovercraft.
Josh’s mum Marie said: ‘I asked the school if that was a possibility, and the school then went to Southampton Football Club to see if that was possible.
“It took a bit of back and forth to get the health and safety and insurance and so on right, but they’ve been very accommodating.”
Hovercraft operate by floating on a cushion of air created by an onboard fan.
The young man said that some of his friends and his head teacher knew what he was planning, but everyone else didn’t.
Some use a single large rear fan, with most of the air used to propel the craft forward and some of the air split and channeled beneath the vehicle.
Most racing hovercraft use a separate smaller fan solely to provide lift and let the main fan propel the craft forward without losing speed by splitting the air.
Air is trapped beneath the hovercraft by a flexible “skirt” made of materials such as nylon fabric or rubber.
The fan creates increased air pressure on the skirt, which lifts the vehicle off the ground and allows it to float.
Hovercraft typically hover about 6 inches above the ground, but anything up to 9 inches is normal for larger craft.
They are controlled by two main controls and the position of the driver’s body, which allows him to steer the craft by shifting his body weight.
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