I love the hovercraft, but it's a bit of a dog at high speed, and in rough seas. I looked into flying them once, but now you need to be a master mariner instead of a pilot as once you did. This is because the CAA in its wisdom (and that's cognitive dissonance for you) decided at some stage that anything 'flying' below ten feet was not strictly an aircraft. I asked their legal department what a drone restricted to ground-effect was, and I'm still waiting for a reply.
(The picture, taken last Spring, is of the ongoing passenger service to the Isle of Wight.)
To any hovercraft fan out there I say, 'Yours may be bigger, but I can move mine faster'.
