SRN4 Hovercraft at Work. Part 2: The Passenger Experience.

[@nixmixes770]

I was on one of those beasts during a winter gale. The wind and waves were so violent it had to turn around and go back to Calais. A very frightening experience. I loved the noise the engines and propellers made - a bit like the Word War II vintage RAF on steroids.

[@ovepayne]

I rode one in 1986 from UK to France and it was loud, bumpy and with almost no visibility, but nonetheless an exciting experience!

[@bullevanberkel3967]

I was two years old when we went on a vacation to the UK. And this was one of the few memories from that time. I really enjoyed the trip and the whole experience.

[@dfolt]

Very nicely documented, with a lot of love to detail. Used to travel on the S.R. N 4 in the 1970ies as a teenager when visiting my aunt in the UK and was fascinated by this piece of British engineering.

[@russiandrivers9986]

I took one of these big hovercraft to Calais when I was a kid and what I remember was that it was quite bumpy and you could hardly see out of the windows because of the salt spray.

[@RamPMonyPers]

Calais to Dover...and back...gave me nausea every time...my parents enjoyed the trips though.

[@dentydent6423]

I took one from Dover to Calais in 95,I remember it being bumpy but what an experience 😊

[@JoLa1337]

I was on board one of those back in '99 or '00, when I was a young lad going on a family vacation with my parents back then. To this day I have missed few experiences as much as the channel crossing on those. Thank you for those videos, they brought some nice memories back of these giant beasts.

[@cbjones82]

Love this - brings back lots of memories - I don't suppose you have any pictures or video of inside Dover and Calais hoverport terminal buildings?

[@bobsmith-zj2ky]

Travelled on Princess Anne/Margeret from 83-94, plus once on St Christopher. Loved it, and really miss it...... Happy days!!!!!!!!

[@sattrill5896]

Great work documenting this , I live near Lee on Solent were she's resting. I have been constantly a Hovercraft since 1960's as my family is from the Isle of Wight and use today..

[@unmea69l8er]

Seeing the stewardess' uniform at the beginning reminded me of what was said of them, "red hat no knickers".

[@janjorisvanderkoogh9642]

Wonderful!! This surely brengservice back memories...

[@janjorisvanderkoogh9642]

This brings back memories

[@chrishenniker5944]

Is it true that they had an excellent safety record? I never heard of any serious incident involving the ones I flew on.

[@jeremyhaines4481]

I use to 💘 love the hovercraft at Dover a shame no longer in use x

[@MrShehin]

This is how fly without fly.

[@tonyp011]

on this Hovercraft journey the announcer said hope you enjoy your flight with us today, why did she refer the hovercraft journey as a flight?

[@qasimmir7117]

Because that’s what hovercraft do.🤷🏻‍♂️

[@michaelpielorz9283]

95 t0 98 i often visited britain. sometimes when i was lucky i could go by Hovercraft but only when my customers paid the fare. oh my god it was expensive!!going with a car.

[@donsarde]

Lord, what are walk down mMemory Lane, I worked on these flying birds as a student, Rangate international hoverport.

[@javiergilvidal1558]

Ramsgate. You didn´t study much.....

[@agnytevederyte1]

Looks like inside an airplane

[@yves3560]

Too bad one couldn't see a thing through the windows, this was a nuisance...

[@sadeva6532]

that's the way it was. They had a short stop and there was constant turn-around, there was no time to clean the windows, and they'd just get dirty again on the next trip. It was great seeing the water crash against the windows. I remember the chill of excitement as a kid when the air cushion inflated and I knew the trip was about to start. My favourite way of travel. :D

[@MrPantss]

Yes that’s right when I travelled on one we were at the front and it was like this, with your eyes you could see through it, unfortunately camera has auto focussed on the spray. Still great vid though, love hearing it......

[@socopoc]

@@sadeva6532 Yeah same here Eva

[@j.playstation9163]

As I remember of my trips on this beast, the windows were never clean

[@dav01kar]

The hostess sounds Australian.

[@Warpedsmac]

That's what I thought too. Cheers from The Hunter Valley Wine Country Australia.

[@jenswadsten]

Svävare är oerhört häftiga farkoster, även om de för mycket oljud.

[@uries15]

Den gamla svävare var väldigt högljudd. Vi använder fortfarande svävare i södra England. De är mycket modernare och mycket tystare. Den gamla hovercraften brukade hålla mig vaken på natten. Tack för din kommentar.

[@tonyp011]

why make the video of leaving dover and within seconds of setting off your in france

[@uries15]

Thanks for your comment. This was over 20 years ago and filmed in analogue video, long before KZbin had even been thought of. I filmed it for my own interest but thought, wrongly in your case obviously, that what I had captured live at the time might be of some interest to people. All best wishes to you.

[@Warpedsmac]

@@uries15Astonishing ignorance exhibited by some YT commentators at times...You even stated it is a "compressed" video. I find myself deleting many idiotic comments from my channel.

[@javiergilvidal1558]

Very impressive and jazzy, but a terrible idea from start to finish. Fuel consumption must have been outrageous, as is the case with every heavy mechanical object that must lift itself (and its mammoth payload) vertically, and keep doing so all through the "flight" time, not to count those four monstrous (and presumably very thirsty) Marine Proteus engines up their pylons. Noise was deafening, of course outside but also (so I was told by a frequent traveller in those contraptions) inside the ship. Vibration was terrible, conversations could hardly be held, and no-one but the pilots could see anything thanks to the thick spray washing the windows. And then comes what for me must have been the most huge nightmare of all: maintenance. Just look at that scandalous spray of corrosive sea water getting all over the place all of the time. Look at that enormous surface of rubber, a material which loses fast its plasticity and becomes rigid and brittle in the constant exposure to the deadly mix of sea water and sunshine impinging onto a bumper black expanse of soft material. After WWII, Britain got trapped in a self-defeating trend of extraordinary and expensive technological bravado, oblivious of anything having remotely to do with practicality. Despite the "bean counter" and "shop keeper" fame bestowed on the English, I think the opposite was the case: they were technological romantics who squandered their talent in beautiful, expensive, useless trash!

[@uries15]

I agree that Britain became world leaders in developing high-end technology that precisely no one wanted and at huge expense to the taxpayer. Indeed, the hovercraft has been described as an expensive answer to a question that nobody was asking. Post-war governments invested massive amounts of cash in research and development but became increasingly frustrated at the lack of return. However, passenger hovercraft have been made to operate successfully in a commercial environment, but not on a scale that was even close to what was promised. But none of that can take away anything of the sheer excitement these impressive machines generated in their day.

[@mcihs2]

Some people innovate, work hard, and progress human civilisation, whilst others sit on the sidelines “sniping”……..

[@ca-mo-co]

Agggh kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXqbea14ZruBhcU this moment

[@jamesjames3525]

GREAT IDEA FOR A VIDEO, HOWEVER MOST OF THE SO CALLED PASSENGER EXPERIENCE WAS LOOKING THU A MURKY WINDOW. NOTHING ABOUT EMBARKING DIS EMBARKING, NOTHING ABOUT LIFE THRU THE TRIP, WITHIN THE CABIN. NO INTERACTION WITH CABIN CREW.

[@uries15]

Thanks for your reply. There's so much I would like to go back and add to the footage I gathered 20 years ago. Back then , I was doing it purely for my own interest and it would be another five years before KZbin was even thought of. So you're right, it's not up to documentary standards, it's not what I would do if I was going out to film it today, I'm trying to do at least something with the material I've got. Just one thing though, the 'murky windows' were very much part of the passenger experience. I included that material because it includes something of the audio ambience of the passenger cabin. Thanks again.