December 01, 2019

An Ode to the Hovercraft


An Ode to the Hovercraft
This police hovercraft really adds to a classic St. Petersburg cityscape. Griffin Edwards

Winston Churchill once called Russia "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." While there are some Russophobe overtones to this quote, we've got to agree that Russia is a mysterious place. And one of the mysteries that's been bugging us the longest is why Russians love their hovercraft so dang much.

They use them for hunting, exploring, and transport. Russian police forces and rescue operators use them. Want massive military hovercraft with machine guns for storming beaches? Got you covered

Hovercraft are also Putin's preferred method of transport for getting to thirteenth-century churches for Christmas services.

Shotgun gets to pick the music: Putin in the passenger seat of a police hovercraft in Novgorod Oblast. We assume the lights on top of the vehicle are to tell speeding hovercrafters to pull over. | Press Office of the President of Russia

For most of us, it's easy to forget that hovercraft exist. It's not an everyday form of transport, like cars or metros or planes. But Russians appreciate them so much, they even put cute little ones in the country's largest train set.

Vroom, Vroom: A model hovercraft at "Grand Maket Rossiya," a massive museum of miniatures. | Griffin Edwards

To answer the question of why Russia — but not elsewhere — has hovercraft fever, it's useful to start with how hovercraft work.

Rather than moving on wheels or with wings, hovercraft use fans to create a high-pressure cushion of air under a flexible "skirt," which lifts the vehicle up off the ground by a few feet, thereby preventing friction with the ground. Propellers can then push the hovercraft in any direction, typically at fairly high speeds (up to 70 mph!). They'd win a race against almost any boat; after all, boats have to cut through the water, whereas hovercraft glide on top of it.

Imagine putting a little fan on an air hockey puck and driving it around the table. That's basically what's going on, at hundreds of times the scale.

Russian military hovercraft
Two Russian Zubr-class hovercraft, the largest hovercraft in existence, armed with rockets, cannons, and wow-factor. | Russian Ministry of Defense, Wikimedia Commons

Hovercraft are not without limitations, however. They're noisy and difficult to maneuver: lack of friction means stopping and turning are difficult.

What's more, you can't drive a hovercraft just anywhere. Hovercraft do great on flat surfaces such as smooth pavement, calm seas, swamps, frozen lakes and rivers, tundra, and grassy steppe.

Hills, forests, and similar spaces are no-go zones: anywhere requiring lots of maneuvering or uneven areas makes the hovercraft inefficient and possibly dangerous. Broken ground, too, can damage the undercarriage, and if you think towing a car is difficult, imagine doing it without wheels.

So our working theory is that it's a geographical thing.

Where's a place with lots of low-lying areas, wide-open lakes and rivers that usually freeze, and acres upon acres of steppe? If you guessed Russia, especially the swamps of its northwest, rivers and steppes of it southwest, and frozen tundra of its North and Arctic, you'd be right. It seems to fit: what better to use to cross a frozen lake or impassible swamp than a low-flying vehicle?

Of course, we'll never truly know the true reason for Russia's hovercraft fever. Until we come up with a better explanation, we'll just enjoy this quirk of Russia, like we do all the others.

See Also

Floating Fishermen

Floating Fishermen

Approximately 600 fishermen were stuck on an ice floe, despite being warned about the dangerous ice.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955