Coginchaug Students Build Hovercraft, Will Compete in Rally

A group of Coginchaug High School students have built a hovercraft and they plan to take it for a spin next weekend.

Members of the school's Hovercraft Club will take part in the 5th annual Connecticut Technology Education and Engineering Association's (CTEEA) high school hover rally at Mansfield Hollow State Park on June 8.

"Anything with an engine, I love," said sophomore Grant St. Amand.

Under the direction of technology education teacher Jack Fairburn, Coginchaug students have spent the better part of two years piecing together the amphibious vehicle.

"The whole idea is making it as strong as possible and light as possible," said Fairburn of the hovercraft's simple but sturdy foam body.

"You're putting a practical application into all the theories that the kids have. The scientifically theory, the mathematical theory," he said.

Aside from applying theory, a hovercraft is just plain cool.

"It was like a quad (four wheeler) on ice," said St. Amand, who was one of the first students to test-drive the hovercraft on an open grass field earlier this month. "There's no brakes. Most of it's done by leaning and steering."

Fairburn owns his own personal hovercraft and has been inspired by Tolland High School teacher James Benini, who's built more than a dozen hovercrafts and was recently featured on the Science Channel show JUNKies.

"He's the one who really started this," Fairburn said.

Coginchaug's hovercraft has been paid for through federal grant money, as well as generous donations from businesses and members of the community.

Benini was able to provide the club with two engines — a lift engine that fills the hovercraft's skirt with air and a propulsion engine that allows the vehicle to thrust in the desired direction— while retired aerospace machinist Gene Gray of Middlefield has been helping students build the hovercraft from start to finish.

"I'm surprised that the Wright brothers didn't invent this before they invented airplanes," Fairburn laughs.

The hovercraft is capable of reaching speeds of 30 miles-per-hour, he said. Safety, as a result, has been stressed. Any students interested in driving the vehicle must obtain a boating license before getting behind the steering column.

Fairburn said the Hovercraft Club is made up of a handful of students who've put most of the time and energy into building the vehicle. The club's mission statement is to "generate student enthusiasm to study and explore practical applications of math, science, technology, watercraft safety and licensing and aviation."

Mission accomplished.

"You ask them 20 years from now, 'What do you remember about Coginchaug High School?' and they'll say, 'I remember we built a hovercraft,'" said Fairburn.