Those crossing the Solent by hovercraft faced a prolonged journey of around 50 minutes earlier this afternoon (Sunday) when one of Hovertravel’s craft developed a fault mid-Solent.
Island Flyer departed Ryde for Southsea as normal, but three-quarters of the way into the journey a fault developed causing the hovercraft to lose full propulsion. The problem hit at approximately 15:20 and soon after the decision was made to turn the craft around and return to Ryde using the remaining power.
Due to the mechanical issue, Island Flyer was unable to make it all the way up the pad when it arrived back at Ryde seafront at 16:05 – some 45 minutes after the vessel initially came to a halt. Passengers were forced to disembark into wet sand and walk across the slipway to the terminal.
The hover remains in-situ in the middle of the pad.
One passenger has this afternoon told Island Echo:
“I feel really sorry for the guy who had a 18:30 flight from Heathrow and a taxi waiting for him the other side. I very much doubt he’ll make his flight now”.
The service is continuing to operate with the sole remaining Flyer. There are delays of 30 minutes on the cross-Solent service. Hovertravel has been approached for a statement.
UPDATE @ 22:15– A spokesperson for Hovertravel has said:
“There was a mechanical failure on one of our craft this afternoon which meant that craft needed to return to Ryde. Customers were transferred to the next available service and the craft was operable for service within one hour”.
Having listened to a conversation between the hovercraft and Ryde base it appears that it had lost one of its engines and could only do 3knt at full power, 70+ person plus crew were onn board
just a thought but if two thirds of the way across would it have more sense to carry on instead of turning back and risking a full stop in the middle of the solent as passenger safety should come before any other consideration
My thoughts entirely.