Windsled - Ice Hovercraft School Bus

[kach22i]

Ice Hovercraft School Bus Is Coolest, Worst News for Students Ever]
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2008/02/ice_hove...nts_ever-2.html

This ice hovercraft school bus has to be the coolest and worst news ever to descend upon children all over the world. I mean, I would have loved to go to school in one of these spiffy snowspeeders powered by dual fan engines.

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Full article here:
By Susan Saulny Published: February 22, 2008
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/22/america/22ice.php

LA POINTE, Wisconsin: From a distance, the large red aluminum contraption parked on the frozen shore of Lake Superior here looks like a small houseboat perched on skis. Up closer, as schoolchildren pile in with their backpacks and iPods, it becomes clear that the mystery vehicle, with two large fans on the back, is something else entirely...........

The 9,000-pound vehicle, propelled by its twin fans and steered by a driver much the way a regular bus would be, is heated and has padded benches with room for about 20 students. Beyond that, there are no luxuries. Loud and bumping along at 18 miles an hour, it hardly qualifies as a thrill ride...............windsled

Because of the pounding it takes on the ice, the windsled is a high-maintenance machine. It was built in 2000 with a grant of half a million dollars from the federal Department of Transportation. (Earlier models were smaller and less sophisticated.) But the cost of its operation fell on the district, which, in acknowledgment that running it entails some inherent risk, also carries extra liability insurance......................

The windsled was built by Arnie and Ronald Nelson, brothers who own a local construction business and who operate the sled under contract with La Pointe and the school district. It is kept light on its feet by its forward motion and the way the design disperses its four and a half tons over its 336 square feet.