Hovercraft and Zeppelins, oh my!

[badhorsey]

What sort of license do you need to pilot a hovercraft, hot air balloon or airship? I've always been curious about how people end up with these jobs, particularly the chaps who do the hovercraft runs to The Isle Of Wight, or France.

[sddsddean]

To pilot a balloon or air ship you need a pilots licence, just like any other aircraft pilot. A pilots licence will only allow him/her to fly the type of aircraft they are certified to fly, so they could be a pilot of fixed wing aircraft that has also passed the balloon test, or just be certified to fly balloons/airships. Not sure about hovercraft.

[New Forester]

Going abroad, eh? And time-travelling too! I think a hovercraft just counts as a kind of aircraft, so presumably it's another additional certificate.

[Clanad]

In the USA hovercraft are not considered "aircraft" for the purpose of liscensing, so none is required.

[Ewood27]

Hovercraft surely count as ships for licensing and regulation purposes. But what about the ground-cushion skimmers the Russian military developed? They had wings and flew at some 300 m.p.h. (I think) across any surface with troops on board, but were not true aircraft in that they could not fly above about 100 feet.

[sddsddean]

Ah, you are talking about the Caspian Sea Monsters Ewood, better known as ekranoplanes. They work on ground effect and fly only about 10 feet above the water. You need loads of power to get them going, but once they are up you need a lot less. The Russian troop carrying version, which was the size of a normal airliner, needed 10 jet engines to get it going, but could cruise on 2.