Comments for Waterline Metro http://waterlinemetro.com/blog DC's High Speed Ferry Service Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:45:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 Comment on Typical Political Objections To Hovercraft by John Donovan - President http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CommentsForWaterlineMetro/~3/899ZpIaNzos/ John Donovan - President Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:25:15 +0000 http://waterlinemetro.com/blog/2008/04/04/typical-political-objections-to-hovercraft/#comment-164 Water Line Metro, Inc. disavows itself from the opinions expressed in this commentary titled "Typical Political Objections to Hovercraft". The management of Water Line Metro, Inc. has never identified any Union opposition to the operation of hovercraft in the U.S. - in fact, our vessels will depend upon qualified operators who are all members of the appropriate Maritime Union. To say that union opposition is an issue is an opinion with no basis in reality as far as this management team is aware. There are parochial interests that will oppose any improvement in the Transportation Market Place that does not make money for those interests. This fact of life is part and parcel of our economic system. We get our word 'sabotage' from the practice of 1700s-era French textile workers putting their wooden shoes (sabots) into the mechanism of the modern looms that took those workers jobs. And frequently references are made to the buggy-whip industry that went out of business when the automobile became popular. Legitimate parochial interests are the essence of competition. The danger is the illegitimate use of governmental authority to foster one interest over another because the winning interest sends money to the government official who provides a deciding influence (i.e. "paying for results"). That should never be tolerated by any free society. Water Line Metro, Inc. disavows itself from the opinions expressed in this commentary titled “Typical Political Objections to Hovercraft”. The management of Water Line Metro, Inc. has never identified any Union opposition to the operation of hovercraft in the U.S. - in fact, our vessels will depend upon qualified operators who are all members of the appropriate Maritime Union. To say that union opposition is an issue is an opinion with no basis in reality as far as this management team is aware.

There are parochial interests that will oppose any improvement in the Transportation Market Place that does not make money for those interests. This fact of life is part and parcel of our economic system. We get our word ’sabotage’ from the practice of 1700s-era French textile workers putting their wooden shoes (sabots) into the mechanism of the modern looms that took those workers jobs. And frequently references are made to the buggy-whip industry that went out of business when the automobile became popular.

Legitimate parochial interests are the essence of competition. The danger is the illegitimate use of governmental authority to foster one interest over another because the winning interest sends money to the government official who provides a deciding influence (i.e. “paying for results”). That should never be tolerated by any free society.

]]> http://waterlinemetro.com/blog/2008/04/04/typical-political-objections-to-hovercraft/#comment-164 Comment on Is a hovercraft good for our environment? by Bill http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CommentsForWaterlineMetro/~3/NskMNLKs8PU/ Bill Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:04:49 +0000 http://waterlinemetro.com/blog/2007/12/18/is-a-hovercraft-good-for-our-environment/#comment-83 YAY!!! YAY!!!

]]> http://waterlinemetro.com/blog/2007/12/18/is-a-hovercraft-good-for-our-environment/#comment-83 Comment on Are Hovercraft Safe? by Mike Glanville http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CommentsForWaterlineMetro/~3/KhLPt-q_jmA/ Mike Glanville Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:14:54 +0000 http://waterlinemetro.com/blog/2008/03/26/are-hovercraft-safe/#comment-77 You are correct in stating that very few hovercraft accidents have been recorded. We know that a spectator was run over in India earlier this year ironically by a rescue hovercraft, and we know that one older man perished from hypothermia in the USA, after his home-made hovercraft sank in icy waters after a fishing trip. Lack of statistical information is often perplexing to insurers, who look for risk assessment data. Potentially, hovercraft can drift from side to side, but our personal leisure hovercraft have less pressure than a seagull standing on one leg - we demonstrate this by flying over a plate of eggs without cracking any. Some poorly designed hovercraft are very thin, as they are weight dependent vehicles, but our product the Hov Pod has been designed for marine leisure use, so is built with safety in mind. See www.hovpod.com You are correct in stating that very few hovercraft accidents have been recorded. We know that a spectator was run over in India earlier this year ironically by a rescue hovercraft, and we know that one older man perished from hypothermia in the USA, after his home-made hovercraft sank in icy waters after a fishing trip. Lack of statistical information is often perplexing to insurers, who look for risk assessment data. Potentially, hovercraft can drift from side to side, but our personal leisure hovercraft have less pressure than a seagull standing on one leg - we demonstrate this by flying over a plate of eggs without cracking any. Some poorly designed hovercraft are very thin, as they are weight dependent vehicles, but our product the Hov Pod has been designed for marine leisure use, so is built with safety in mind. See http://www.hovpod.com

]]> http://waterlinemetro.com/blog/2008/03/26/are-hovercraft-safe/#comment-77 Comment on Is a hovercraft good for our environment? by admin http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CommentsForWaterlineMetro/~3/OXwdcGSeOrM/ admin Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:17:25 +0000 http://waterlinemetro.com/blog/2007/12/18/is-a-hovercraft-good-for-our-environment/#comment-3 [From the Moderator = "Unbelievable is the only accurate part of this statement. As far as I am aware, no large hovercraft have been operated on the Potomac River since 2004 and that was in the pouring rain so I doubt there was an outdoor class that day. Modern Passenger Hovercraft - of which none has been operated in the lower-48 states except in Seattle, WA., have the sound signature of a metro bus. It may have been one of the scores of buses that pass Daingerfield Island on the GW parkway that was heard or a passenger jet aircraft, but it wasn't a passenger hovercraft. Please refrain from false statements on this blog in the future."] [From the Moderator = "Unbelievable is the only accurate part of this statement. As far as I am aware, no large hovercraft have been operated on the Potomac River since 2004 and that was in the pouring rain so I doubt there was an outdoor class that day. Modern Passenger Hovercraft - of which none has been operated in the lower-48 states except in Seattle, WA., have the sound signature of a metro bus. It may have been one of the scores of buses that pass Daingerfield Island on the GW parkway that was heard or a passenger jet aircraft, but it wasn't a passenger hovercraft. Please refrain from false statements on this blog in the future."]

]]> http://waterlinemetro.com/blog/2007/12/18/is-a-hovercraft-good-for-our-environment/#comment-3 Comment on Is a hovercraft good for our environment? by Adam Pressman http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CommentsForWaterlineMetro/~3/s5h5FwvDiJk/ Adam Pressman Wed, 26 Dec 2007 19:58:15 +0000 http://waterlinemetro.com/blog/2007/12/18/is-a-hovercraft-good-for-our-environment/#comment-2 I was at the Washington Sailing Marina when hovercraft were testing the waters over the summer. The noise was unbelievable and we had to move our outdoor race training seminar indoors to hear ourselves. I was at the Washington Sailing Marina when hovercraft were testing the waters over the summer. The noise was unbelievable and we had to move our outdoor race training seminar indoors to hear ourselves.

]]> http://waterlinemetro.com/blog/2007/12/18/is-a-hovercraft-good-for-our-environment/#comment-2