The River Rover series of Hovercraft have a unique steering system giving the craft an ability to twist and turn with the rivers it travels on. All hovercraft have rudders – the vertical control surfaces – that swing (or yaw) the rear of the craft to the left or right and change the direction the hovercraft is facing, even if initially the craft will keep going in the direction it was travelling before. It’s like a car skidding on ice as you slide sideways and eventually end up going in a new direction.
To give extra control our hovercraft have a neat trick – a set of horizontal surfaces which can be operated independently on the left and right thrust fans. They are the Elevons and sit in front of the rudders. They give control over over pitch and roll allowing the hovercraft to “carve” turns like a skier, or drive through turns more like a motorbike by leaning over. That precise control allows us to go to the most remote parts of river systems safely and quickly.