The Aviation Historian — January 2018

72 THE AVIATION HISTORIAN Issue No 22

commercial passenger Air Cushion Vehicle

(ACV) service in America, and, as part of

the FHHFA study, the hovercraft passengers

were asked to complete questionnaires

about their rides, which were then analysed

by the University of California Institute of

Transportation & Traffic Engineering.

The hovercraft could cross from Oakland to

SFO or Downtown San Francisco in as little

as 15min — considerably faster than driving

the bridges and freeways during peak hours.

The machines, c/ns SR.N5-007 and SR.N5-008,

were operated with a crew of two, comprising a

pilot and a radar operator/navigator/steward,

and were christened Port of Oakland and City of

Oakland. In order to circumvent arcane American

legislation, which would have caused legal

problems had the ACVs been offically declared

waterborne vehicles, SFO had a legal obligation

to charge recognised air fares for what was

technically an air service. Thus the fares for

the hovercraft service were artificially high, so

although the seat-mile cost of the SK-5 was half

that of its rotary-winged companions, the high

fares struggled to attract enough customers.

Accordingly, SFO Helicopter withdrew the

hovercraft after their arranged year of service,

and all SFO services to the Downtown San

Francisco Heliport were once again suspended.

BACK TO THE CHOPPERS

By the mid-1960s the SFO Helicopter fleet had

been upgraded to include three 26-passenger

twin-engined Sikorsky S-61Ns and one S-62A.

A former crew member who worked for SFO

Helicopter during 1964–65 relates that each

helicopter carried a boat anchor and battery-

powered mooring lights — legal requirements of

the time in case of water landings.

The airline advertised connecting fares with

American, Delta, National, PSA, Pan Am,

TWA, United, Western, West Coast and other

international air services. A 1967 Delta Airlines

advert announced free helicopter service

connecting OAK and SFO for Delta ticket-

holders. Another amenity which SFO Helicopter

The three S-61Ns operated by SFO Helicopter were N307Y, as seen here in the company’s

1960s colour scheme, N317Y (which later became G-BEID in the UK, and ditched in the North

Sea in 1988) and N4606G. Artwork by ERIC LIAN © 2018. BELOW The SK-5 was a Bell-built

SR.N5, the world’s first production-built hovercraft. With cushion deflated, Port of Oakland runs

up its T58 engine, a marine version of the same powerplant fitted to SFO’s helicopter fleet.

COLLECTION OF SFO MUSEUM