Homemade Hovercraft Decapitates New Zealand Man


Well this is gruesome. Dr Alastair Kenneth Senior had built the hovercraft from scratch, and was test driving it in front of his family on Muriwai beach in Auckland. Police say a design defect caused one of the rear propeller blades to come free, strike him in the back of the head, and all but decapitate him. Damn.

Police believe that Dr Kenneth may have been using an online design for reference. Tragically, it appears that his biggest mistake was to not cover the props with a protective guard — a feature that DIY hovercraft kit companies insist you include. “I guess it’s the old Kiwi ingenuity,” Sergeant Colin Nuttall said. [TV One NZ]

Image above from “For Sale: Military Assault Hovercraft, Weapons Included