they are charming and different

30 to 40 of these or similar types operated here in Greece from 70s till now. About 15 are still operating in fair good condition (new 2000-3000 Hp MTU machines have been installed). And of course in full speed (32 knots), not like this one on your video. Their behavior on rough weather is quite good (they operates only under 6 Beaufort winds) and the ride is so smooth. Russians have new models in production and some companies here, are planning to acquire new units in order to replace the old ones. The hydrofoils (nicknamed 'Flying Dolphins' here in Greece) are very popular among the people and is a very good way of (coastal) connection between islands and small touristic towns of the mainland.

I've been on Meteors on the River Volga, they are remarkable machines, and sound wonderful, when its still you can hear the low bass from the exhausts for miles. The boats I travelled on still had their Zvezda V12's. Thank you for posting this video, most interesting.

During a family trip to Europe back in 97, we rode a hydrofoil from Vienna to Budapest. After noticing that the stewardess was taking wine up to the cockpit, we decided to take the train back to Vienna.

Yea i made that journey many times both ways, remember twice breaking down and doing the transfer to a replacement boat, and have experienced the approach to vung tau just before a typhoon hit. Regardless of what happens it beats going by road.

That hydrofoil looks like a Meteor model! Very impressive flying ferry! I had the good fortune to ride one like the one in the video while touring Europe from Bratislava to Vienna along the Danube river! My smartphone digital speedometer measured a speed of 51mph or 83kph! We hit wakes nearly a meter high from barges and I felt nothing! Rides like a Cadillac! Unfortunately these hydrofoils are a dying breed. There is not too many of these boats left compared to the 60's, 70's and 80's! The Russians stopped making them,so did the Italians and the US-Boeing all stopped production! I Love Them!!

I rode them back in 2009 while working in Vietnam, there in pretty rough condition but still keep running up and down the river!

The scariest thing for me is the captain/pilot/drivers operate them just the same as they ride their Hondas, ducking and weaving up the river around other traffic. We got that close behind a cargo ship, the operator mis- judged the gap between another boat, that we hit the cargo ships prop wash and got knocked of the hydrofoil plane, we went from full planing speed to almost stop in what felt like one boat length.

I love these hydrofoils... id love to make one a personal vessal... i just cant imagine feeding twin 1500 hp turbine motors

They were operated in Italy too, in 1980's.

I've taken one to Cat Ba island, there were some moderate waves, I noticed that the hydrofoil was just slicing through them, a regular fast ferry would have had to slow down I would think. Bigger waves and there is nothing that can be done about it I suppose.

Are they still working in August 2019? How to get there from Saigon Airport..we want to go to Vung Tau for a week. This looks awsome...to ride..good old Soviet quality...hahaha.TIA regards

Do these ever come up for sale?

The good thing is you can jump into the river if it started to burn.