ON EASTER weekend Sid Dooley saw a hovercraft for the first time, and he hopes it will be the last.

The Zilzie resident called The Morning Bulletin earlier this week after he saw a hovercraft carrying a toddler overturn on the beach.

Sid was riding his quad bike on the beach when he saw a hovercraft flying along the sand.

"Next minute ... over she went," he said.

"It skidded on it's side and then went completely upside down."

Sid said he immediately went to see what he could do to help.

"I picked a little boy up," he said.

"He would have been about three years old.

"He was hysterical. I think he was in shock."

Sid said he helped to calm the boy down with a drink of water.

He then took the boy and his father back up off the beach to where his mother was waiting with their car.

Sid said the seats and the petrol tank fell out of the hovercraft when it overturned.

"After what I saw, I think they're an absolute killer," he said.

"There's no protection whatsoever."

Sid, who has lived at Zilzie for 33 years, said he wasn't saying people shouldn't have them.

He said he just thinks they need to be used more carefully and on unpopulated beaches.

"We don't want anyone to disturb our paradise," he said.

"It's like with a quad ... if you're sensible with it you will not have any troubles.

"Accidents are one side of the line and you're on the other."