Now here's a novel idea. To preserve something…sink it. An airplane said to be the last surviving flyable version of a German built jet sank to the bottom of Portage Quarry last weekend, where it will serve as an attraction and a diving site.
According to a Toledo Blade article by Erica Blake, the Hansa jet was donated by Grand Aire, a company based at Toledo Express Airport. It will serve as a training facility for search and rescue teams.
Jeff Rice owns the 23 acre quarry located south of Bowling Green. The story notes that there are planes and other vehicles sunk in other northwest Ohio quarries, including Portage, but this jet adds some new training environments because of its wide cargo area.
Ms. Blake's story says that the German firm Hamburger Flugzeugbau built 54 of this model between 1967 and 1974. This one, made in 1969, was stripped of insulation and other perishables. It also was washed, presumably to remove petrochemicals. But the windows, wings and controls were left.
A team from Michigan Adventure Diving in Milan, MI was to oversee the sinking, using air bags to maintain control and make sure it comes to rest upright and undamaged. That would seem to be counter to the purpose of using it as a training venue, since a plane that crashes in water and sinks in the real world would not be expected to be upright and undamaged when rescuers/recoverers arrive.
That brings us to the enthusiasm expressed in the article by Tyler Schultz, the owner of Michigan Adventure Diving, who said the plane "will become a museum of sorts."
The article quotes him as saying that it leaves the plane as an artifact…a "snapshot in time."
Kind of supports the idea of burying the Courthouse so it's preserved for future generations.
Just as the onset of fendered racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway ushered in a new level of respect for NASCAR, open wheelers are hoping that an event at the cathedral of stock car racing will help restore their visibility.
Time was when Indianapolis style racing was the biggest draw among US racing fans. However, the CART/IRL split, savvy marketing by NASCAR and a little luck led to an eclipse by stock car events.
Tests were conducted last week at Daytona International Speedway by the Indy Racing League to determine the feasibility of an IRL event there. John Oreovicz, writing for ESPN.com, says that the testing went well enough that an event there might become part of the 2008 IRL schedule.
Oreovicz said that drivers seemed to like the layout, which uses turns 3 and 4 of the 2.5 mile oval, but routes the cars on a twisting road course through the infield. His report on the tests says that Andretti Green Racing's Tony Kanaan posted the unofficial fastest lap, averaging about 134 mph. He says that's about the same as at Watkins Glen.
Panther Racing's Vitor Meira and Penske Racing's Sam Hornish, Jr. both crashed at a chicane on the back straightaway. Meira said he was hitting close to 190 mph before entering Turn 3. The article says that some further changes to the layout in that area would make it pretty close to the 2.73 mile course that the American Motorcycle Association uses for its annual Daytona event.
Oreovicz notes that when DIS first opened, back in 1959, there was a race for Indianapolis cars on the oval. The track was so fast that lap speeds hit 175 mph, about 30 mph than they were turning at Indianapolis.
There were two fatal crashes and the event was never repeated.