I was first on the scene when the B737 paver block incident occurred and tried to get the various ATC agencies to inform he pilot. The aircraft by now was working the French and for whatever reason the notification did not get through.
The pavers were an idea of one of the Council's civil engineers and was initially employed on the apron stands because of the damaged being caused by fuel spills. The runway turning circles were very prone to this because of the 180deg turns that had to made by aircraft when fuel was vented from the wings especially if heavily fuelled (BAC1-11 were very prone to this). A lot of consultation was carried out and there was interest from other parties including the CAA and RAF. At one time the RAF wanted to bring a Harrier to test it but this never occurred.
In the days prior to the incident there was persistent heavy rain and the sand under the paver blocks became saturated although this was not known at the time. The blocks were laid by a German company using a machine that could lay a square metre of pre-linked pavers at a time; the pavers were not cemented down although they were finished with a form of 'grout'.
The incident aircraft was a B737-300 with low under slung engines and Mr Bernoulli took a hand in matters. Low pressure was caused under the engines and as the aircraft rolled, the upwards bulge of the pavers was disrupted by the thrust from the engines which immediate caused them to be blown backwards. It was the following aircraft, a HS125 who told ATC 'there are one or two blocks missing from the turning circle'. One or two was actually several hundred.
When I arrived on scene there was one solitary paver block ahead of the damage, the rest were behind. This immediately suggested to me that it must have hit the airframe therefore my concern of getting a message to the pilot. I do not believe that any blocks were embedded in the airframe although it has been many years since I have read any of the paperwork involved with the case.
I became involved in the legal action following the case which I will not comment upon except to say the reasons the case was dropped (I don't think it was thrown out by the judges) were long and varied.
The airport was complimented on its very prompt and honest reporting of the incident. The turning circles were taken out of use and resurfaced with tarmac.