SYD 16R Pavement Failure 25/02

[TwoFiftyBelowTen]

Does anyone in ATC know what caused the problem with the surface of runway 16R this morning? Someone blow tyres on touchdown? Seemed to cause chaos and many diversions to CBR and BNE. Saw a China Southern A380 here in Brisso as a result

[missy]

Pavement failure near taxiway Foxtrot. RWY 07/25 closed for arrivals due construction of road underpass linking General Holmes Drive to Southern Cross Drive under the freight railway line and Botany Road.

A388 landed RWY 16L. Chaos would be one word, pandemonium might have been another. Local standby for the A388 arrival. At one point RWY 16L was closed as well as RWY 16R north of taxiway Golf.

All in a day of Sydney ATC, and that's only half the story.

[breakfastburrito]

oS9nDTQiABs
Sydney Webtrak (http://webtrak5.bksv.com/syd3) Start Time 25 Feb 2017 0915 at 15x speed to 1012


0915 Last arrival 16R, 16L for all other arrivals including an A380
1033 Arrivals resume 16R

My charts show the A380 as being able to use 16R/34L and 07/25 and very limited taxiways on the western side of 34L + G and access to 07/25.

Must have been fun for all involved once it got on the ground.

[Capn Bloggs]

Surely somebody has a video of this death-defying manoeuvre??

[framer]

For the 380 pilots.....what sort of landing weight would it have been at and would it be a big deal in the conditions that prevailed? Can you show some OPT figures?

[maggot]

380 stops well. Wing tip clearance taxying in is tight. 34r would be much preferred obv.

[got_wheel]

The departing aircraft (TigOz from memory) reported debris on 16R around B3 upon lining up, departed just past the debris, then once airborne reported a "football sized hole" in the runway. The safety car was brought out and sure enough confirmed the damage. QANTAS 747 on final at the time commenced a missed approach.

To keep the ball rolling as much as they could, departures for turboprop and Cat C aircraft were permitted from further down 16R (around Golf).

Was a sight to see the 380 on final for 16L! Bet the firies were excited.

My hat goes off to the tower controller at the time who did a very professional job. Poor guy was on his check too!

[Stuart Midgley]

It's going to be interesting later this year when 07/25 will be completely closed for several weeks so that piling rigs (with their 150 foot tall masts) can be brought in to the new road underpass project. Exact timings TBA I believe but there are some details in the RMS project documentation (available online somewhere - I don't have the reference to hand). I recall reading that they're going to try and do it at the time of year with the lowest statistical likelihood of westerly winds.

The closures this last week have only been for limited hours each day while they crane the construction village buildings into place. The upcoming ones will be 24/7 for several weeks at a time.

[sunnySA]

SM, is this any different to the RWY 07/25 RESA works in 2008/2009? The runway was closed for extended periods.

RWY 16R displaced threshold at TWY Golf to cater for various contingencies? Pretty simple to do with a PAPI and perhaps runway threshold identification lights. Such a displaced threshold would be longer than RWY 16/34R and RWY 07/25.

[The Baron]

We were holding north of Sydney due to this event. Hats off to the Brisbane Centre chaps for providing information as it came to hand. We had the discretionary fuel on board, so not a big deal once we had planned our bug out time.:ok:

[tops1]

Wonder if it is that railway tunnel at last?

[bobsyauncle]

This is what's under construction... http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/images/projects/sydney-south/sydney-airport/airport-east-project-map.png

[Ozgrade3]

Must have been a subsurface crack that migrated upwards. The surface of the runway is harder than concrete. Saw cutters who work on the runway complain that it eats the best and most expensive saws at 3 times the rate they have ever seen.

[Stuart Midgley]

SunnySA, I think this time it's a complete closure because of the height of the equipment that is going to be used. Typical large piling rigs:

http://pilingresolutions.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/1-C800-H40.jpg

https://image-store.slidesharecdn.com/f49a1e00-9036-47fb-8979-eec54363cbb2-large.jpeg

Those masts will be just over the perimeter fence, all around where the new big rail underpass is being built in bobsyauncle's map, just barely to the side of the runway line. Also they don't stay still - they crawl around the site under their own power all day, mast at full height, drilling hole after hole to the engineering plan (I worked with them in a previous life). I'm not a pilot (in ground ops/load control) but I'm assuming you'd need such a big displacement to safely clear that sort of obstruction that it might render the runway useless anyway?

Knowing that it's deep sand around there and knowing what the build is I'd guestimate they'll be using 100-150 foot tall rigs. That said, the tallest one I ever worked with was 100 metres (metres!) tall and had the ability to be extended another 50 metres if required. That one was used just down the road in Alexandria on a sandy site as well.

As I remember the RMS documents said that 07 would be completely closed for arrivals and departures and 25 would be closed for arrivals. Only 25 departures will remain available. Which is nice if you're already in Sydney when the stiff westerly's arrive. ;)

[sunnySA]

And numerous pavement failures over the last week. Bad luck or poor maintenance?

[sunnySA]

Another pavement failure today, this time at RWY 16R at taxiway Golf. RWY 16L used for arrivals, RWY 25 and 16L for departures. More than 2 hours.