Identifying the initial cause of peeling off Vinh airport runway

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has just sent a document to the Ministry of Transport reporting the incident and work to repair the damaged runway at Vinh International Airport on July 3.

According to the report, the airport design consultant, Aviation Construction Design and Consulting Company Limited, said that after about 5 years of operation since the most recent maintenance and repair, the surface of Vinh airport's runway has shown signs of deterioration. The top 7cm thick asphalt concrete layer is not bonded to the concrete layer below. In addition, the hot weather in Vinh City has reduced the load-bearing capacity of the road surface, causing the asphalt concrete layer on the road surface to easily sink, deform and peel off.

According to the Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV), the above factors combined with the fact that the damaged location is where the plane turns around and takes off (a vulnerable location, subject to horizontal traction and heavy loads during takeoff) can easily cause damage, deformation, and peeling off of the asphalt concrete on the road surface above.

On the other hand, operating the runway at a higher frequency than calculated causes damage to develop faster, reducing the life of the structure and reducing the time needed for periodic repairs (from 5 years to 2-3 years). According to ACV, the unit has not yet reached a final conclusion on the cause of the incident. The above issues are all preliminary assessments.

Vinh Airport peeled off in early July 2023. Photo courtesy

To clarify the causes of damage to Vinh airport, a specific and comprehensive assessment by a unit with sufficient experience and capacity is needed. Accordingly, a comprehensive survey is needed, such as drilling, measuring PCN, measuring PCI of the road surface, and testing samples to evaluate specific design indicators.

According to ACV, the Vinh airport runway was newly invested in 1994 and underwent major repairs in 2018. To date, the Vinh airport runway has deteriorated, with many damages such as subsidence, cracking, and peeling off, although the operating unit still regularly performs minor maintenance. In March 2023, ACV reported to the Ministry of Transport to prioritize investment in upgrading and renovating the Vinh airport runway, with a total capital of more than VND 598 billion to replace the entire 2 layers of asphalt concrete on the runway surface.

Previously, on the morning of July 3, the captain of flight VN1261, while taxiing the plane onto the runway at Vinh airport for takeoff, discovered a large section of the runway damaged and reported it to the relevant unit. After receiving the information, Vinh International Airport conducted an inspection and confirmed the location of the damaged runway, which was nearly 42 square ^meters wide (8 meters long, more than 5 meters wide).

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