Photo: Conrado Aviacion
Reading Time: < 1 minuteAn Eva Air Boeing 747-400, registration B-16410 performing flight BR-271 from Taipei (Taiwan) to Manila (Philippines), landed on Manila’s runway 24 and slowed safely. Upon vacating the runway via a high speed exit R3 the taxiway’s asphalt surface broke up and asphalt debris punctured the right hand flaps of the aircraft.
The aircraft taxied to the apron where the damage to the right hand wing was discovered.
The taxiway and runway was closed, the Philippines Civil Aviation Authority instructed immediate emergency repairs. Following the repairs high speed turn off R3 was limited to Category C or less aircraft.
Preliminary investigation results suggest that a poor asphalt mix had been used by the contractor resulting in degraded load capacity, thus not able to support heavy aircraft like A330s or B744s. When the Eva Air B744 rolled over that asphalt a section 1 meter wide, 9 meters long and 12cm deep separated and were blown against the flaps by the engine exhaust.