Air China A319 at Yiwu on Aug 4th 2013, aircraft sank into asphalt while backtracking runway

Last Update: August 5, 2013 / 14:40:40 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Aug 4, 2013

Classification
Incident

Airline
Air China

Flight number
CA-4538

Departure
Yiwu, China

Destination
Chengdu, China

Aircraft Registration
B-2364

Aircraft Type
Airbus A319

ICAO Type Designator
A319

An Air China Airbus A319-100, registration B-2364 performing flight CA-4538 from Yiwu to Chengdu (China) with 74 passengers, was backtracking runway 02 around noon in heat and bright sunshine to position for departure when after crossing the runway threshold to turn around on the runway end safety area the main wheels began to sink into the asphalt of the paved surface effectively disabling the aircraft.

The airport was closed until the passengers had disembarked and the aircraft had been moved back onto safe paved surface. By then the aircraft had sunk in by about 10 cm/4 inches.

The airport suspects that the unusual heat paired with the extreme bright sunshine caused the asphalt of the runway end safety area to soften to the point where it couldn't support the 60 tons of the aircraft weight anymore.

No Metars or local weather data are available.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Aug 4, 2013

Classification
Incident

Airline
Air China

Flight number
CA-4538

Departure
Yiwu, China

Destination
Chengdu, China

Aircraft Registration
B-2364

Aircraft Type
Airbus A319

ICAO Type Designator
A319

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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