Qantas A388 at Sydney on Sep 10th 2013, runway pavement failure during takeoff roll

Last Update: September 11, 2013 / 19:10:55 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Qantas VH-OQH, Airbus A380-800 — Qantas VH-OQH, Airbus A380-800 (Photo credit: Aero Icarus / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Sep 10, 2013

Classification
Incident

Airline
Qantas

Flight number
QF-11

Departure
Sydney, Australia

Destination
Los Angeles, United States

Aircraft Registration
VH-OQH

Aircraft Type
Airbus A380-800

ICAO Type Designator
A388

Airport
Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport, Sydney

Airport ICAO Code
YSSY

A Qantas Airbus A380-800, registration VH-OQH performing flight QF-11 from Sydney,NS (Australia) to Los Angeles,CA (USA), had just gotten airborne after takeoff from Sydney's runway 34L in gusting cross wind conditions when the crew of another aircraft advised tower that there appeared to be foreign objects on the runway, a second crew advised the taxiway signs had just been blown over when the Qantas A380 went past. An aircraft on approach was instructed to go around, runway 34L was closed. A crew reported it appeared as if something had exploded on the runway at the left hand side of the runway between taxiways A5 and L, just south of L when the Airbus A380 went past. A runway inspection was dispatched and reported the pavement of the runway had failed. Sydney tower subsequently advised all aircraft that runway 34L was unavailable for at least one hour, a number of departures requiring runway 34L returned to the apron, all other traffic was switched to runways 34R and 25.

VH-OQH continued to Los Angeles for a safe landing.

The airport returned to normal operation with both main runways 34L and 34R available about 5 hours later.

Metars:
YSSY 100500Z 29031KT CAVOK 32/M05 Q1000 RMK FU - VIS REDUCED TO N FM0500 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT
YSSY 100430Z 29027G37KT CAVOK 32/M06 Q1000 RMK FU FM0430 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT FM0430 27020G30KT 9999 SCT070
YSSY 100400Z 30023G37KT CAVOK 32/M07 Q1000 RMK FU FM0400 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT FM0400 27020G30KT 9999 SCT070
YSSY 100336Z 30027G37KT CAVOK 33/M06 Q1000 RMK FU FM0336 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT FM0400 27020G30KT 9999 SCT070
YSSY 100330Z 31028KT CAVOK 33/M05 Q1000 RMK FU FM0330 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT FM0400 27020G30KT 9999 SCT070
YSSY 100318Z 29027KT CAVOK 32/M04 Q1000 FM0318 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT FM0600 25020G30KT 9999 SCT070
YSSY 100300Z 33017G27KT CAVOK 32/M01 Q1000 FM0300 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT
YSSY 100230Z 33020G30KT CAVOK 31/M03 Q1001 FM0230 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT
YSSY 100200Z 33024G34KT CAVOK 30/20 Q1002 RMK SHRA TO NW FM0200 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT
YSSY 100135Z 33023G33KT CAVOK 29/18 Q1002 RMK SHRA TO NW FM0135 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT
YSSY 100100Z 34028G38KT CAVOK 29/17 Q1003 FM0100 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT