Suvarnabhumi Airport fixing complaints about ‘soft’ runway

[webfact]

Suvarnabhumi Airport fixing complaints about ‘soft’ runway

By THE NATION

 

 

Suvarnabhumi Airport is working on improving runway, taxiway and taxilane surfaces following complaints from pilots, a senior official said.

 

Wing Commander Suthirawat Suwanawat, general manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport, Airports of Thailand, said the airport is resolving the issues raised by the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations in their 2018 safety bulletin about the airport’s taxiway and taxilane having a soft surface, which could jeopardise the landing of planes.

 

“Since the issued was pointed out, Suvarnabhumi Airport has been improving the surface of its runway, taxiway and taxilane,” he said. “At present most of them are in optimal condition, in keeping with international standards, while the statistics of emergency repairs have been decreasing significantly.”

 

According to the general manager, the airport has only two runway-related projects pending: the Eastern runway surface repair (runway 01R-19L) and Rapid Exit Taxiway surface repair. “These projects were started in 2019 and are progressing according to the plan,” he added.

 

Suthirawat also added that to fix the soft ground problem in the long term, the airport will gradually switch the material of its runway, taxiway and taxilane from asphalt to portland cement. “The new cement is much more durable than asphalt,” he said. “We’ve already discussed with the project contractors and expect construction to begin later this year.”

 

“So far, there have been no reports of planes being affected by cracking asphalt or damaged surfaces. However, the airport will remain vigilant at all times,” Suthirawat said. “We have assigned staff and emergency repairing machines within the airport areas 24/7. Furthermore, we have installed pumps to drain underground water under taxilanes T8, T11, T12, T13, T14, which should prevent the ground from becoming soft.”

 

“AOT has organised meetings with related agencies such as Airline Operators Committee, Aeronautical Radio of Thailand Ltd, Airport Consultative Committee and International Air Transport Association every quarter to report on the progress of airport surface issues since 2018 to ease concerns and ensure all stakeholders that we are committed to fixing the problems,” Suthirawat added.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30380303

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-01-09

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

[sammieuk1]

This fault occurs when to many farangs leave their brains on it me included???? 

[userabcd]

A difficult ground engineering problem to manage and correct which requires constant and expensive regular maintenance.

 

This choice of airport location was not a good one.

[RotBenz8888]

Perhaps tractor wheels  is the solution?

[bkk6060]

Another reason United left.

[spiekerjozef]

If they use the Pattaya road workers it should be finished before christmas 2059.

[Estrada]

4 hours ago, userabcd said:

A difficult ground engineering problem to manage and correct which requires constant and expensive regular maintenance.

 

This choice of airport location was not a good one.

It was an excellent and very rewarding location for Khun Vattana Asavahame, Khun Banharn and Khun Suwat.

[Scouse123]

5 hours ago, userabcd said:

A difficult ground engineering problem to manage and correct which requires constant and expensive regular maintenance.

 

This choice of airport location was not a good one.

 

Completely agree,

 

Also using shoddy or sub standard materials to skim off the top was and is and always will be, the other problem!

[worgeordie]

This is what happens when you build an airport on a swamp.

regards Worgeordie

[Momofarang]

2 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

This is what happens when you build an airport on a swamp.

regards Worgeordie

Or on too thick brown envelopes.

[Cake Monster]

37 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

This is what happens when you build an airport on a swamp.

regards Worgeordie

Thats why its nickname is "Swampy "

[Muhendis]

2 hours ago, worgeordie said:

This is what happens when you build an airport on a swamp.

Heathrow was also built on a swamp but I don't think they ever had any soft runway problems. Perhaps UK builders are better controlled

[Searat7]

There have been runway problems since Day 1 so why did they not build a third runway long ago so that they could shut down the other runways easily for needed repairs?  

[Fortean1]

The U.S. Air Force built U-Tapao RTNAB runways on a swampy area.  Nearby Camp Samae San was built on a swampy area.  The runways and taxiways at U-Tapao are still good.

[josephbloggs]

5 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

Thats why its nickname is "Swampy "

Only in the ridiculous clique of old grumps on TVF, nowhere else.

[josephbloggs]

3 hours ago, Muhendis said:

Heathrow was also built on a swamp but I don't think they ever had any soft runway problems. Perhaps UK builders are better controlled

Complete and absolute rubbish.  Each of Heathrow's two runways undergoes maintenance for six months every year each, every night.  Heathrow closes for flights at 11pm and they do resurfacing work to one runway every night for six months then switch to the other one for six months.  Rinse and repeat.  They are constantly being resurfaced.  It is normal.

 

Suvaranabhumi operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week so they don't have the luxury of closing runways for maintenance each and every evening six months of each year.  Occasionally they therefore need to close part of one for repairs.  How long do you think a runway should last with hundreds of tons slamming down onto it pretty much once a minute 24 hours a day?  For ever?

[DrTuner]

1 minute ago, josephbloggs said:

How long do you think a runway should last with hundreds of tons slamming down onto it pretty much once a minute 24 hours a day?  For ever?

When's the last time they resurfaced U-Tapao? US-built, IIIRC.

[impulse]

12 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

5 hours ago, Cake Monster said:

Thats why its nickname is "Swampy "

Only in the ridiculous clique of old grumps on TVF, nowhere else.

 

It's a spelling thing.  Not a grumpy thing.  I can spell Swampy and everyone still knows what I mean.

 

I've rarely see Soowanapoom spelled the same way twice.

 

[josephbloggs]

21 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

When's the last time they resurfaced U-Tapao? US-built, IIIRC.

Oh please spare me such a ridiculous comparison.  Ok, the US is amazing and if they built Heathrow or Suvarnabhumi there would never be repairs because the US is so incredible and they have super tarmac.

How many flights does U Tapao handle a day?  20?  30?  And they don't handle heavy aircraft, just narrow bodies.  And it pretty much didn't exist as a functioning commercial airport until fairly recently.

Suvarnabhumi handles 800 flights per day. 747s, B777s, A330s, A380s (dozens of those per day), cargo flights - thousands of tonnes of cargo each and every day.  Heavy aircraft, and constantly pounded day and night, 24 hours a day.  As I said, hundreds of tonnes slamming down once a minute every minute.  And you want to compare to U Tapao which has at best a few dozen (probably less) narrow body flights full of Pattaya tourists?

And you do realise that major US airports also have constant resurfacing works right?  Or were they just built once and left alone by super US engineers and their super tarmac?

Seriously.  One of the most ridiculous superiority posts I have read here for a long while.

[josephbloggs]

10 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

It's a spelling thing.  Not a grumpy thing.  I can spell Swampy and everyone still knows what I mean.

 

I've rarely see Soowanapoom spelled the same way twice.

 

Understand on the spelling but I still find it a bit cliquey amongst the grumps.  Newbies posting for advice and people referring to "Swampy".  It's not that hard to spell, or people could say say "the airport", "BKK", "Bangkok Airport"....

[worgeordie]

I remember just after it opened there were pictures of cracks in the runways in the Bangkok post,

next day the story was retracted ,saying there were no cracks,????, it was rushed to get finished on

the day Thaksin said it had to open.

regards worgeordie

 

[josephbloggs]

12 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

I remember just after it opened there were pictures of cracks in the runways in the Bangkok post,

next day the story was retracted ,saying there were no cracks,????, it was rushed to get finished on

the day Thaksin said it had to open.

regards worgeordie

 

Yes, that was true.  There were no pictures though, and the guy got fired.

However that was nearly 15 years ago so pretty irrelevant to today.

[userabcd]

18 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

 

Completely agree,

 

Also using shoddy or sub standard materials to skim off the top was and is and always will be, the other problem!

I would not say shoddy work or sub standard materials.

 

The airport was built on a swamp and the ground below is 10's of metres depth of water logged Bangkok clay. 

[DrTuner]

13 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Oh please spare me such a ridiculous comparison.  

Why not. U-Tapao has been there.. since the 60's? I remember it being mentioned it was built for heavy bombers. You'd think it would have been resurfaced at least once since. Of course, it hasn't been built on a swamp.

[natway09]

In the meantime we are hoping that an A380 does not do a "dump" landing.

When the tiling contractor (an accomplice of Thaksin's) substituted the tiles for a lesser grade 

(which was never spoken about but millions went sideways) I started to look around at what else was substandard, maybe this is another.

They say concrete better,,,,, only if the substrate is suitably prepared SIr,

look at the Bangkok /Chonburi Highway 45 Km of concrete highway broken up & taken away 

after only a few years 

[Muhendis]

On 1/9/2020 at 10:23 PM, josephbloggs said:

Complete and absolute rubbish.  Each of Heathrow's two runways undergoes maintenance for six months every year each, every night.  Heathrow closes for flights at 11pm and they do resurfacing work to one runway every night for six months then switch to the other one for six months.  Rinse and repeat.  They are constantly being resurfaced.  It is normal.

 

Suvaranabhumi operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week so they don't have the luxury of closing runways for maintenance each and every evening six months of each year.  Occasionally they therefore need to close part of one for repairs.  How long do you think a runway should last with hundreds of tons slamming down onto it pretty much once a minute 24 hours a day?  For ever?

I think we're now both on the same page here. After a quick check, I was amazed to see the amount of work done on the Heathrow airport runways including washing the special surface for friction enhancement. I agree this can't happen if a runway is in use 24/7. However, re-reading the OP the problem is not the runway but the taxiways and they don't have hundreds of tonnes slamming down on them as far as I know.

[gimo]

On 1/9/2020 at 6:26 PM, Muhendis said:

Heathrow was also built on a swamp but I don't think they ever had any soft runway problems. Perhaps UK builders are better controlled

    Kansai airport was built in/on Osaka bay . Sydney airport's main runway sticks out

into Botany bay .The Old Kai Tak in Hong Kong the same . A swamp shouldn't be a problem if the job's done properly. 

[Trip Hop]

By Portland cement, I presume they mean reinforced concrete of which Portland cement is one of the components, as on its own it would be about as much use as a chocolate teapot? It would do their credibility no end of good if their spokesperson actually came across as if he knew just the slightest bit about what he was talking about? It still wouldn’t solve the problem though unless they sort the problems out in the subgrade below and could end up being far more troublesome in the long term? Just look around you at where some of their concrete roads have collapsed? At least with asphalt, it is designed to be flexible and if any depressions or cracks occur, they can be remediated quickly in a couple of hours?

[Trip Hop]

Not necessarily a problem if treated correctly in the beginning, as clay can be stabilised quite easily using lime to form a strong thick crust which floats on the remaining clay below. To try and do this now though would result in the whole runway having to be ripped up and closed for a considerable time though?

[overherebc]

On 1/10/2020 at 10:21 AM, userabcd said:

I would not say shoddy work or sub standard materials.

 

The airport was built on a swamp and the ground below is 10's of metres depth of water logged Bangkok clay. 

Before any real construction started boreholes were drilled and a vertical pipe system was put in place. Special sheeting laid on top and many thousands of tons of gravel dumped on top the weight of it squeezing the vast majority of the water out through the pipes and filter systems inside the pipes. It left under the surface dry and compact enough for construction on top.