Today a Chateauroux Airport taxiway gave in due to the weight of a British Airways Airbus A380.
Around 10:30 local time a BA A380, with registration G-XLED, landed in Chateauroux Airport, France for long-term storage. After this, the aircraft was parked on the taxiway along with other BA A380’s that had already arrived days before.
In the images provided by @airline_kitty, it is possible to see that meanwhile taxiing to its parking stand on a taxiway the BA A380 sank into the pavement resulting in damage.
This probably happened due to the number of big airplanes, like the A380, stored on the same taxiway or close by. An A380 has an Operating Empty Weight (EOW) of 277 tonnes.
Currently, seven of the 12 British Airways Airbus A380 fleet are parked at Chateauroux Airport, due to the low demand caused by COVID-19. These A380’s have the following registrations: G-XLEA, G-XLEC, G-XLED, G-XLEF, G-XLEI, G-XLEJ and G-XLEL.
In the following video it is possible to see BA A380’s in storage:
News in development
Feature Image courtesy of Airline Kitty by various source
A contributing factor is that water run-off tends to soften or even void the ground near the edges of no-curb roadways . There must be an inspection and mitigation program in place .
D.H.
Ya
Hi sirs,thank for this information
It happened not because of the nearby weight but because it appears the wheel traveled OFF the edge of the taxiway. You can see a taxiway edge light next to the tire track. Not all of the paved portion of taxiways are reinforced. The edges are often a this layer of asphalt or concrete.
Just seen a A380 BA9159 fly over West Sussex on way to Chateauroux ( currently over The English Channel).
We knew this fact 18 years ago hen the WB grounded fleets after 9/11 started to sink into the runways/taxiways.