I arrived in Funafuti on Thursday to negotiate our proposed grant for upgrading the Funafuti runway. The timing was perfect as Tuvalu had declared an emergency due to no rain for 10 months and the New Zealand Air Force had been flying in desalination plants and other emergency supplies. I was interested to see what had happened to the runway, and the news was not good.
The Funafuti runway was built by the Americans during World War II on reclaimed land. Resurfaced some 20 years ago, the chip seal pavement has shown severe wear, with depressions where there was poor compaction (or even worse – underwater caves) which have been patched. The surface is cracking and we are planning on spending some US$ 4.5 million to provide a new surface.
On Saturday there was another C130 flight and, like many people in town, I went out to watch it land. Not a lot to do in Funafuti. It was pretty scary watching them land: they appeared to only barely cleared the trees at the end of the runway. When I saw the air crew going for a walk along the runway I joined them to try and get some more information on their loading etc. The first question the pilot asked was ‘how close were we to the trees’. So I wasn’t the only one concerned. He was pleased to hear that we were planning on undertaking an Obstacle Limitation Survey which would lead to some trees being removed.
They told me that the runway had a PCN rating of 8 which is a very, very weak pavement. What was more disconcerting was their comment that the minimum PCN was 18 for the C130. So that meant every time they were landing they were overloading the pavement. In fact, they were going to see what the effects were.
The photo below is an example of what happens when a C130 turns around on the runway. It is not a skid mark, it is where they have ‘scrubbed off’ part of the surface of the runway. There was similar damages at the points of impact, but it was most obvious where they and the other flights had turned.
They parked the C130 in the middle of the runway, and it was unloaded by some NZ 
servicemen/women. The pilots commented that the lack of an apron was a major concern as were a plane to break down, the runway would be closed. We are looking at a new apron but I had to admit that I hadn’t thought about the need to cater for emergency flights with large aircraft such as this.
As I wandered back I had a look at the fire tender. We are buying a new one on the project, which will be designed
to run off salt water. I took a photo of the gauges which show that there is no water in the system. Doesn’t give a lot of confidence, even though the operators assured me that the did have water.
We are going to have to ensure that we look carefully at the pavement strength when we upgrade the runway. I can just see the headline should they continue to land C130’s on an under strength pavement. Not the sort of PR that I would like to have on one of my projects…
Scarry! When will the work start? How long will it take? I suppose they’ll have to close the airport down while the work is going on. Sounds like it’s very much needed!
Anne-in-law
Intersting – thanks for sharing. Good thing you could see the effects and possibly change the design