Summer Heat Wave 2012 : Plane Sinks Into Ground After Tarmac Melts

With temperatures breaking the 100 degree mark over the past week, there's no doubt that it's been hot out there during this nationwide heat wave. It has been so hot, that even air traffic is being affected.

It was so hot at Washington D.C.'s Reagan National Airport on Friday, that a U.S. Airways flight was delayed because the wheels got stuck in the tarmac, which melted beneath it. The plane was heading to Charleston, S.C., but the 100 degree temperatures was too much for the tarmac to handle, causing the plane to sink into the ground, The Washington Post reported.

"It was apparently a soft spot caused by the heat," airline spokeswoman Michelle Mohr said, and the airplane "wouldn't move."

A small electric tug cart that usually tows planes away from the gate was unable to move to plane from the soft spot. Since the cart was unable to make the plane budge, the 35 passengers and three crew members on board the 50-seat plane had to get off to reduce the weight.

Despite the reduced weight, the small cart was still unable to get the plane moving. A larger cart that is usually used to tug larger planes had to be brought in. The larger cart was able to get the job done and free the plane from the soft spot on the tarmac. After a three hour delay, the passengers got back on and the plane was finally able to make its way to Charleston.

The event was a rare one for the airport, but not surprising as temperatures reached 98 degrees on Friday after a week of similar temperatures. "It was a pretty unusual event," Mohr said, "but we're looking at some pretty unusual temperatures."

One of the passengers on the flight, Phillip Dugaw took a photo of the sunken plane and posted it to Reddit. He spoke to the Huffington Post about the incident. He said that while on the tarmac "there was a jerking motion going back and forth as if something was stuck and preventing the craft from moving at all." Despite the flight eventually leaving, Dugaw boarded an earlier, unstuck flight heading to Charleston.

For his photo of the plane sinking into the ground, Click Here.

The flight wasn't the only vehicle that was affected by the heat. The Huffington Post reported that three trains were derailed due to the excessive heat over the weekend as temperatures reached over 95 degrees for 10 days in a row.