QUEEN’S RUNWAY: How Asiamah Tenkorang Helped Test Accra’s Airport Runway Before Ghana Could Welcome Bigger Aircraft

Long before Accra’s airport became the international gateway it is today, there was a serious question hanging over its runway: could it actually carry a heavy aircraft?

For 94-year-old Lawrence Frederick Asiamah Tenkorang, the answer had to be found not in an office, but on the runway itself.

Speaking to Kafui Dey, Mr Tenkorang recalled his role in testing the runway at the then Accra International Airport as authorities prepared to upgrade the facility to international standards.

The assignment came after concerns emerged over the airport’s ability to accommodate larger aircraft.

According to Mr Tenkorang, when Ghana’s President, Kwame Nkrumah invited Queen Elizabeth II to visit, authorities later realized that the airport was not equipped to safely handle the aircraft associated with such a visit.

“They got to know the airport wasn’t ready for the Queen,” he recalled.

He explained that the concern was essentially about weight.

“The plane was too heavy. That’s why the Queen did not come.”

Instead, Queen Elizabeth II sent the Duchess of Kent to represent her.

The episode, however, exposed a bigger problem and an opportunity.

Ghana needed to upgrade the airport and ensure that its runway could withstand the weight of larger aircraft.

That was where Mr Tenkorang came in.

At the time, he was working with the Public Works Department’s laboratory, where he was involved in technical testing.

“Land Rover was put for us. They were going to upgrade the airport to international. So they had to test the runway.”

The work was anything but ceremonial.

Mr Tenkorang and his team had to determine whether the runway was strong enough to withstand the enormous pressure that would be placed on it by a heavy aircraft.

A heavily loaded vehicle was used to simulate the kind of force that the runway would experience during landing.

The process involved hydraulic jacks, heavy metal plates, aluminium bars and measuring gauges.

The plates were positioned at points where the aircraft’s tyres were expected to make contact with the runway.

Then came the measurements.

Mr Tenkorang explained that the equipment was loaded and readings were taken repeatedly as the pressure was applied and released.

“We do it about 10 times. Then I stopped all the results I get, the various readings, how I could do the calculation on them.”

The work could take hours. And sometimes, the testing had to be done at night simply because the operational airport was busy during the day.

“Sometime it was the night that that place would be free. We put light on it.”

For Mr Tenkorang, however, the job was not about the historical significance of what he was helping to accomplish. He was simply doing the technical work he had been trained to do.

Asked about his role, he offered a surprisingly modest description of himself:

“In fact, I was an ordinary technician. I was doing the test.”

But his account shows that being an “ordinary technician” did not mean doing ordinary work.

He was responsible for setting up the equipment, directing the labourers, taking readings and recording the results before sending them to the engineers.

“I was doing everything there.”

The British expert involved in the testing had shown the team what to do, after which Mr Tenkorang and his colleagues carried out the actual field work.

The objective was straightforward but critical: establish the strength of the runway before allowing a heavier aircraft to use it.

As Mr Tenkorang put it:

“They are trying to know the strength of the runway.”

The consequences of getting it wrong were potentially disastrous.

“If you don’t know the strength, allow [the aircraft] to land, it will sink. Maybe the land is soft.”

The testing did not end with the main runway.

After completing that work, the team moved on to the taxiway.

“After finishing the runway, we came to the taxiway. The taxiway test tested all to the parking bays.”

Interestingly, Mr Tenkorang was not at the airport when the royal visitor eventually arrived.

He said he did not even concern himself with whether the work he had done would ultimately enable the aircraft to land.

His responsibility, as he saw it, was simply to do the job correctly.

“All what I know is that I tested the runway, did this and this and so on.”

But years later, the significance of that assignment is clear.

The runway had been strengthened and the airport moved closer to international standards, helping Ghana prepare for larger aircraft and a more modern aviation future.

And for the quiet technician who spent hours measuring pressure on the tarmac, there was one thing that mattered most:

“The testing was correct. No mistake.”