My favorite is in Michael Herr's "Dispatches", where he speaks of the
helicopters picking up the "tarmac" when the Marines pulled out of Khe
Sahn (however spelled).

At first I had an image of the choppers with bags of broken-up
asphalt, but eventually I realized he was talking about the
pierced-steel planking.

Evidently tarmac has become shorthand for "runways and stuff". I look
forward to the day when we read that a certain airport has a grass
tarmac.