CAA A320 at Mbuji Mayi on Jan 29th 2023, dropped part of elevator on departure

Last Update: February 7, 2023 / 19:19:43 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 29, 2023

Classification
Accident

Flight number
BU-415

Aircraft Registration
9S-ABM

Aircraft Type
Airbus A320

ICAO Type Designator
A320

A CAA Compagnie Africaine Aviation Airbus A320-200, registration 9S-ABM performing flight BU-415 from Mbuji Mayi to Kinshasa N'Djili (DR Congo), departed Mbuji Mayi's runway 34 when most of the left hand elevator separated from the aircraft. The aircraft climbed out, the captain decided to continue the flight to Kinshasa requesting only right hand turns, climbed to FL300 enroute, performed a low pass at Kinshasa to have the aircraft assessed from the ground and subsequently, again using right hand turns only, positioned for another approach and landing on Kinshasa's runway 24 about 90 minutes after departure.

The separated part of the Elevator was recovered from the aerodrome in Mbuji Mayi.

According to local sources there was no collision or abnormal contact of the aircraft, it just looks like a structural failure as result of fatigue.

Photographic evidence The Aviation Herald received on Feb 7th 2023 suggests however, that some sort of impact damage must have triggered the elevator separation.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 29, 2023

Classification
Accident

Flight number
BU-415

Aircraft Registration
9S-ABM

Aircraft Type
Airbus A320

ICAO Type Designator
A320

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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