An incident was recorded with an Airbus A320 on Sunday, January 29, involving the loss of part of the flight control deck just after take-off and the continuation of the operation to the destination.
The aircraft in question, as you mentioned Air HeraldIt is an Airbus A320 with registration number 9S-ABM, operated by CAA Compagnie Africaine d’Aviation, an airline based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The aircraft was departing runway 34 from Mbuji-Mayi, on board Flight BU-415 to Kinshasa-Njeli, both airports in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, when most of the left elevator part of the aircraft separated.
There is still no information to indicate if the pilots became aware of the problem sooner or if they were only warned during the flight, which normally lasted just over an hour to Kinshasa, at an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) and a speed of up to 470 knots (870 km/h), according to FlightRadar24 platform data.
Upon arrival, the pilots only turned to the right and made a low pass over the runway, so that the aircraft could be observed from the ground. Then they came back close again and landed on Kinshasa’s runway 24, about 90 minutes after takeoff.
The missing part of the elevator was found in the area of the same departure airport in Mbuji-Mayi. According to local sources, there is no knowledge of any collision or abnormal contact of the plane while it was operating at the airport.
