On January 29, 2023, a quite dangerous incident occurred on a domestic flight operated by Compagnie Africaine Aviation from Mbuji Mayi to Kinshasa N'Djili. Shortly after the 9S-ABM took off, the left elevator broke off and became detached from the aircraft.

The medium-haul jet was flying within the Democratic Republic of the Congo under flight number BU415. The aircraft took off on runway 34. Up to this point, everything was normal, but then a large part of the left elevator broke off and flew off the 9S-ABM. As a result, the Airbus A320 operated by CAA was only able to maneuver to a very limited extent.

According to official information, the pilots could not make left turns, only right turns. Since the situation was extremely unclear, the captain decided to initially continue the flight to Kinshasa and carry out a low-level flight near the tower before landing. Background: He asked that people on the ground use binoculars and other tools to observe the Airbus A320 closely and report the damage to the aircraft. In such cases, it may actually make more sense to continue the flight for the time being, since the risk is significantly lower if the flight direction is maintained than if maneuvers are undertaken without knowing the exact damage.

After the two pilots had received the information from the ground, after brief consultation between the co-pilot and the captain, it was decided that a particularly careful landing, which had previously been initiated exclusively with right turns, would be carried out. The cockpit team successfully landed the 9S-ABM safely at Kinshasa N'Djili Airport. The severed part of the tailplane was recovered in Mbuji Mayi

According to official information, there should be no signs of third-party fault or a collision. Authorities currently assume that material fatigue is the most likely cause. Exact details can only be given when experts have prepared an expert opinion.