Bell 430 crash near 20km ESE off Cabinda, Cabinda, Angola

The Bell 430 was flying from Malongo to the Tômbwa-Lândana offshore installation, on contract to Chevron's Angolan subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company, when it crashed into the sea about 20km east-southeast of Cabinda. All six aboard — five passengers and the pilot — were killed. Nineteen vessels and three helicopters were deployed in the search, and divers subsequently located the wreckage. The INIPAT investigation determined the probable cause was the failure of the orange main rotor blade pitch link safety hook. Contributing factors were corrosion on the hook leading to fatigue failure; a considerable loss of grease in the universal bearing caused by excessive temperature in the bearing's ball protection body; impaired movement of the pitch hook resulting from calcination of the bearing balls; and vibration and overloads arising from that impaired movement. Transport Canada issued an airworthiness directive in July 2021 noting that a main rotor pitch link clevis had fractured at the neck through fatigue originating at a corrosion pit.