Though most of the Kmax isues look to be pilot error, hitting trees, shutting off fuel accidently etc.
The splines houseing issues are a concern.
So it seems if that the drive from the engine is lost Rotor RPM decays very quickly or would that be from the material breaking up and causing drag?
Most likely the latter I imagine though reading the reports the RRPM drops quickly doesnt it.
Are they stopping producing the Kmax then?
I dont really see why, I dont think that is it a design issue though they dont have that many aircraft produced and have quite a few destroyed.
Interesting sites.
HF
They stopped production of the K-Max some time ago. The future of the aircraft will be dictated by the limited parts inventory at hand. Other issues included high acquisition costs, single engine operation in the operating environment they specialize in (dependent entirely on your point of view), and the extremely high insurance costs driven by a helicopter with a 42% loss rate - something that is incomparable in the helicopter business, or maybe even the entire aviation business.
The K-Max is not a bad machine, in fact it is very good at what it does. It is phenomenally slow however. There is also a very limited market for helicopters that only perform external load operations, as the Skycrane also found out when compared to a Chinook (oops, another dual rotor reference).
The facts above provide a pretty fair explanation as to why the K-Max has a limited future at this time, not to say it won't get ressurected in the future, perhaps by someone other tham Kaman even!