oryxs
I agree with your statements. There are certain failures that can not be detected (planetary gears?) yet the HUMS suppliers continually over reach. Is HUMS a major safety enhancement - Yes!! However, those vendors that claim total coverage are self serving and will try to shift blame elsewhere.
The greatest "crime" related to the HUMS
PR machine is the blame that went to HS on the Puma overspeed when the HUMS vendor claimed that if an accel had been fixed they would have saved the aircraft. At that time they failed to mention the 100/1+ false alarm rates which has still poisoned the waters for the benefits these systems can provide..
The Sultan