Dad and Mom with my buddy N267KA
Most of the facts about the Kmax listed in this tread are correct but not the fears (except for a few details)
1) It was originally designed as a multipurpose helicpcopter for military and commercial use. The beam that the rear legs are attached to was designed to carry machine guns and missle launchers like the old Hueys during the Viet nam war.
2) Also the passenger capacity is 3, altought all the literature says 1. There are specially designed seats that attach to the top side of the rear langing gear beam that can be mounted next to the fusalage.
I know all this beacuse I worked with Kmax helicpters for 2.5 years.
Blades
1) When powered off the tip of one of the blades is about 8 feet off the ground, the rest are higher. They use a 2 to 3 ft metal hook to catch a metal loop on the end of the blades in order to attach the tie down ropes. They catch one blade, rotate them until the next blades is next to the ground, catch it and so on
2) When powering up, the blades are still about 8-10 feet off the ground, but may dip closer if the pilot twists the blades during rotation testing. The blades are made of laminated wood and depend on blade twisting and other controls to get lift and for autorotation. During high winds or when the blades are rotating, you only approach the helicopter from the front or back. Otherwise it is safe to approach the helicopter from the sides
3) It is very safe to go up to the helicopter from the front or back when the blades are turning, and is very safe to open the cab when the blades are turning at low rpm
Blade contact and the tranmission
It is impossible for the interloacking blades to hit each other. Many accidents with the helicopter happened do to blade failure, but never due to a timing situation where the interlocking blades hit each other. What you call the timing isn't a matter of timing. The Kmax has a V shaped tranmission, so the transission would have to loose a gear which is impossible, and if you saw the guts of this transmission you would know why
Current use
harvesting lumber, chimney demolition, carrying heaving loads such as airconditioning units to the roof of tall buildings, firefighting using a bambi bucket or the kamax water tank, seismic work - delivering seismic equipment, moving and poring cement in specially design cement hoppers, lifeting moving and placing tall towers for ski lifts and power lines, lifting vehicles and other things from an accident site, and Dubai wanted to equip one with a water cannon (like on fire trucks) to put out fires inside sky scrappers.
