Why don't airplane engines have pull starts like cars and boats? Wouldn't it make life much easier?

Yea, until...

You pull the handle several times...

Then the engine starts unexpectedly...

It scares you, so you let go of the rope...

The rope gets sucked back into the engine like a piece of spaghetti...

The plastic handle whips around violently...

It goes into the prop arc...

The prop severs the rope and at the same time flings the plastic handle at warp speed toward the flightline hitting a pilot who is flying a $3000 Giant Scale Extra 300 knocking him to the ground unconscious...

His plane does a death spiral into the nearby hospital for orphans killing 3 and injuring 27...

And all this, because you didn't want to buy an electric starter.

Thanks Minnflyer. I couldn't have said it better myself. Especially since I was on the freaking floor laughing my buttocks off.

MinnFlyer, that is a nice way of putting it.

that and do you really want to try and pull start a cranky OS .61?

about the only use I can see for pullstarts on a plane is with ducted fans. I have seen 3 difrent starting methods for DF (shaft through the rear, shaft through a front panel, belt start) and I think they all are not worth the trouble, a pull start would be nice and easy, eps with on board glow.

open hatch, prime, flip switch, give a couple of pulls and fly.

So I guess there is such a thing as a stupid question???

I was thinking of a handle that would retract into a recess in the cowl. Out of the way, and out of airflow.

have you ever tried to pullstart a brand new, non broken in high compression engine on an r/c truck like the .21 on the HPI Savage? That's a serious pain in the....let's just say hand here. Now, consider trying to do the same thing with say, oh, an OS 91. Worse yet, try that on a Moki 2.10. I'll stick to flipstarting or using my trusty electric starter. Just wish I had one for my Savage.

No I haven't, but I pull start my weed eater at home just fine.

Remember this is a beginner page, obviously by asking this question I'm a beginner. I only asked because I've seen it on other things and not on planes, and wondered why.
I guess it's because someone crashed into an orphanage...

The pull start can add significant weight to the engine.

I know of only one plane that has a pull start engine, the Kyosho ducted fan ARF model. But it uses a .15 size engine so it is pretty small, plus there is no prop. And you must realize that a weed-eater doesn't have the large prop disk in front either. Plus a pull start tends to add lots of weight. If you for example have a 30cc engine like your weed-eater has, have you seen the size of the pull start for them? Pretty big, so must also be 1.) Heavy and 2.) Bulky. Therefore you would be putting useless weight in the nose which you could avoid as well as having issues with fitting in the provided space. Furthermore many trucks and cars don't have pull-starts at all because it once again is heavy, and can sometimes even cause air leaks in the backplate due to worn bushing/seal.

Backwing,

There's no such thing as a stupid question. It was a very legitimate question. Don't think that I was making fun of you, because I wasn't.

I was just having a little fun with my answer.

(pretty good huh? LOL)

Weight, ah ha. I see.

MinnFlyer... April fools Oh wait that was yesterday.

Thanks, now I see why it hasn't made it over to aircraft.

april fools? nah minnflyer is a fool 365 days of the year, not just in april (im gonna get it for that one)

its not a stupid question at all, in fact I am pondering using pullstarts (if I can mod the engines for them) for a twin I want to build, just to simplify starting, but i still havent figured if I want to add the wieght yet. we will see when I get the thing built.