Why are there so many steps to starting an engine on a plane? Why not a turn-key start?

Factual Questions
1

I was watching a video of a guy climbing into a small plane and starting it before flying off (see below).

My question is why so much button pushing, switch flipping and whatnot to start the engine (in this case a single-engine turbo-prop I think)?

We can start a car with a key-turn in seconds. Why can’t you do the same with a small plane? Hell…I bet some cars have more powerful engines than some planes so I doubt it is just that.

But for the plane it is this whole weird process.

I assume a jet is even worse but I do not know.

2

I honestly didn’t go looking for this one but Google in its spooky way put it in as a recommendation so here is the startup of a DC-3. It is a much bigger plane so one might expect a more difficult startup but geez…

3

Not every press/flip is to start the engines. You have to eg connect the battery, activate the APU, fuel pumps, etc before hitting the starter. Of course, if a human pilot can figure out how to do it, there is no reason in principle why an AI system could not assuming it were somehow hooked up so that it could affect the relevant systems.

4

Makes sense but why is a car so easy to start and a plane so difficult when their engines can be close in power (a Bugatti Veyron has 1,200 hp…I would be surprised if the engine in the OP was more powerful)?

I agree there is no reason automation could not be put in to a plane for this. My DC-3 example above is too old but the plane in the OP should be new enough yet it is still the start this, start that, wait, wait, turn that off, turn that on wait, wait, off, off process that just seems needless in this era.

5

For small planes, it’s probably the expense involved in getting FAA certification for the new software and equipment. The units-sold are just too low to justify it. Also, I think a lot of private* pilots are gadget nuts anyway, and like the complex process.

*referring to those who fly for fun, not the level of license.

6

Some of it depends on the age of the airplane - I’ve flown an airplane built in 1942, and many that rolled off the assembly line between 1950 and 1975 when modern automation was not a thing. As noted, the FAA imposes a LOT of barriers and hoops to jump through to significantly modify an airplane from its original equipment. It’s just not cost-effective to make the changes.

That said - some kitplanes, ultralights, and newer designs are closer to “turn-key”. The Ikarus I flew was fuel injected with digital fuel control which translates to “a lot less monkeying around with carb controls and other knobs in general”. There was still a start-up procedure, though, and it wasn’t simply turn-the-key-and-go.

This is because a bunch of that “turn knob, wait, flip switch, wait” business is to double-check that things are actually working prior to taking off. I’ve caught electrical problems, fuel flow problems, instrumentation problems, and so on prior to launch by proper pre-flight and start-up procedures. (I have also missed a couple, finding them after I was in the air. Such events can be… educational :astonished::thinking: :grimacing: ). Since it’s much harder to “pull over” in an airplane as compared to stopping your car if there’s an issue there is definite motivation to find problems sooner rather than later.

That said, in a dire emergency you CAN jump into, say, a small Cessna, ignore the formal pre-flight checks, and get going with about as much to-do as a car… but the risks go up considerably. I’ve known people to do that, and they even get away with it… sometimes. Sometimes it does not end well.

Now, could we design an automated airplane that could do all those little checks and what not so the would-be pilot could hop in the seat, turn the key, wait three minutes for the machine to self-diagnose, and then go fly? Yes, I think we could. But pilots are trained to pay a lot more attention to their vehicle than are drivers of cars, and by the end of that training tend to want to know more than the average car driver.

It’s a bit - very little bit - like the distinction between drivers who drive automatic transmissions with “idiot lights” on the dash who don’t give a damn about what’s going on under the hood, they just want something to take them from point A to point B reliably and safely vs. drivers who want manual transmissions and all sorts of RPM and temperature gauges on the dashboard because in addition to simple transportation they want to understand what is going on in the machine and be more involved in it.

7

“todays cars are the most complex, sophisticated machines ever to be placed in the hands of inexpert operators" - Richard Parry Jones

8

I can certainly understand this…especially on a passenger plane. As noted, you can’t just pull to the side of the road if you have problem.

But, while anecdotal, in my 30+ years of driving cars never has one just stopped working while driving. An engine going completely kaput while whizzing down the road is nearly unheard of (I would say completely unheard of but I know to never say never around here). Usually the engine gives signs it is having issues before it just stops.

Why are planes so much more finicky in this regard?

9

Missed the edit window:

Would farting around with your car for three minutes to get it started reduce breakdowns when driving down the highway?

10

Just FTR this happened to me. My timing belt broke. The car went from whizzing down the road to completely dead instantly and with no warning.

11

Did you crash?

Things break. It’s going to happen no matter what. But I don’t think a three minute startup would have caught your timing belt problem.

12

Probably. But nobody checks these things every time they drive because the consequences are rarely fatal.

Let’s take for example the oil pressure. If you start your engine and your oil pressure is too low to operate the car safely, how many people would notice? Some people might notice the “idiot light” but I am sure that some people would not notice, or would not recognize it’s importance. If you trained drivers in how a car works (rather than just traffic laws and how to steer) then you might have people running down a startup checklist like pilots do. An engine seizing up could be dangerous.

Tires. How many people walk around their car to check the tires before they get in and start it? If you do this it could avoid some highway blowouts if, for example, you have a cut in the sidewall, wear below the limits, or other flaw.

13

No, I didn’t crash, but that wasn’t part of your assertion.

14

You’re flying along, lulled into a trance at the beauty of it all and A BIRD JUST GOT SUCKED INTO THE ENGINE OH FUCK IT’S ON FIRE and I hope you remember what all those little switches do…

15

True but there are various levels of breakdowns in both planes and cars. We usually distinguish between ones that harm us and ones we can walk away from.

16

Actually, I’ve had that happen twice in about 35 years of driving.

The first time the wiring harness disconnected itself, which meant no sparks for the spark plugs and no entire power. I pulled over and had to call my flight instructor to say I could not make it that day. Ironically, “engine failure procedures” was on the list of items for flight instruction that day.

The second time was when the tension pulley for the belt in my pickup spontaneously disassembled itself all over 45th street in Gary, Indiana at 1 am. Fortunately, my local mechanic did have a guy on call for towing.

I will, however, point out my tendency to drive (as well as fly) old vehicles where the chances of this sort of weirdness increases significantly over newer vehicles.

Airplane engines are run at higher rpm’s relative to their peak capacity as compared to vehicles and they run in more variable conditions (temperature and air pressure can vary wildly on a flight). Also, because weight is a big problem in aviation, airplane engines tend to be smaller than most people would expect so you have a relatively small (compared to ground vehicle) engine expected to run with significant demands in variable conditions. As a guess.

17

That is genuinely scary. A stalled airplane engine may be less scary.

Not kidding.

18

::: rasies hand :::: I do… but then, I am a trained pilot…

Speaking as someone who has had to deal with breakdowns in both… in general, when Bad Stuff happens in an airplane you typically have less time in which to deal with the problem and far greater likelihood of a too-hard impact into a solid object (the planet, if nothing else). This gives greater motivation to avoiding problems in the first place in airplanes.

I’m not sure mechanical problems, particularly those dealing with engines, are more common than in ground vehicles these days. A lot of the fatalities in small planes have a heavy weather component. Weather is more of a problem for aircraft than ground vehicles.

Context is important but… yeah. I’d say losing the belt in the middle of the night in the pick up was more alarming than one of the two engine failures I’ve dealt with in small airplanes. A little proud that petite little middle-aged me is capable of horsing a pickup through a 45 degree turn with the power steering out - I didn’t want to be sitting in the middle of two-lane road in an area with no street lights and no lights on my vehicle, it seemed a recipe for an even worse night/morning than I was already having.

19

Just to be clear:

I am all for super-duper, extra-careful, look at everything with a microscope care by the pilots and ground crew on any plane I will fly on. I also care about others so them too.

I am just not seeing how all the fuss to start the engine actually makes things safer. If it does…great! Keep doing that. Really…I don’t want to die and chances are the pilot doesn’t want to either. Take all the time you need to turn the plane on.

20

Context is important.

You were in Gary, Indiana. It is a very, very dangerous city to be in, especially at 1am. I have had police warn me away from that whole city…for real.

I’m glad you had no trouble. By all accounts there are few worse places to have that happen in the whole US.