Why have kick starters gone extinct?

[the_undecider_imp]

Gentlemen,

Kick starting a big motorcycle engine is a lost art now. My old Honda XL600 single was a b**ch to start when it was hot after a crash. Especially in deep sand or on the side of a steep hill. Sometimes I thought I'd have a heart attack before that thing lit up. I don't miss that. In 1983 I had a new Pitts Special S-1T aerobatic aircraft built with a 360 C.I. fuel injected Lycoming engine. To save weight I had it built without a starter, battery, or alternator. It had two magnetos and needed to be hand propped to start it. It was common back then and most akro pilots were comfortable propping their friends planes but today it seems suicidal. Last football season I found myself with a dead battery in Texas and I had my girlfriend stand on the brakes while I hand propped the massive 540 C.I. Lycoming in my Glasair III to life. The line personnel thought I was insane.

Electric starters are a wonderful thing when they work which is most of the time.

Chip

I guess the trick is not to lean in forward too much when you're hand-propping an airplane...