I was once at a safety class. They had just discussed forgetting to turn ON the gasoline; that there was just enough fuel in the carburator to climb out, engine die, attempt to return, stall, and crash inverted, just off the runway. Classic accident. Within five minutes crash sirens went off—some poor pilot had had exactly that crash.
DG
I was taught that's why you take your time when you're about to go for flight! The plane I learned to fly in had a sparse panel. Tach, airspeed, oil pressure and temp, magnetic compass, turn and bank indicator and not much more. The first thing I learned was to shut the engine back to idle as soon as it started and let it stay there until the oil temp began to register something above the outside temp. I was told there's little oil circulating when the engine first starts and it's rough on it to rev it up without waiting for the oil to warm up a bit and make its way through the innards of the engine. That usually meant sitting there at idle for at least three minutes. Plenty of time to use up fuel in carburetor and for the engine to die if you had missed that part of the check list calling for ‘fuel to fullest’ tank, or just ‘on’ in the case of the Aeronca Champ.
You also shut the engine down immediately if there wasn't an indication of oil pressure within a few seconds. Of course usually I was out front of the airplane with it chocked in place while I propped it off. No starter in that machine. Spartan as it was I would sure love to have that plane now! I forget the exact sequence, but it was several steps to prop it off by yourself. Miss one or mess up one and you ran the real risk of being run over and killed by the prop.
Sorry for the rambling, but those sure are fond memories of what it was like to learn to fly in the 50’s. I wouldn't want to be starting out again in today's aviation world. I used to spend Sunday afternoon hanging around the airport hoping to get a ride in someone’s Ercoupe or Stinson Voyager or Navion.