Hi Alex,
I am not from Laminar Research; just a flight simmer from down under.
There are at least 3 options for starting to fly an aircraft.
1. Cold start at the hangar door; or
2. At the end of a runway; where the engine is already started; and
3. In the air with the engine running. From reading your question this is where you need to start
In addition you want to create your own failures.
It all can be done but you need to do some detailed reading of the manual which can be found at https://x-plane.com/manuals/desktop/
Good winds
Glenn