Harley
No offense taken, but as a dedicated stirrer, you really can't help yourself can you ?
The only reason for a flight manual is to outline the occasions where the specific requirements of an aircraft deviate from the accepted norm.
Putting paragraphs in there stating "For take-off, line the aircraft along the runway and open the throttle" are totally (or should be) superfluous and do nothing but increase the bulk of the POH and make it all the more difficult to find the things that REALLY matter.
Have you seen some of the POH's lateley ? No wonder manufacturers keep uprating their engines...it's so they can carry the POH!!!
My ONLY reason for citing the Auster and its poh is simply to point out that a generalised statement such as RTFM has to taken with care.
Great as a starting point but they cannot cover all possibilities and it behooves the driver to know the systems and apply that knowledge where the POH is deficient or even wrong.
I can cite examples on modern aircraft such as the Navajo where the POH is misleading, but that's not what this thread's about.
I think we agree on the fundamentals (even about BSAs and Morris Oxfords ( but that's another subject)