starting on tarmac
 

disregard

I generally start on tarmac, then wind up in a hedge, tree, field, another plane, and then finally nose down in a nicely ploughed furrow. Just ask Hunter ;)

BTW, if you are discussing il-2, you can get the FMB+ mod and it allows you to place ALL objects that come with the game in regular missions (this is NOT map editing, it's straight mission building).

That means you can place runway ground plates, for example.

In adidtion, you can place the "Runaway" (sic) obhect which is what determins the runway as a spawn point, landing area, etc. The spawn point for the lead aircraft is exactly 1000m behind this object (it has a direction arrow). Using this you can make a spawn point anyplace you like.