We recently heard a story involving a student pilot who headed out to the airport for some night solo time and ended up facing his first real emergency.
According to his instructor, the student performed a preflight inspection in the winter chill with a flashlight before climbing aboard and heading out to the active. When he was ready to go, he taxied onto the runway and applied full power. Within seconds he knew something was wrong — the airspeed indicator remained at zero well beyond the point where he should have expected to see a reading.