The throttle servo isn't reversed is it? Just thought I'd ask.

I've had planes stick their throttles at wide open a couple of times, for different reasons. (and no pre-flight would have prevented it either, trust me ). Anyway, the best thing to do is just what you did, fly around and wait to run out of gas. Just stay high and near your entry to the landing approach, so you are in a good spot to deadstick.

I have actually done full throttle landings on wheel-less planes. It can be done, though it's a bit hard on the airplane. If you have some nice soft tall grass at the end of the runway it can help. In my case, it was a combat plane that didnt' have landing gear, so a full throttle belly landing isn't that hard to do, and didn't break anything either (well, broke the prop). In the case of a trainer, I wouldn't try a high throttle landing. If I had to be down NOW! (approaching thunderstorm or something), I'd go for a "barrier landing" in the tall grass, but the odds of getting away with out damage is pretty low.