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That must be exciting. A good way to lose your eyebrows.
Our Magic Chef is a 2007/8 model and the pilot is very hard to light, but I don't know exactly what yours is like. But if you turn the knob all the way past "pilot", the main burner may light as well as the pilot light. If you turn it on for mere seconds before you light it, enough gas may accumulate that a fireball is likely (our home kitchen has a 1932 Magic Chef without a pilot light and I have to light the burners fast or get a small fireball; I keep a lit match ready as soon as I turn on the gas). Make sure you only turn it to pilot, push in the knob, light the pilot, hold the knob for about 30 seconds, then the pilot light should stay on, then turn the knob to oven.
Some people try to light the main burner this way because the pilot light can be hard to light; this is not a good idea.
If you are doing this correctly, you have a problem (you knew that). The pilot light heats a thermocouple which when hot creates a small current and opens the main gas valve so the burner will light. It takes about 20 or 30 seconds to heat up the thermocouple to allow this, but once the pilot light is lit, you can turn the knob and the main burner may light. People don't like holding down the knob when it is in pilot position, so they do this. Sometimes the pilot will go out after 30 seconds (or longer) and this means the thermocouple needs replacing. A trailer stove not used for a while will be hard to light because it takes a while for the gas to get to the pilot to light it. This is frustrating and usually by the 3rd or 4th match it lights.
Newer gas appliances have other ways to light them, but yours probably doesn't. Thermocouples have been around for generations and work pretty well, but are not so easy to replace on some of them.
I think you know gas can be dangerous, so check everything carefully and keep back from the oven if you try this again. The pilot is so far in the back of the oven on ours that keeping back would require I have my arm lengthened, but I try to be careful and use a flashlight to see what I'm doing while my wife operates the knob. A triple jointed athlete may be able to operate the knob and light the pilot, but I don't qualify.
Gene
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