May I offer this explanation ?The Default Flight is the one which is presented to you when the sim first starts up and you are in the Create a Flight dialogue. If you have not changed it to something else, it is normally a Cessna at Seattle (or Meigs in earlier releases).This can be changed when you Save a flight with some other aircraft and perhaps a differnet location. On the Save screen is an option to "Make this the Default flight".If you do that, the next time you start the sim, that will be presented to you.All of this very important because quite a few settings, such as the state of the engines, are passed on to whatever aircraft you then select (before you "fly now").I imagine the fuel status from your "default flight" would be passed on also - presuming the newly selected aircraft had the same fuel tank arrangement. Perhaps some further experiments are in order.Does that help at all?

Hi Opa--I understand all that about the fs "DEFAULT FLIGHT". I was just following Joe's suggestion to name a flight "MY default" flight.One last question.. if I make a flight and save it as "THE" DEFAULT FLIGHT-- is there a way to save the original MSFS DEFAULT FLIGHT-- the 172---somewhere in case I want to return it as the-- well;; DEFAULT-- because as mentioned above, some higher-end aircraft do recommend opening the default flight first. My wife is Chinese and comes back from spending the summer in China on WED. After that this may all me moot anyway. :( Just kidding...Once I have your suggestion. i will experiment...You are so generous with your time here, for everyone's benefit. And always so patient...with your patients..Bill

The original "default flight" in FS2004 is not called that at all - it is named FLTSIM.FLT and is located here:C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\Flights\otherIt should never be removed as FS2004 will seek to use it if no other saved flight is specified on the situation= line in your FS9.cfg file.When you save another flight and put a tick mark in the "Make this the default flight" box, the path to that saved flight gets written to the situation= line on the FS9.cfg file. FS2004 will attempt to find whatever that FLT is named and present it on the Create a Flight screen.Hope that clarifies things just a bit. EDIT ADDED for clarification:In every saved flight - including the FLTSIM.FLT - the very first line in the FLT file (which can be opened with Notepad) provides the name which is displayed on the Select a Flight screen.For example - the FLTSIM.FLT starts out this way:[Main]Title=Default FlightDescription=You are at Seattle Tacoma International Airport (KSEA). Release the parking brakes, apply full power, and take off. Have a good flight!AppVersion=9.0.30304FlightVersion=1Thus if you are in the Select a Flight dialogue and navigate to the "other" folder you see a selectable flight named Default Flight - even though the file is actually named FLTSIM.FLT.

Bill,What you see in the aircraft.cfg file is the location of the tanks in the plane and their capacity.How much fuel is in them is saved in the .flt file.As Opa said, if you start the sim from the create-a-flight screen any plane you choose will load with the fuel quantities listed in you current default flight.If you start from a saved flight the fuel quantities will be whatever is in that particular flights .flt file.Hope this helps clear things up a bit,Joe

Thanks Joe, I think I misunderstood your "my default" for just making any flight I wish the 'default." So between you and Opa and Alex I think I understand what to try. ( Can you believe I've flying since FS98!!However, I'm zonked...so zonked I just bought and downloaded the new Constellation Pro from just flight, getting all excited to give her a try.. then when the installation wouldn't work, realized it was for------ FSX! I have FS9. :( I'll give these suggestions a try tomorrow..Many thanks to all you guys for all the help..Good night.. Bill

I made a new DEFAULT flight with an aircraft with 5-6 tanks. This pretty much does the trick. Not all aircraft load with all tanks at 50%. Occasionally one will load at 100%..even with the same named tank as the default There seems to be no rhyme or reason.BUT-- it is infinitely closer to what I was looking for and will save time when going up for shorter flights.Thank you for all the generous help and patience.

I made a new DEFAULT flight with an aircraft with 5-6 tanks. This pretty much does the trick. Not all aircraft load with all tanks at 50%. Occasionally one will load at 100%..even with the same named tank as the default There seems to be no rhyme or reason.BUT-- it is infinitely closer to what I was looking for and will save time when going up for shorter flights.Thank you for all the generous help and patience.

Happy we could be of assistance - that's why they pay us the Big Bucks! :(

Well Opa, you definitely deserve a raise. Bill

Well Opa, you definitely deserve a raise. Bill

I won't argue - but the "raise" should go everyone who chips in with good advice in all of the forums. :(

Opa,Well you shamed me into it (just kidding)I just made a modest contribution to the library. So you should be getting a small raise soon. :( I forget how much I appreciate all the hard work that I can not even imagine everyone does there.Bill