Damaged AIR file error

[Guest cbreeze]

Greetings,I am running Win7 and FSX. I recently tried loading some add on aircraft and some repaints from POSKY. When I do this, I get a damaged AIR file error message. Cansomeone please help me out? I have no idea what this is ora possible fix.Thank you,cbreeze

[Guest anthony31fs]

The air file contains information about the flight dynamics of the aircraft.It can be found in your FSX/SimObjects/Airplanes/NAME OF AIRCRAFT/ folderIt will have a file extension .air . For example: the default Cessna 172's air file is located here FSX/SimObjects/Airplanes/C172/Cessna172SP.airFirst thing I would do is check that there is actually an air file. The second thing is to check the air file name matches the one being called by FSX. Open the aircraft.cfg file which should be in the same folder as the air file and have a look for the line "sim=" (there will be a sim= line in each [fltsim] entry) and make sure it matches the air file name. Again using the C172 example the line is "sim=Cessna172SP" and the air file is Cessna172SP.air.The third thing would be to redownload the base aircraft and reinstall it. If the air file is damaged then there really is no way to fix it.Hope this helps

[Opa 6]

Greetings,I am running Win7 and FSX. I recently tried loading some add on aircraft and some repaints from POSKY. When I do this, I get a damaged AIR file error message. Cansomeone please help me out? I have no idea what this is ora possible fix.Thank you,cbreeze

Do you happen to have the Adobe Acrobat PDF reader installed?If so, you most likely allowed an automatic update from Adobe which also installed a program named Adobe Air. Adobe Air (which happens to use the same .air file extension name) is only used by a very few websites to display their information.This is in no way related to the .air files which FS uses but it does trigger an "error" message.The Adobe Air program can be safely removed from your system and that should stop the error message.Hope that helps.

[Guest cbreeze]

Do you happen to have the Adobe Acrobat PDF reader installed?If so, you most likely allowed an automatic update from Adobe which also installed a program named Adobe Air. Adobe Air (which happens to use the same .air file extension name) is only used by a very few websites to display their information.This is in no way related to the .air files which FS uses but it does trigger an "error" message.The Adobe Air program can be safely removed from your system and that should stop the error message.Hope that helps.

Opa,Thank you very much for the response. I literally was up all night trying to find an answer and you are absolutley right. It was very difficult to find info on the web about this issue but I eventually got it. I have just enough knowledge about computers to be dangerous (to myslef and my computer) and never would have guessed that there was a link between Adobe and a FSX install issue. It was a long night and I can't remember where/how I got to the answer but when I deleted Adobe from my machine, the error went away. I sure hope this helps others who might have the same problem and saves them from not having a good sleep.Thanks again, Cbreeze

[Opa 6]

Opa,Thank you very much for the response. I literally was up all night trying to find an answer and you are absolutley right. It was very difficult to find info on the web about this issue but I eventually got it. I have just enough knowledge about computers to be dangerous (to myslef and my computer) and never would have guessed that there was a link between Adobe and a FSX install issue. It was a long night and I can't remember where/how I got to the answer but when I deleted Adobe from my machine, the error went away. I sure hope this helps others who might have the same problem and saves them from not having a good sleep.Thanks again,Cbreeze

Glad to hear you got the problem solved.FYI - I have all my "updates" set to advise me first that they are available and then it requires my permission to install them. That has saved me a lot of headaches.The Adobe Reader is still valid but if you want to try a fine alternative reader, many of us use Foxit. It is free and works very well.http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/

[Guest BrianMessier]

I happened to find out that many of my aircraft have damaged air files myself... but they will still load, just no textures.. you get that white silver skeleton texture..... would that be the adobe problem causing that ??

[Holger 0]

Hi Brian,as Opa explained the damaged .air file message is a false positive created by Adobe Air. Adobe checks the file header of all .air files on your computer, can't figure out what the FS .air files are, and thus pops up the error messages. Another way to get around this is to disassociate the .air extension from Adobe Air via Windows Explorer.Do you happen to have the DX10 Preview active in FSX? That can cause incompatible airplanes to not show any textures.Cheers, Holger

[rhagen 0]

...Adobe Air (which happens to use the same .air file extension name) is only used by a very few websites to display their information.

I found at least one other application that uses Adobe Air. My Dad reported the same erroneous error message. I told him it was caused by Adobe Air and he could uninstall it. His wireless heart monitor software that his doctor uses to track his daily readings quite working. Ooops!!! :(

[Opa 6]

I found at least one other application that uses Adobe Air. My Dad reported the same erroneous error message. I told him it was caused by Adobe Air and he could uninstall it. His wireless heart monitor software that his doctor uses to track his daily readings quite working. Ooops!!! :(

Wow - That is good to know.I suspect the only thing your Dad can do is to reinstall Adobe Air (should be available at the Adobe site) and learn to live with that error message.The FS air files have not been corrupted as the error message suggests. Adobe Air just reports that they are corrupt as they are not in a format which Adobe Air expects.If you need to edit the FS air files (using a utility such as the free AirEd or the payware Air Wrench) then you would need to use the "Open With" option on the Right click context menu and select one of those programs.