As I have got in the habit of starting FS at the default flight situation (as recommended by more than one third party aircraft designer) I now have to change the payload info everytime I get in the plane. As I fly GA, alone, and want the best performance, I'm always taking out the passenger 'load'. Not a 'biggie', but whith everything else to adjust before a flight, this one always seems a nuisance.I've looked everywhere, but can't seem to find where I can change this default in the .cfg files.Thanks

Yes, you certainly can.Useing the default 172 as an example being that this is the aircraft you referenced, open the aircraft.cfg file. If you want to remove all passengers, edit station load 1, 2, and 3 to be equal to 0, or enter whatever weight for each passenger you want (and yourself for that matter), then save the file. You can also make the baggage weigh whatever you want it to be.Before you do anything however, SAVE A BACKUP COPY of your aircraft.cfg file so that you can go back to go in the event that something starts to smell bad.Good luck and happy flying:RTH

Thanks RTH, I did go into the Cessna .cfg file but must mave missed those settings....that should do the trick, as I assume when I change aircraft those settings will 'follow' with the new selection...or...I could simply change all .cfg's to my preference.

Hello again:Negative on the changing aircraft bit.Think about it. The aircraft.cfg weight and balance routine is quite different for each type of aircraft (for example, you would not want just three passengers in a 747-400). You will have to edit the aircraft.cfg file for each individual aircraft for the default payload you desire. You will find that many aircraft do not isolate individual passenger and cargo line items but simply have one composite line item for payload weight.I realize that you do not want to get into weight and balance quite this deeply for the time being, but on just about all of my aircraft I go to either the manufacture's website or to other reliable data websites and get the real world specifications on the aircraft in question. I then edit the aircraft.cfg accordingly (Maximum Takeoff Weight, Empty Load, Passengers, Cargo, and Fuel Capacities). Then I typically edit for a full load for defaults as a personal preference for a starting place. At times, editing power scaling or fuel burn adds to realism in my book as well. Probably there are some where this would not work due to the modeling of the contribution, but I cannot right off hand remember one that I have tried where this did not improve things (of which there are MANY). Some contributions are right on the money, while other seem to completely ignore real world specifications (and I am not bad mouthing some fine offerings in this catagory).One more time: NEVER modify, edit, remove, or do anything else relative to this type of effort without SAVING A BACKUP of the original file or folder. For example when I am going to edit a panel, I normally save a copy of the default panel folder to the desktop, rename it as "Panel Original Default", and put it back into the aircraft's folder. I do the same thing with anything else I am going to fiddle with like aircraft.cfg, air files, that i think could bite me. In fact, immediately after installation of FS9, I do the same thing with all critical FS9 default files and folders. It has saved me a multitude of misery when haveing to troubleshoot a problem and you virtually never have to reinstall in order to get back to go.Best of luck:RTH

Yea, I thought about it after I said it. It turns out that the the Cessna default and the plane I am flying everyday have the same 'station' info plugged into the .cfg. Again, for years I always started FS in a saved situation where the plane had already been saved to my preferences. So no matter if it was the Bonanza, or the DC-3, I had already made the changes the first time or two I got in the plane for the first time, saved them at an airport of my choice, and *always* started FS that way....Never had a reason to go into this part of the .cfg...but as I say, I've seen more than one designer of aircraft that I have highly recommend startinmg from the default (Seattle) 'flight' first, then change aircraft from there. This makes it a bit cumbersome, as I would typically start up FS at the last airport I landed (tend to fly orchestrated 'trips'/journy's) and was ready for my next 'leg'.I've gone in and changed the aircraft.cfg's I fly the most.Again, thanks for the help, easy as 'pie' after I saw the lines... ;)