The only default aircraft I fly are the C-130, F-22, F-35, and the CH-53. I never even loaded up most of the other planes to see what they look like so why keep them? And with all the AI and scenery I install I can use the hard drive space (I don't have any issues with hard drive space now, but I am thinking in the future). So, can default aircraft be deleted?

 

Edit: When I say delete the aircraft I mean saving them to another hard drive incase I still need them, then deleting them from the sim.

Some other planes my rely on them, using the panel or gauges, the sound by aliasing to them. This is often for freeware, payware rather not.  Otherwise I think it is possible. An option instead of deleting them is change the definition for user objects in the prepar3d.cfg or moving them into a directory default airplanes instead of airplanes.

1 hour ago, blaunarwal said:

An option instead of deleting them is change the definition for user objects in the prepar3d.cfg.

What do you mean by this? Is there an entry in the cfg I can change? If so then which one?

58 minutes ago, Joseph29 said:

What do you mean by this? Is there an entry in the cfg I can change? If so then which one?

This is in prepar3d.cfg

[MAIN]

User Objects=Airplane, Helicopter, Submersible, ExternalSim, Avatar

 

and this in the aircraft.cfg

[General]
Category = airplane

So you can define your own category for default planes and they are out. You just have to edit each aircraft.cfg to airplaned d for default and it should not show.

If you want them in your list, add airplaned to the User Objects.

That's the theory. I think it may work this way and is worth trying.
 

I create a sub-directory under Simobjects/Airplanes called Unused Aircraft. I just move them over and they no longer appear in my list of aircraft. 

As Bluenarwal suggested, some default aircraft rely on definitions (typically Panel and Sound) and in that case I copy the original definitions to the Panel or Sound file of the aircraft I have decided to retain. Not the most straightforward approach, but it does allow me to clean-up things nicely.

I simply zipped (archived) all the folders I don't use into one file and move the archive to another drive or an external backup USB drive.

Another option is to create a symbolic link to the aircraft folder:

-- Open the Command Prompt with admin rights by pressing Win + X and selecting the option “Command Prompt (Admin)”.

-- Use the below command format to create a symlink for a file:

mklink /D "D:\new_file_name" "C:\original_file_name"

Edited June 17, 20232 yr by Matt Sdeel

You don't have to delete them.

P3D models have a parameter for this in the aircraft.cfg: IsSelectableVehicle

IIRC you can set "IsSelectableVehicle = false" into any [FLTSIM.n] section, if you only want to disable specific liveries, or in the [GENERAL] section to disable the entire aircraft.

Edited June 17, 20232 yr by Lorby_SI

Thanks for all the info guys!