Oh, boy, it sure is fun rebuilding after an HDD crash.Bill (or anyone who remembers)....A few months ago, you posted a "aircraft" model with a crosshairs box to accurately place FS9 scenery objects using the overhead view. I've been trawling back through the forum, but I think it might been in a thread with a name that didn't relate to that tool. I've come up empty.It was a very useful gadget and I'd like to find it again. Any ideas where it is, anybody?And, yes, what you're thinking is absolutely correct. I'm off now to buy an external HDD for frequent backups.Thanks, Glenn

Glenn,Maybe you're referring to something different but FS shows a red crosshair whenever you select the overhead view with any aircraft.On the subject of external HDD, I just picked up an Aluratek HD Docking Enclosure (model AHDDU100F http://www.aluratek.com ). It accepts *any* 2.5 or 3.5" SATA 1 or 2 HD drive and is "hot-pluggable". WinXP recognized it right away and it works great. Hardest part was partitioning and formatting the 500Gb drive I bought with it.Cal - CYXXVE7LZZ

Thanks, Cal, but this was an aircraft that Bill had modified. It shows in the aircraft selection pop-up menu as Eaglesoft.Viewed from above, the "aircraft" is a flat array of concentric squares centered on that FS9 red cross you mentioned. The advantage of Bill's gadget is that when you zoom way down there is no aircraft fuselage visible, just the transparent squares. Used with EZ-Scenery and the overhead view, it is perfect for aligning buildings with a tarmac edge, for instance.In case it joggles any memories, the cockpit view from Bill's gizmo is an early open-cockpit from WWI or the early 20s. I can't remember which aircraft he used as the basis for the placement tool.Cheers,Glenn

Okay Glenn, that sounds like a good deal. If I run across it in my travels, I'll post a note here.Cal - CYXXVE7LZZ

Write to me at [email protected] and I'll send it along.It's too big for a file attachment here...

Thank you, Bill...Email on its way.Cheers,Glenn