Hi Chaps I have recently ordered RC4 and am looking forward to receiving the CD and getting it installed. To give myself a heads up I have downloaded the Manual for the product. For you guys who have RC4 I have a question which I hope you can answer for me. Do I need to be able to access the program menu whilst Flight Sim is running to be able to assign RC4 to a flightplan that I have loaded into FS2004. Or can I assign RC4 to flightplans within Flight Simulator itself? The reason I ask is that I use FSAutostart and with the settings I have within that program I cannot access the desktop from Flight Sim when it is running. I hope I have made myself clear ( I think I'm confused myself):-) :-) Many thanks in advance.

Welcome.You can load a flightplan into RC and do other preflight settings before FS starts. However you can not use the START button in RC until a flight is loaded and active in FS. Alt-Tab should enable you to switch tasks between FS, RC, and any add-on applications for weather or other purposes that require FS to have an active flight loaded.I am surprised that FS Autostart closes the desktop so you can't get to something like an FS folder you set up with shortcuts to applications you need during flight. Perhaps it can be set to open this folder when it does its other things shutting down unneeded services.Here's the order I use for starting up a flight situation:I start FS Build to create a new or restore a saved plan and export it to FS9. Leave it openI start Active Sky 6.5 to get weather from an archive or current download. I then process the weather using the flightplan I just exported from FSB to generate an AS navlog which contains all details of weather needed for the selected route and entering into an FMC if used as well as checking performance for runway requirements, probable runway choice, etc. This also helps AS predict it dynamic enroute weather better.I go back to FSB, select the aircraft and taxi, holding, and extra times to allow for fuel burn and rebuild the loaded plan re-exporting to folders for FS9 (used by RC) and the FMC if used. I now print out the FSB navlog which contains fuel loading data. FSB reads the winds aloft from AS 6 in computing fuel needs based on ground speed. At this point I close FSB.I now start FS and load my flight with the parked aircraft. I use the AS Refresh command to write the current weather to FS and when that finishes I use the AS AI refresh command to restart the FS AI so ATIS is now correct and AI are using the correct runways subject to weather influence. At this time I now set up the FMC if used for the route and weather influenced performance data retrieved from the AS 6 printout.Similar to documents an RW pilot has, you have a flightplan with weather influenced elements including fuel burn expectations to load fuel, and a weather report detailing current weather at departure, destination, and enroute locations.Now is the time I load RC, select the aircraft and airline. and load the flightplan. I then go through the airport pages making any changes needed such as operating a departure or destination under NOTAMS and reset the cruise level if I've had a change of mind. I then select START and RC minimizes.I then go back to FS, finish any aircraft procedures, get weather from RC, then the CD, set up avionics, Push Back if necessary and start engines, contact ground (for controlled airports), and off we go.Even without a desktop you should be able to switch between running applications with ALT-TAB.Now there is no harm in having FS Autostart crank up the applications I mentioned at one time. This way you will not need desktop access. The only application you will close when done is FSB. Some planners do require FS to be running in order to process a planner in which case you would not close it.Your environment may be different and this is just an example.

Thanks for your quick reply Ron, it's made things a bit clearer for me.