Starts in the air?

[rich12545]

I've been flying the Pyro helicopter almost exclusively the last several months. All of a sudden, when starting a new flight plan, it starts a couple hundred feet above ground but the radalt shows zero so it thinks it's on the ground. This is kinda weird.
All my flights are VFR. Does anyone have any idea what's causing this or, more importantly, how it can be fixed?

[PhantomTweak]

What default flight do you have?
Have you tried setting your default flight back to THE default flight? The one that comes with the sim? The trike over Friday Harbour.
Resetting your default flight to that quite frequently solves many, many problems. It set all the aircraft.cfg, .air, sim, and gauge variables to the proper defaults. They can often get somewhat screwed up by addons, especially if the default flight you're using utilizes the add-on for it's plane.

Try resetting the default flight to what the sim came with. It's pretty easy to do in the FSX.cfg file. I just recently wrote up an easy to follow "how-to" for another guy. I can copy it over here if you need me to, or you can just do a search for my posts in the FSX:SE Problems forum.

Anyway, just a thought...
Pat☺

[MrZippy]

I have to agree with Pat! Does it happen with any other aircraft? That would probably confirm it.

[rich12545]

It never would have occurred to me that the problem could have been caused by a change in the default flight. I have been changing the default flight by replacing the FLTSIM files in the Flight folder. It looks like that was a bad idea. But I have been doing it for years without a problem. The problem occurred only with the Pyro and I think FSXSE placed it in the air where the default flight was. I searched and found a few threads about replacing the default flight but, since I have replaced FLTSIM I don't think they will work. I'm trying a few things but, if none work, I'll reinstall FSXSE. At least now I see the problem and know a solution. Thanks for this information. Very much appreciated.

[PhantomTweak]

It's super easy to restore the sim's original original default flight. No matter what changes have been made to the FLTSIM files.

Just open up your FSX.cfg file in Notepad. The program that comes with Windows. And always remember to make a back up of ANY file before you edit it.
Look down through the file for the heading [UserInterface]. Under that heading, find the line that reads SITUATION=. Don't worry about what follows the = (equals sign). In fact, you need to delete everything following the = sign on that line. Everything.
Save the file, close it, and start the sim up again. Bingo! The sim's original default is now restored.
See? Easy as cake. No need to re-install FSX whatsoever.

Hope this helps a little.
Pat☺

[rich12545]

Well, um, I already started reinstalling. This time I won't change the default flight. And I'll copy/paste your post for the future. I'm very familiar with editing the FSX.CFG file.

[PhantomTweak]

I was too late /hangs head in shame/
:biggrin-new:

Ok, I didn't know your experience level, and, well, better too much info than not enough.

Good luck on your re-install. Remember there are some seemingly minor details that can jump up and bite you on the tail-plane if you're not careful doing re-installations. I strongly recommend reading any threads about it people have posted with such details. Like registry entries, and so on.

Good luck in your endevours!
Pat☺