Maybe you're a bit short and can't see over the back of the seat?
I haven't that model in my inventory but it sounds like a problem between the 'View Point Height' or the 'View Point Longitudinal' in the '301 Fuselage' section of the .air file. In some aircraft the back of the seat may obscure the view, anyway (older aircraft without bubble canopies had the top of the fuselage behind their head). Elsewise, if the modeler included a pilot in the .mdl then you may be adjusted too far forward ('View Point Longitudinal'); back to my 'a bit short' quip, the 'View Point Height' may be set too low. You could even have a combination of the ''View Point Lateral', View Point Height' or the 'View Point Longitudinal' wrong. These figures can even be set so that you're seeing things from outside of the aircraft.
What was the specific download file? Howbeit, due to the next wave of storms moving in, I've been requested to stay at the motel for the next couple of days or so -- I may not have internet access for a little while.

If you're using the aircraft I think you are, it's basically the same as the F/A 18 Hornet "SU-27" VMC-12 on the 1st page of Simviation's Modern aircraft. There's a couple problems to having a full panarama. The first and easiest edit is to open the panel.cfg with Notepad or Wordpad and change the SIZE_Y=3313 at the very bottom to SIZE_Y=5000. The other problem is not only that you're too short but also seem to be sitting in the instrument panel; that ghastly copilot behind you is supposed to be you -- you're having an out-of-body experience!
If you have an AirEd, open the .air file, click open the fuselage tab and type in 50 for the 'View Point Height' and 75 for the 'View Point Longitudinal' (they'll be changed slightly when you "Enter" them).
Sorry, however, if you actually have a different model. I found some others but I have to rest soon before walking back to work tonight and probably won't get back to the computer until Monday.

I don't know which OS your computer has; the assumption is that you opened your Flanker .air file and didn't uncheck the "Always use the selected program to open this type of file" when you chose 'AirEd' to open it? In such case, any and all files on your computer with the air extension will automatically be opened by AirEd when you choose to open them.
If you right click a file with the XP OS you also have an "open with..." selection further down on the tab should you wish a different selection. The files can also be opened by CFS/FS no matter what editor/perusal program you use, so have you had a problem (which would indicate that something else is wrong)?

If you left click to open a file, it's opened with whatever program was assigned the task (AirEd may have been assigned when you installled it -- I'm not familiar with the 6 and 7 versions). If you right click you should, instead, see a tab drop with a bold Open at the top; clicking Open  will open the file with the assigned program, if there is one. Further down is an "Open with..." if you wish to open the file with a different program; if no previous program was assigned and you choose a program from this option without unchecking "Always use the selected program to open this type of file" then that program will become the default program for all such file extensions.

Like, how fast did you wish to go? I just put the P40's Allison in a P39X (I try to keep fiction and non-fiction seperately designated). Most work with AirEd I've done for alternate versions of a plane; mostly, however, to correct  errors in placement to ground level, pilot view (as in your case) or to incorporate an alternate gauge configuration.

Sorry for the delay -- haven't been much within five miles from my computer since last Tuesday.
I'm running @ 10 instances of CFS1 on my XP computer (howbeit, most are located on a second, older FAT32 hard drive). They are installed for more specific time frames with the .exe and accompanying .cfg names changed to CFS1 WW1, CFS1 WW2, CFS1 Korea, etc., and have I used AirEd for aircraft for each (I don't like every plane in a squadron bearing the same insignia and I've redone many textures).
I don't know why AirEd should freeze your PC since it hasn't mine.
As to changing the assignment,
open 'Control Panel' (or most any window),
click into 'Tools' in the browser,
select 'Folder Options' from the drop-down,
then click into 'File Types' on the pop-up.
Then scroll down to AIR and highlight it.
Now the delemna; you can assign another program to open the file
or, if you want to have AIR files unnassigned, you need the 'Delete' button activated.
If it's not, click the 'Advanced' button which will open another pop-up.
Highlight 'open' and
click the 'Delete' button.
Now you will be asked which program you wish to open an .air file with each time as long as you make sure that you uncheck the 'Always use the selected program...' each time you do so.

If the model developer has his settings according to your preferences, AirEd is unnecessary; when you want something changed (such as the viewpoints) it is quite helpful, though. I've also found many download planes that didn't sit properly -- so nice to hop in a plane and have an immediate ten foot drop or bounce up from the grave before you even have a chance to rev the engine(s)!

Once upon a time, I went online as Willy Farewell and Blayze N Gunn -- but I was never a particular squadron member; that was around the turn of the century.