I just got the Rilo Aeronautics sport plane (concept aircraft, page 3, bottom). I love it, except that it does not display a panel. Here is what I did:

1) I tried the original panel, as well as an updated BD-5J panel and the default Cessna 172 panel, but to no avail.

2) I compared panel.cfg files. I know that they will not be identical, but something might still show it's ugly head.

3) I messed around with eyepoints. I figured that there might at least a visible virtual cockpit. That didn't work. I then shifted the vertical component of the eyepoint to 18 (an arbitrary number). There was still no visible virtual cockpit, as well as no visible aircraft!

4) I then did what I probably should have done first-shift+1. That did nothing.

5) I put this up on this forum. Can anyone help?

As this is only a small file I thought the easiest way to find out would be to download it & try it myself. Note that this is configured for FS9 but it works fine in FS2002. It comes with a basic 2D panel but no DVC. The included panel works fine out of the box. I don't see the problem. There are 3 files in the Panel folder - main.bmp, panel.cfg & panel.bak. The last one is unnecessary & you can delete it if you wish. It has no pop-up windows like the GPS or Radio Stack.

Providing they're installed correctly any other panels should work with no problem. You could also alias it to use a default panel.

I noticed that main.bmp is in 24-bit format. This works fine for me but might not display on some systems or at 16-bit display resolutions. You could try reducing the color depth to 8-bit if you wish to use the included panel. Some of the clickable buttons don't work in FS2002 so I assume they use FS9 default gauges. It might be easier to use another panel.