the reason i ask is it looks like i'll be learing in a cessna 152 and i want to brush up while at home but not fly a 182....

any thoughts or advice??? thank you

...very interesting enquiry that... ..!

I think the default trainer aircraft in the sim is a Cessna 172, (expensive), but most pilots train on the Cessna 150/152...somewhat different handling... 8)...!
So...
I would find an explanation very interesting... ...!

Cheers all... ...!

Paul.

The student lessons are stored in the directory "Flight Simulator 9\Lessons\student."  Each lesson has a FLT file  that is a saved flight for the opening conditions.  There is also an ABL file that contains the main programming for the lesson.  This is a text file so it's easy to look at.

The C172 is specified in the FLT file just as though someone took off and flew to 5000 feet just south of Bremerton and then saved the flight.  The ABL file doesn't specifically say 172 but it may as well.  There are about a dozen lines in it that resemble a cfg file that specify the flight characteristics of the 172.  Things like v1 = 45 kts, etc.

So it looks like the place to start if you want to change the plane is to first save the original flt and abl files.

Then set up a flight in the 152 at 5000 feet south of Bremerton just like the original lesson.  Save it somewhere as "Lesson 1.flt."

In "Lesson 1.ABL" change lines 45 through 61 to the characteristics of the 152.

Copy your new flt and abl files to the Lessons\student directory.

Try it and see what happens.

Where you might run into trouble first, I think, is in the flt file getting everything set up correctly there.  And as I think about it the files don't have to go back into the Lessons\student directory.  They can stay in your "My Documents\Flight Simulator Files" folder.  That way you don't overwrite your originals.

gw