[HOW TO] Switch planes in flight (or on the ground)

Ever loaded a flight, thought ‘Bummer… I selected the wrong plane for this’ and went all the way back to the Main menu to select another plane, set the flight up all over again and so on…? Here is a short and easy guide that shows you how to switch planes during a flight, no matter if you are on a parking spot, the runway or in mid-air.

  1. ‘Bummer… I selected the wrong plane for this’

  2. Hit Esc, click on General and then on Developers: turn Developer mode On, Apply & Save and hit Esc twice.

  3. You now have a menu in MSFS! In that menu click on Windows and then on Aircraft Selector. Pick your plane and click on Load.

  4. In the same menu click on [DevMode] and then on Exit [Dev Mode] to disable the mode again. (Credits to @pukigonzalez for this tip: I myself always went all the way back to the Pause menu to do this… facepalm. :wink: )

It is advised to do disable Dev mode again because logbook entries are not saved within this mode and it can cause issues with missions. Also take note that the loaded plane will use the default tailnumber. (Credits to @RealSei for these tips: I myself always disabled Dev mode simply because that menu looks ugly while flying. :wink: )

Yes, it takes a few steps and a few seconds but it sure beats having to quit the flight entirely!

(Why this option isn’t available by default, without having to use the Developer mode… I don’t know…)

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IF you have Dev Mode activated … you can select from the Dev Menu

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When switching plane like this it use the default tailnumber and not the one you choose when starting the flight.

It is advisable to disable the devmode immediately after use, as logbook entries are not saved with DEVMODE ON, and can cause issues with missions.

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You can exit from Devmode (and remove that menu bar):
Select [Devmode] in the menu bar and there is the Exit Devmode option.

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Thanks for the tips! The guide has been updated!

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Thank you, i have gone back to redo the flight plan a few times as i have forgotten to change my plane

This does not appear to work on the Xbox -there is no developer tag in general options

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I don’t see any option for dev mode on the Series X. Searching for the options for “dev” doesn’t turn up anything either.

Does anyone know if there’s a way to enable it on the Xbox?

Nope, nothing like that on Xbox.

Yes, that would be a welcome addition. It may eventually make its way into the Sim. The functionality is already there, I guess it would just be a UI change.

There’s also a menu item “Teleport Window” for changing your location. You can enter an airport ICAO code, or longitude/latitude and it will reposition you there. There’s also a check box for “slew mode”.

■■■■, its right there and these devs havent added it!

Because this method is NOT RECOMMENDED! It can mess things up, always go back to the menu to load a different plane.

You will face issues using this method sooner or later.

As far as I can tell this is not true. I am using this workaround every time I gamble around in the sim and never had any issues (except the log not working properly but I dont care for that).
So please tell, which issues may occure?

On the C172 mmultiple instruments were frozen. GPS, the digital clock.
On more complex aircrafts like the FBW there might be other issues. Some modules might not load correctly. You can see this when using FS2CREW with FBW, it does not work right when you reload the plane and stuff.

I dont say it will happen everytime, but it is not oficially supported because issues can happen which will lead to higher support load. Theres a reason it is only in dev mode, otherwise it would be in the game since launch. The devs are not stupid.

Well this reads like pretty theoretical. Maybe there are some problems to be avoided in general. Ok so far. I totally agree the devs are not stupid but I completely disagree there would be no way to realise the possibility of changing the plane while in flight. Former versions never had problems with this and it is absolutely possible to realize that.

And it would be way more than nice to have. What do you say?