W&B Can't Find PLANES.DAT

The first thing the W&B does after it launches is try to load the PLANES.DAT file, which has the data revision labeling and all the aircraft tail numbers.

The program can't run without PLANES.DAT, so if it does't find it, it issues an error message and then exits after you press any key.

W&B program versions prior to March 2010 mostly default to looking for the data in a \WB folder on the drive the program is running from. That's typically the C: drive, so as a default the program is usually looking for C:\WB\PLANES.DAT to get that file and all other data files.

W&B program versions after March 2010 default to looking for the data in the folder the program is in. If the program is in, say, the C:\WB747 folder, it looks for C:\WB747\PLANES.DAT.

You can at any time—even with just the error message up—use Ctrl-V to get the program version date.

All W&B program versions, regardless of their date, can be told to look for the data in other than the default folder by adding the folder name after the program name. For example, the command line

wbibm \wbdata

would start the program—assuming wbibm is it's name—and it would look for the data in \WBDATA regardless of where the program itself is.

If you get the “can't find PLANES.DAT” message, do the following:

1. Run a search for PLANES.DAT and note the folder it's in.
2. Add that folder name to the command line that starts the program. There has to be at least one space between the program name and the folder name.