How do I open and use the kneeboard in FSX?

In FSX and FSX: Steam Edition, press Shift+F10 during a flight to show or hide the kneeboard. Use its tabs to read the briefing, navigation log, aircraft checklist or reference notes, and key commands; the exact pages depend on the loaded flight and aircraft.

How do I open the FSX kneeboard?

Press Shift+F10 once the flight has loaded and the main simulator window is active.

1. Start or resume a flight. The kneeboard is an in-flight panel rather than a main-menu screen.
2. Press Shift+F10. Hold Shift and tap F10. On a compact laptop keyboard, you may also need the Fn key to make the top-row key act as F10.
3. Select a page. Use the tabs or page buttons shown inside the kneeboard to move between the available information.
4. Hide the kneeboard. Press Shift+F10 again when you have finished.

For other cockpit shortcuts, our complete FSX keyboard-command reference provides a useful lookup sheet.

What are the kneeboard pages used for?

The kneeboard is primarily a reference panel, and its contents change with the loaded flight and aircraft.

• Briefing: Shows instructions, objectives or notes supplied with a saved flight or mission. An ordinary Free Flight session may contain little useful briefing text.
• Navigation log: Lists legs, headings, distances and related details from the loaded flight plan. It is not a moving map; use FSX's built-in map and its position controls when you need a visual route overview.
• Checklist and reference: Displays procedures, limitations or operating notes supplied for the active aircraft. Add-on developers decide how complete these pages are.
• Key commands: Provides an in-simulator reminder of useful controls without leaving the flight.

Reading a checklist item does not operate the corresponding cockpit switch. The FSX kneeboard is not an interactive electronic flight bag, flight planner or autopilot controller.

Why does Shift+F10 not open the kneeboard?

An inactive simulator window, a laptop function-key mode or a changed control assignment causes most kneeboard shortcut failures.

1. Restore keyboard focus. Click inside the FSX flight window, then try Shift+F10 again.
2. Check the function key. If F10 controls brightness, volume or another laptop feature, use the keyboard's Fn modifier as well.
3. Verify the assignment. In FSX's Controls settings, find the command labelled for displaying or hiding the kneeboard. Our guide to checking and changing FSX keyboard assignments covers the process.
4. Remove a key conflict. Reassign the command if an add-on, keyboard utility or system shortcut captures the same combination.

Why is the navigation log or checklist blank?

A blank individual page normally means that the loaded flight or aircraft did not supply that content.

The navigation log needs a flight plan loaded into FSX. Briefing text comes from the selected flight or mission, so it may be sparse in a basic Free Flight session. Aircraft checklist and reference pages rely on files associated with the active aircraft through entries such as kb_checklists and kb_reference in its aircraft.cfg.

If a default FSX aircraft displays its checklist but an add-on aircraft does not, the add-on probably omitted those files or references. If no kneeboard window appears with any aircraft, troubleshoot the shortcut or control assignment instead.

Does opening the kneeboard pause FSX?

The kneeboard does not pause FSX by itself, so the aircraft and simulation continue while it is visible.

Open it before a high-workload phase when possible, read the required page, then hide it with Shift+F10 so it does not obscure the cockpit. A mistake we see often is leaving the panel open during an approach and then struggling to reach instruments hidden behind it.