FS2004 American Airways Ford Trimotor

Add a touch of 1930s charm to your Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 collection by applying this American Airways repaint to the classic Ford Trimotor. This texture set, meticulously crafted by Ed Knapp, recreates the airline’s livery in a historically inspired manner without overshadowing the aircraft’s original styling. Please note that this package includes only the repainted textures and not the base model, which must be obtained from the Fly Away Simulation mod library.

Ford Trimotor and American Airways Background

Originally introduced in the late 1920s, the Ford Trimotor (known informally as the “Tin Goose”) revolutionized early commercial aviation with its all-metal construction and tri-engine configuration. American Airways, a predecessor to one of today’s largest carriers, operated in an era when passenger flight was still novel. This repaint captures that pioneering spirit, pairing the aircraft with the airline’s early corporate branding. Outside of its nostalgic looks, the Trimotor’s rugged design allowed it to serve in diverse environments and paved the way for modern passenger services.

Installing the American Airways Livery

Before proceeding, confirm that you already have the freeware Trimotor base model installed. If not, retrieve it from the Fly Away Simulation mod library. After that, you may follow these steps:

• Extract all files in this add-on’s compressed archive to a temporary folder on your system.
• Locate the “Ford_Trimotor” directory inside your main Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 aircraft folder. Typically, this sits in: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator 9\Aircraft\Ford_Trimotor.
• Copy the unzipped Texture.american subfolder into the Ford_Trimotor directory.

Configuring Aircraft Files

Next, insert this content into your aircraft.cfg file in the correct location. You can find the aircraft.cfg within the same Ford_Trimotor directory mentioned above. Replace any “x” in the bracket with the rightful sequence number for this repaint entry, such as [fltsim.3] if it is the third entry.

[fltsim.x]
title=Amercian Airways Trimotor
sim=Ford_Trimotor
model=
panel=
sound=
texture=american
kb_checklists=Ford_Trimotor_check
kb_reference=Ford_Trimotor_ref
atc_id=N9683
atc_id_color=0xffffffff
ui_manufacturer=Ford
ui_type="Tri-Motor"
ui_variation="American Airways"
description="Nicknamed the Tin Goose, the Ford 4-AT Tri-Motor pioneered early airline and air transport routes. In 1925, the Ford Motor Company bought the Stout Metal Plane Company to gain rights to the Tri-Motor design. In all, 198 Ford Tri-Motors were built. During its years of regular service in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Ford Tri-Motor helped popularize commercial flight and promote the safety of flying to travelers."

After making these modifications, the repaint will appear among your available aircraft liveries in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004. Enjoy exploring the skies with this faithful interpretation of an American Airways classic.