Q.  How do I use an existing airplane drawing with AirplanePDQ?

You can use AirplanePDQ with existing AutoCAD-format DWG or DXF files.  However, in order for the the AirplanePDQ analysis to work, you need to start with a design generated from the "New Airplane" wizard. Consequently, the easiest way to do it is to insert the AutoCAD-format drawing as a template to use to modify the AirplanePDQ drawing. Here are the steps:

1. Save each of the views from the existing DWG/DXF drawing into a separate file.
2. In each of the 3 separate files, put all of the entities on a single layer and delete any extra layers.
3. Create a new drawing in AirplanePDQ using the New Airplane command (from the File menu).
4. Change to the side view (select Side View on the View menu).
5. Click on the Block button on the Insert menu to insert the existing side view drawing into the new drawing.  A dialog box will appear, entitled "Insert".  Click on the FromFile option and then on the "Select File" button to indicate the drawing file you'd like to insert.
6. You'll then see the prompt, "Insertion point:"  Click on the point in the drawing where the existing file should be inserted, or you can type in the coordinates directly.  Often this will just be 0, 0.
7. You'll then see the prompt, "Scale factor:"  Type in the scaling factor for the existing drawing.  If the drawing units for both drawings are the same, just enter 1.0.
8. Lastly, you'll see the prompt, "Rotation angle:"  This rotates the drawing as it is inserted.  Usually, this will be 0, but may be another value.
9. You should then see the inserted drawing.
10. Switch to the top view and insert the top view drawing and likewise the front view.
11. Change the colors of the inserted blocks so that you can easily distinguish the lines.
12. Adjust the AirplanePDQ drawing so that it conforms to the shape of the imported drawings.