FSX - views

Being a fan of all the previous FS versions, it has taken me a long while to get round to using FSX. One problem is the external aircraft view which seems very limited. Before you could view your flyable aircraft easily and creat a view by choosing the distance and elevation you viewed the aircraft, can't see to be able to do that in FSX and it is not very helpful when you want to taxi and move around. Can anyone explain where I am going wrong, or is it just something I have to put up with!!! Alan