diff --git a/src/Main/fg_commands.cxx b/src/Main/fg_commands.cxx
index c277b6b73..ddeab463b 100644
--- a/src/Main/fg_commands.cxx
+++ b/src/Main/fg_commands.cxx
@@ -1349,6 +1349,10 @@ do_load_xml_to_proptree(const SGPropertyNode * arg)
     if (file.extension() != "xml")
         file.concat(".xml");
 
+    if (file.isRelative()) {
+      file = globals->resolve_maybe_aircraft_path(file.str());
+    }
+
     if (!fgValidatePath(file.c_str(), false)) {
         SG_LOG(SG_IO, SG_ALERT, "loadxml: reading '" << file.str() << "' denied "
                 "(unauthorized access)");
diff --git a/src/Scripting/NasalSys.cxx b/src/Scripting/NasalSys.cxx
index 055ad879d..0a221fc6e 100644
--- a/src/Scripting/NasalSys.cxx
+++ b/src/Scripting/NasalSys.cxx
@@ -374,6 +374,19 @@ static naRef f_directory(naContext c, naRef me, int argc, naRef* args)
     return result;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Given a data path, resolve it in FG_ROOT or an FG_AIRCRFT directory
+ */
+static naRef f_resolveDataPath(naContext c, naRef me, int argc, naRef* args)
+{
+    if(argc != 1 || !naIsString(args[0]))
+        naRuntimeError(c, "bad arguments to resolveDataPath()");
+
+    SGPath p = globals->resolve_maybe_aircraft_path(naStr_data(args[0]));
+    const char* pdata = p.c_str();
+    return naStr_fromdata(naNewString(c), const_cast<char*>(pdata), strlen(pdata));
+}
+
 // Parse XML file.
 //     parsexml(<path> [, <start-tag> [, <end-tag> [, <data> [, <pi>]]]]);
 //
@@ -635,6 +648,7 @@ static struct { const char* name; naCFunction func; } funcs[] = {
     { "srand",  f_srand },
     { "abort", f_abort },
     { "directory", f_directory },
+    { "resolvepath", f_resolveDataPath },
     { "parsexml", f_parsexml },
     { "systime", f_systime },
     { "carttogeod", f_carttogeod },