[Stiglr]

You have to get the X-Plane AC3D plug-in and install it. It becomes a menu option on the far right of the top menu bar. There are many options in this menu for setting up and previewing animations, including linking with X-plane code, such that you can export it directly to X-plane and have the animations work when the plane is imported.

Even if you have no intention to author for X-Plane, you can use the features to preview animation sequences. Do a search on this site, or on google or yahoo, and you should be able to find a tutorial on using the X-Plane plugin.