An air traffic control game puts you in charge of the airspace rather than flying an aircraft. You read a radar display, talk to pilots, and decide where every aircraft goes. In Talk to Tower you issue headings, altitudes, speeds, approach clearances, and handoffs while keeping aircraft separated from each other.

What does an approach controller actually do?

An approach controller owns a volume of airspace roughly 30 to 40 miles around one airport. Arriving aircraft enter that airspace high, fast, and not aligned with the runway. The controller turns, descends, and slows each one until it can intercept the runway ILS beam, arranges the arrivals into one evenly spaced stream, then transfers each aircraft to the Tower controller who issues the landing clearance.

How does the ILS work?

The Instrument Landing System transmits two radio beams from the runway. The localizer indicates whether an aircraft is left or right of the runway centreline. The glideslope, normally angled at 3 degrees, indicates whether the aircraft is above or below the correct descent path. When an aircraft captures both beams, its autopilot follows them down to the runway.

Why do aircraft need vectors to the ILS?

The ILS beams are usable only from a narrow window: approximately 10 to 14 nautical miles from the runway, within about 30 degrees of the runway heading, and below the glideslope. An aircraft arriving too high or crossing the centreline at a steep angle passes through the beam without capturing it. Positioning aircraft inside that window is the controller core task.

What am I looking at when the game starts?

A radar scope with the airport at the centre. Each moving symbol is a simulated airliner labelled with its callsign, altitude, and speed. A dashed line extending west of the airport is the ILS approach path for runway 27. You select an aircraft, then talk to it.

Do I need aviation knowledge to start?

No. The guided training shift assumes you know nothing and explains each concept at the moment you first need it. The aviation logic is realistic, but the pacing and feedback are designed for a first-time player.

Can I play this air traffic control game with my voice?

Yes. Talk to Tower is built around push-to-talk voice clearances and spoken pilot readbacks. Keyboard input is always available, so the complete game works if you would rather not speak or cannot grant microphone permission.

Is Talk to Tower realistic?

It uses recognizable approach-control procedure: real callsigns, absolute headings, altitude and speed assignments, separation minima, localizer and glideslope capture, and Tower handoffs. Mumbai runway geometry and the ILS procedure are projected from published charts. It is a game and a training aid, not certified software, and is not for operational use.

Is the game free, and do I need an account?

The web beta is free to start and guest play requires no account. You can optionally create a controller account to keep career progress across supported devices.

Can I play on mobile?

The web game runs in modern desktop and mobile browsers, and the desktop version is a wide information-dense console. A dedicated Android build exists, with iOS planned; both use the same voice-first control concept.

How do I report a bug or request a feature?

Open an issue on the GitHub repository at github.com/aliacollins/talk-to-tower/issues. Bug reports, phraseology corrections from controllers, and airport requests are all welcome.

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COMMAND REFERENCE

Basic ATC commands
for beginners.

Every instruction you can give, in plain English and in the phraseology a real controller uses. Both work. Say it however comes naturally, and pick up the proper wording as you go.

FORMATWho, then whatHow to say it ↓

NUMBERSSpoken digit by digitReading numbers ↓

IF MISHEARDThe pilot asks againWhen it goes wrong ↓

The shape of every instruction

Always the callsign first, then the instruction. The callsign tells one specific aircraft that the next words are for them — on a shared frequency, everybody hears everything, so without it nobody knows who you mean.

“IndiGo 421, descend and maintain 6000.”

You can give two instructions in one transmission — “turn right heading 090, descend 4000” — which is what a real controller does when the frequency is busy.

Turns

Plain: “Turn left to 270” · “turn right, heading 090” · “fly heading 310”
Phraseology: “Turn left heading two seven zero”
What it does: Points the aircraft at a compass direction in degrees. 360 north, 090 east, 180 south, 270 west.

Altitude

Plain: “Drop down to 5000” · “come down to 3000” · “climb to 8000” · “go up to one two thousand”
Phraseology: “Descend and maintain five thousand” · “climb and maintain eight thousand”
What it does: Sets a target altitude in feet. Arrivals need to lose height steadily; 1,000 feet of vertical gap also keeps two aircraft legally apart.

Speed

Plain: “Slow to 180” · “speed up to 250” · “keep your speed up” · “expedite”
Phraseology: “Reduce speed one eight zero knots” · “increase speed two five zero knots”
What it does: Adjusts the gap between two aircraft without changing direction. Saying “expedite” tells the crew to comply as quickly as they can.

Approach clearance

Plain: “You're cleared for the approach” · “cleared ILS 27”
Phraseology: “Cleared ILS approach runway two seven”
What it does: Releases the aircraft to lock onto the landing guidance beams and fly itself down. Only works once it is roughly 10 to 14 miles out, within about 30° of the runway heading, and below the descent path.

Handoff to Tower

Plain: “Contact Tower” · “switch to tower”
Phraseology: “Contact Tower one one eight decimal one”
What it does: Passes the aircraft to the controller who owns the runway. This is the last thing you do for each arrival, and it clears your frequency for the next one.

How numbers are spoken

Aviation reads numbers digit by digit so they cannot be confused over a noisy radio: 240 is “two four zero”, not “two hundred and forty”. Altitudes are the exception and are spoken in thousands — 5,000 is “five thousand”.

The game accepts both. “Turn left two seven zero” and “turn left to 270” do the same thing.

When you are not understood

The pilot tells you. Rather than guessing and doing something you did not ask for, the crew asks you to repeat — “say again” — which is exactly what happens on a real frequency when a transmission is stepped on or unclear.

Two other things worth knowing: only one person can talk at a time, so if you key up while a pilot is speaking you cut them off, just as in reality. And if you address an aircraft that is not on your frequency, nobody answers.