ATC Drills

Listening and readback

You hear a callsign, a turn, a heading, and a flight level. You type them back. The checker is tolerant of wording and strict about the numbers. The real listening tests are not published here.

Three clearances (free)Steady pace (paid)Similar callsigns (paid)Five in a row (paid)

A reliable readback order

Callsign, then heading, then flight level. Play the message once. If you miss a digit, leave the miss. Replaying until you are perfect trains memory of that sentence, not the first pass. Headphones help. The room matters more than another attempt.

Similar callsigns are a paid variant on purpose. 421 and 422 are where people swap a heading into the callsign. Write the callsign before you write the numbers that follow it.

Practice past the free drill

One free drill in each family stays free. Paid drills are the harder variants.

Email the day-by-day plan: ATC aptitude test prep plan, 4 weeks. The buy button stays the main action.

Questions people ask

What has to match?

The callsign number, the heading, and the flight level. You can write digits or words, 'heading' or 'hdg', 'flight level' or 'FL', in any order. A wrong airline with the right number does not pass. Leaving the airline out does pass, if the number is right.

What if my browser will not speak?

The drill uses the browser's own speech synthesis. If that is missing, the message is shown in writing after you press play, and the checker still runs. Chrome and Safari on a desktop are the reliable path.

Is this ICAO phraseology training?

It is a readback check for three fields, not a radiotelephony course and not a licence exam. Extra polite words do not help or hurt. Wrong numbers do.

Listening drill: callsign, heading, and flight level readback