App comparison

Tower Drill vs. PlaneEnglish ARSim vs. ATC One: an honest comparison

Updated July 2026 · 7 min read

Yes, we make Tower Drill, so read this with that in mind. But mic fright is real, all three of these apps can genuinely help, and each is built for a different kind of student. Here is a straight rundown, including the places where a competitor is the better choice.

The 60-second version

• Tower Drill: spoken readback drills at your real home airport, hands-free Commute Mode, and a progress report for your CFI. One-time $8.99 purchase, no subscription, everything runs on your iPhone or iPad with nothing sent to a server.
• PlaneEnglish ARSim: the longest-established option, with a large lesson library across VFR and IFR, 300+ airports, FAA WINGS credit for some modules, and Android and web versions. Subscription priced by module.
• ATC One: the newest entrant, built around free-form AI conversation with a cloud controller, plus written-exam prep and multi-language support. Subscription plus credit packs.

What a year of training costs

Most students spend 9-18 months between first lesson and checkride. Prices below are US App Store listings as of July 2026; always check current pricing.

Realism: whose radio sounds like your airport?

This is where the three apps genuinely differ in philosophy.

Tower Drill is built around your home field. You pick from 576 real US towered airports (FAA NASR data, refreshed on the 28-day chart cycle), and every exercise uses that field's real runways, real tower and ground frequencies, and the TRACON pilots actually call: NorCal Approach in the Bay Area, SoCal in LA. When the controller says "contact NorCal on one three five point six five," that transfers directly to your next lesson. Callsigns, squawks, winds, ATIS, and taxi routes are randomized on every run, so drills stay fresh for the whole course.

ARSim also models real airports (over 300, with runway and taxiway data) and covers a wide range of scenarios across VFR and IFR flight phases. Its scale is the product of years of steady development, and it shows.

ATC One takes the opposite approach: generic scenarios with an AI controller rather than modeling specific fields. The conversation is more open-ended, but the frequencies and facility names are not the ones you will hear at your airport.

Speech recognition: does it understand "niner"?

Every app in this category lives or dies on whether it understands aviation speech. Reviews of both subscription apps mention number recognition as a pain point. "One two two point eight" is simply not normal English.

Tower Drill runs Apple's on-device speech recognition with a custom language model trained on ATC phraseology, so "niner," "tree," "fower," and run-together frequencies are first-class citizens rather than transcription errors. It also scores multiple recognition hypotheses and keeps the best match, which is forgiving of the small stumbles every student makes. Because it is on-device, it works in airplane mode and nothing you say ever leaves your phone.

ARSim and ATC One both use cloud processing for their AI features, which enables more open-ended conversation but requires a connection and sends your audio to a server.

Where each app wins

Pick ARSim if…

• You want the largest structured library and the longest track record (it is used in some university and military training programs).
• You need Android or web access.
• FAA WINGS credit matters to you.

Pick ATC One if…

• You want free-form conversation with an AI controller more than structured drills.
• You want written-exam prep in the same app.
• You want practice content in Spanish, French, Portuguese, or Mandarin.

Pick Tower Drill if…

• You want to practice with the actual frequencies, runways, and facility names of your home airport.
• You want to drill hands-free in the car on the way to your lesson (Commute Mode is unique to Tower Drill).
• You want a progress report your CFI can actually read: per-item accuracy on runways, frequencies, squawks, and hold-shorts.
• You would rather pay $8.99 once than $80+ every year of training.
• You care that your voice never leaves your device.

The bottom line

All three apps beat rereading the AIM the night before a lesson. ARSim is the broad, established library. ATC One is the conversational AI experiment. Tower Drill is the focused readback trainer that sounds like your airport, rides along in your car, and costs less than a single month of the alternatives, once.