VectorHeavy · Air Traffic Control Simulator
Airports, procedures and radio across air traffic control games, compared honestly, with a source for every number.
Checked October 5, 2026
VectorHeavy has 131 US airports. Among ATC games with a fixed airport list, ATC-SIM has 54, openScope 46 (35 playable), and Tower! Simulator 3 41.
Every number for another game links to the page we counted it from. Counts change as games add airports and sell new add-ons, so we recheck them, and the date above is when this table was last counted. VectorHeavy's own row is generated from the game's airport list each time this site is built. If a number here is out of date, tell us at hello@vectorheavy.com and we will fix it.
ATC games with a fixed airport list
| Game | Platform | Price | Airports | US airports | Procedures | Voice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VectorHeavyEach field is built by hand from published FAA data, with its traffic, airspace and a fidelity write-up. | Browser, desktop and phone |
Free |
SIDs, STARs and approaches from the FAA CIFP cycle |
Spoken pilot readbacks |
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| ATC-SIMThe US count includes San Juan, Puerto Rico. The free airports are part of the total. | Browser |
Radar game on real airport and airspace layouts |
None |
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| openScopeIts airport list includes some airports that are switched off. The US list includes Anchorage, Honolulu and San Juan. Playable means enabled on its develop branch on October 5, 2026. | Browser |
Free, open source |
SIDs and STARs defined per airport |
Optional browser speech, off by default |
||
| Tower! Simulator 3with all airport DLCCounts include the base game and every airport sold separately as DLC. The US count includes St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. | Windows (Steam) |
Tower operations |
Voice recognition and spoken pilot voices |
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| Tower!3D Prowith all airport DLCCounts include the base game and every airport DLC, from an archived copy of its store page. Withdrawn from sale on Steam in July 2026. | Windows (Steam) |
No longer sold |
Tower operations |
Voice recognition |
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| VectorlineNot yet released; the counts are the airports its store page lists for launch. | Windows and Mac (Steam) |
Coming soon |
SIDs, STARs and ILS approaches |
Voice input |
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| Airport Madness 3DVolume 1 | Steam |
Arcade tower clearances |
Recorded pilot voices |
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| Airport Madness 3D: Volume 2 | Steam |
Arcade tower clearances |
Recorded pilot voices |
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| Airport Madness: World Edition | Steam |
Arcade tower clearances |
Recorded pilot voices |
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| Endless ATCPlayers can also add their own airports by editing text files. | Windows (Steam), Android |
Approach control |
Pilot speech |
Two ATC games take a different approach. Rather than shipping a list of airports, they generate airports from a worldwide navigation database, so on paper they cover many more airports than VectorHeavy does. Their total coverage is given here in their publishers' own words.
| Game | Platform | Price | Airports | US airports | Procedures | Voice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Global ATC SimulatorPublished by Aerosoft. Players report working US fields such as Denver and JFK; we could not count its US airports. | Windows (Steam) |
Not verified |
SIDs and STARs from an updatable navigation database |
No pilot voices, per player reviews |
||
| VoiceATC SimulatorFull worldwide coverage needs a paid Navigraph subscription; without one the game uses the offline cycle it ships with. The US count is the airports in its public community data. | Windows (Steam), Early Access |
58with community airport data |
Real SIDs, STARs and approaches from a Navigraph cycle |
Voice recognition and spoken pilot readbacks |
The difference is in how an airport is made, not only how many there are.
A navigation database gives a sim every airport's runways and published procedures in one go. In VectorHeavy each field is built by hand from published FAA data and checked against the current FAA procedure cycle, with its own traffic, its own airspace, and a write-up in the Fidelity Ledger of what is modeled faithfully and what is simplified. That is slower, which is why the list is shorter.
VoiceATC Simulator has a lot in common with VectorHeavy: you speak, the pilots read back, and the procedures are real. Its worldwide coverage needs a paid Navigraph subscription; without one it uses the navigation data it ships with. Global ATC Simulator, published by Aerosoft, offers SIDs and STARs from an updatable navigation database. VectorHeavy is free, in your browser or on your phone.
ATC add-ons for flight simulators, such as BeyondATC, and online networks such as VATSIM are a different kind of product: they put you in the cockpit, or connect simmers with volunteer human controllers. They are not counted on this page.
For a closer, feature-by-feature look at one of these, read VectorHeavy and openScope. Every VectorHeavy airport is listed on All airports.
Sources, checked October 5, 2026