For US student pilots
Radio exercises, graded against the AIM
14 exercises, 70 prompts. Each one is a real situation at a real US airport: you make the call, the AI controller answers, and the grader tells you what the AIM says. Read the prompts here, then practice them with a free account.
Initial contact
The first call to a facility: who you are calling, who you are, where you are, what you want.
5 prompts · read them →
Readbacks
Read back what must be read back: runways, hold-short lines, altitudes, headings, squawks.
5 prompts · read them →
Reports
Position and traffic reports, to a tower, an approach control and on the CTAF.
5 prompts · read them →
Emergencies
PAN-PAN and MAYDAY in the AIM format, radio failure, and getting help when lost.
5 prompts · read them →
Services and airspace
Flight following, Class B, C and D airspace, and ending a radar service.
5 prompts · read them →
The traffic pattern
Departure, downwind, base and final — self-announced on the CTAF, and with a tower.
5 prompts · read them →
Conditional and non-standard
Hold-short landing clearances, 'unable', abbreviated frequency changes and a diversion.
5 prompts · read them →
Radar services
What a radar facility says to a VFR aircraft, and what you say back.
5 prompts · read them →
Controlled airspace
Class D, C and B: what is required to enter, and how to ask.
5 prompts · read them →
Arrival at a towered airport
From the 15-mile call to 'contact Ground'.
5 prompts · read them →
Non-towered airports
CTAF and UNICOM: self-announce, ask for the numbers, straight-in and clearing the runway.
5 prompts · read them →
Numbers, altimeter and time
How the FAA says numbers: altitudes, frequencies, headings, the altimeter and the clock.
5 prompts · read them →
IFR clearances
Asking for a clearance, copying it, and reading back the parts that actually have to come back.
5 prompts · read them →
Holds, approaches and the missed
The arrival half: holding instructions, the approach clearance, and what you say when it does not work out.
5 prompts · read them →
Reading is the start. Saying it is the skill.
A free account gives you the free assessment: one prompt from every exercise, graded, with a summary of where you stand. Plans unlock all 70 with feedback on every call.
Exercise prompts and notes are written in our own words from the FAA Aeronautical Information Manual (Change 3, 7/9/26) and the Pilot/Controller Glossary, with paragraph references. Study aid only; not approved or endorsed by the FAA. Always defer to the AIM, current FAA publications, your instructor and your examiner.
