How do you use ATC in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024?

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 includes built-in automated ATC on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro. Open the ATC or radio communications panel, choose a request, then follow its clearances and hand-offs. Talking to live human controllers requires a separate compatible network client and is therefore a PC-only route.

MSFS 2024 ATC: built-in automation or live human control?

Built-in MSFS 2024 ATC is an automated simulator feature, while live ATC connects PC pilots to human controllers through an external flight-simulation network.

Built-in ATC follows the simulator's understanding of your route and flight state. Live networks instead exchange your aircraft position, callsign, transponder and radio data with human controllers. If the sequence from delivery through ground, tower, departure, centre and approach is unfamiliar, our explanation of ATC stages and controller hand-offs in flight simulators covers the terminology.

Neither option connects you to real-world aviation radio. Real controllers cannot see an MSFS aircraft, and real-world broadcasts are unrelated to your simulated route.

How do you use built-in ATC in MSFS 2024?

Plan the flight, open the ATC or communications panel in the cockpit, select the appropriate request and respond to each instruction using the displayed menu choices.

1. Prepare the route. Create an IFR or VFR flight from the World Map or route-planning screen. Choose a parking stand if you want the full clearance, engine-start and taxi sequence; starting on the runway skips some ground options.
2. Load and power the aircraft. At a cold-and-dark stand, switch on the required electrical, avionics and radio systems. A radio that is unpowered or not selected on the audio panel may prevent normal communications.
3. Open the ATC interface. Use the in-flight toolbar and select the ATC or communications panel. A keyboard or controller command can also be assigned to open or toggle this panel.
4. Listen to airport information. Where available, select the airport information or ATIS option before calling for clearance. This provides the active runway, weather and information code used during the initial exchange.
5. Select your request. With a recognised IFR plan, request IFR clearance. For VFR operations, choose the available departure, taxi or airport-intentions option. The choices change with your location, tuned facility and phase of flight.
6. Acknowledge the clearance. Select the displayed readback response. MSFS then generates the pilot's spoken transmission; you do not normally speak the readback into a microphone.
7. Follow taxi and departure instructions. Contact ground when prompted, taxi only after clearance, hold short where instructed and contact tower for departure. After take-off, accept each hand-off and tune or select the next controller.
8. Continue through arrival. IFR flights should receive approach and landing instructions when the plan is recognised. For VFR arrival, select the destination airport, state your landing intention, follow the circuit or runway clearance, then contact ground after vacating.

The menu is contextual. An option can disappear because the simulator believes you have already passed that stage, are tuned to a different facility or did not load the expected flight plan. Assistance settings may also let the AI pilot tune radios and acknowledge calls automatically.

How do you open the ATC menu in MSFS 2024 on Xbox and PS5?

On Xbox and PlayStation, enter the cockpit's cursor or toolbar mode, reveal the upper in-flight toolbar and select the ATC or communications panel.

Xbox Series X|S

Use the controller command assigned to toolbar or cockpit cursor mode, move the pointer to the top of the screen and select the ATC/communications icon. Button prompts can differ after changing controller presets, so a customised profile may not match a fixed button quoted elsewhere.

PlayStation 5 and PS5 Pro

Use the PS5 controller's assigned cockpit cursor or toolbar command, reveal the top toolbar and select the communications panel. The same panel contains the available automated ATC requests and replies.

If the panel does not open on either console, remap it rather than resetting every control:

1. Open the controls settings and select the controller profile you actually use.
2. Show all commands rather than only commands that already have an assignment.
3. Search for ATC and communications. Find the command that opens or toggles the ATC/communications panel; its exact wording can vary between platform layouts and simulator updates.
4. Assign an unused button combination, save the profile and test it from the cockpit.

A headset does not turn console ATC into speech recognition. Xbox and PS5 users hear the controller and generated pilot voice, but communicate with the built-in system by choosing menu entries.

Can you talk to ATC in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024?

You can hear and respond to built-in ATC, but its standard interaction is menu-driven rather than free spoken conversation through your microphone.

Selecting a response makes the simulated pilot transmit it. If you want to speak commands aloud, that requires either live human ATC on PC or separate voice-recognition software compatible with your installation. Our guide to voice recognition and spoken ATC options in MSFS 2024 explains which methods actually listen to your microphone.

How do you set up live human ATC in MSFS 2024 on PC?

Live human ATC requires the PC edition of MSFS 2024, an account with an online controller network and that network's approved pilot client.

1. Choose a network. Compare controller coverage, operating regions, pilot rules and training requirements. Coverage is not continuous, so check which airports and sectors are staffed before building the flight around live service.
2. Install a compatible pilot client. Use a client approved by the selected network and confirmed to work with MSFS 2024. It normally links to the simulator and exchanges aircraft, transponder and radio information.
3. Configure traffic and model matching. A model-matching package displays other network aircraft more accurately. If the client injects its own traffic, disable conflicting AI or multiplayer traffic to avoid duplicated aircraft.
4. Set the microphone and output device. Select the actual headset or microphone inside the client rather than relying on the operating system's default device.
5. Assign push-to-talk in the client. A button mapped only inside MSFS may not transmit to the network. Our push-to-talk binding instructions for yokes and joysticks cover placement and common conflicts.
6. Load at an empty parking stand. Let the aircraft finish loading, power the radios and confirm that you are not occupying a runway or taxiway before connecting.
7. File the network flight plan. This is separate from the route loaded through the World Map or aircraft avionics. Match the client callsign to the filed callsign exactly; a mismatch is one of the mistakes we see most often.
8. Select the correct COM radio. Put the controller's frequency in the active side of COM1 or COM2, then select that radio for both transmission and reception on the cockpit audio panel.
9. Connect and check coverage. Contact the published clearance, ground, tower or sector frequency only when a controller is shown as staffing it. If no controller is available, follow the network's advisory-frequency and position-reporting rules.
10. Request clearance and follow hand-offs. Read back runway assignments, headings, altitudes, speeds and transponder codes. After a hand-off, tune the stated frequency and wait for a gap before making the next call.

What should you say on the first live ATC call?

A first call should contain your callsign, parking position, information code and request. Keep it short because the controller already has the filed route.

For example: Manchester Delivery, Speedbird 123, stand 42, information Alpha, IFR to Amsterdam, request clearance.

Listen before pressing push-to-talk. Transmitting over another pilot's clearance is a common beginner error. If the network provides an observer mode, we recommend using it first to hear the phraseology without joining as active traffic.

Can you use live ATC on Xbox or PlayStation 5?

Standard live-controller networks do not work directly with MSFS 2024 on Xbox Series X|S, PS5 or PS5 Pro because their separate PC pilot clients cannot be installed on those consoles. Console pilots can use the built-in automated ATC, but a connected headset does not provide access to a human network controller.

Why is MSFS 2024 ATC not working?

First establish whether the fault affects built-in automated ATC or an external live-network client, because the two systems have different radios, connections and controls.

Built-in ATC problems

• No clearance or taxi option: start from a parking stand rather than a runway, confirm that the expected flight plan was created and check whether the airport provides the relevant service.
• Flight-plan mismatch: the route in the aircraft's FMS may differ from the plan recognised by the World Map and built-in ATC. Reload or synchronise the intended route rather than assuming ATC follows every manual avionics edit.
• Missed hand-off: reopen the communications panel, select the assigned controller and put the stated frequency in the active COM position.
• Menu options appear unavailable: make sure the radios and avionics are powered, select the appropriate facility and check that an assistance option has not already acknowledged the call.
• No audible controller: check ATC voice volume, the simulator's selected output device, radio power and the cockpit audio-panel receive selection.

For persistent menu, audio or clearance faults, use our detailed MSFS 2024 ATC fault checklist.

Live-network ATC problems

• Wrong frequency: move the frequency from standby to active and verify that it belongs to the staffed controller.
• Wrong audio-panel selection: select the same COM radio for transmitting and receiving.
• Client disconnected: confirm that the pilot client remains connected to both the network and the loaded aircraft.
• No microphone transmission: check the input device and the push-to-talk assignment inside the pilot client, not only in MSFS.
• No received audio: verify the client's output device and volume; headset connections can cause the operating system to change its default output.
• Firewall blockage: allow the pilot client and its voice component through the computer's firewall.
• No staffed controller: a known frequency or saved radio preset does not mean somebody is online. Check the network's coverage display.

If the radios work in a default aircraft but fail in a particular add-on, inspect that aircraft's audio-panel and transmitter selection. Restarting the pilot client after the aircraft has finished loading can also restore a failed simulator link.

Can you play as ATC in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024?

Pilots cannot take over the built-in AI controller role in MSFS 2024; the simulator does not provide a player-operated tower or radar position through its standard ATC panel.

Eligible PC users may control simulated traffic through an external ATC network instead. That requires the network's controller training, approval and separate controller software, and the role operates outside the built-in MSFS ATC system. Xbox and PlayStation users cannot install those controller applications directly on their consoles.