MSFS Companion — Procedure-Aware Voice ATC, LiveATC & VATSIM Handover, Flight Briefing Charts, Live Nav, Lobbies & Flight Scoring

One companion, from clearance to shutdown

🗺️ Live flight deck

Moving map, persistent aircraft trail, full-route view, weather radar, taxi route, ATIS and traffic overlays in one workspace. SimBrief waypoints sequence automatically, with live distance-to-go and fuel arrival margin.

Airliner passing an air traffic control tower

🎙️ Procedure-aware ATC

IFR or VFR in ICAO, FAA or UK CAA style. Clearances follow your SID, STAR, transitions, constraints, runway and ILS data through taxi, departure, cruise, approach and arrival — with a live flight strip and CPDLC-style datalink log — and automatic handover to real VATSIM controllers whenever they are online.

✈️ A living traffic picture

MSFS AI aircraft, online real-world ADS-B traffic and other Companion pilots together. TCAS-style monitoring gives prioritised spoken advisories and runway-conflict warnings.

🔌 Local voice, simple connection

Connect through free FSUIPC7. Whisper understands aviation readbacks locally, Piper provides neural voices, and both fall back to Windows speech services. Run it on the sim PC or on another machine on your network.

Pushback tug approaching an airliner at a gate

🛫 GSX ground services

Request boarding, deboarding, fuel, catering, cleaning, jetways, follow-me and pushback from one ground-services tab — by button or voice. ATC observes the push and waits for the tug to clear. No GSX? Directional stock-MSFS pushback remains available.

New

📡 Real ATC, right beside the panel

The built-in procedure-aware ATC is complete on its own. When you want the real world too, one toggle brings it into the same cockpit view.

🎧 LiveATC tower audio

For your departure and destination fields, the app fetches the available LiveATC streams — tower, ground, approach, departure and center — and surfaces them with their real frequencies next to the radio. Real-world audio beside the procedural panel, one tap away.

🛰️ VATSIM handover, presence & traffic

The app polls the public VATSIM data feed and decides who owns your radio. When a real controller is online for your departure or arrival airport — or a center sector near the aircraft — the companion AI ATC stands down automatically (voice, transcript and readback prompts go silent), COM 1 tunes itself to the controller, and you hand over through vPilot. When coverage drops, the AI ATC announces it is back in charge within about a minute and resumes the flight from live sim data. Facility choice follows your phase of flight: ground and tower on the ramp, approach and center airborne. Online controllers and nearby aircraft — callsign, position, altitude, heading, speed and route — also draw on the map and in the traffic picture, refreshed automatically while enabled.

🔀 Complements, never replaces

External data works alongside the built-in voice ATC. When a real VATSIM controller is online the AI hands over the frequency rather than talking over them, and it picks the flight back up the moment they log off. If a feed or provider is unreachable, the app degrades gracefully and every local feature — ATC, scoring, logbook, checklists — keeps working mid-flight.

📶 External feeds need a working internet connection, and VATSIM/LiveATC availability changes as real controllers come and go. The app treats that as information, not failure: when nothing is online, the simulated ATC is always there — and if a real controller logs off mid-flight, the companion ATC takes the frequency back automatically.

New

📊 Flight briefing charts

Five connected briefings that turn raw procedure data into a picture you can actually brief from — built live from your flight plan, the airport database and current weather. Nothing synthetic: wherever a value is not published, the chart shows an amber gap instead of inventing one.

🧗 SID/STAR altitude profile

Every leg of your filed SID or STAR drawn in order with its published altitude constraint — AT, AT OR ABOVE, AT OR BELOW — so you can see the climb and descent shape before you fly it. Missing published altitudes render as clearly marked amber gaps rather than guessed values.

📉 Approach descent profile

A schematic of the descent from the Initial Approach Fix through the Final Approach Fix to the runway threshold, with the published ILS glideslope overlaid as a green dashed reference line. A visual answer to "where should I be, and when?"

🛬 Airport information strip

Field elevation, runway length, surface and heading (magnetic and true) with a centerline orientation check, plus the ILS frequency and its Morse code identifier — and live destination weather: wind, visibility, temperature and altimeter setting.

📋 Structured approach briefing

Automatically presented as you descend through 10,000 ft: approach type, category minima for reference, the missed approach procedure, ILS frequency and course, and environmental factors considered against the approach minimums.

🗺️ SkyVector airport link

A one-tap link to the destination's SkyVector airport diagram for the full published chart. The button probes reachability first and shows OFFLINE rather than leading you to a dead page.

✅ Data you can trust

Every value comes from your flight plan, the Little Navmap airport database or live weather. Gaps are always visible in amber — the design assumptions are documented in BRIEFING_ASSUMPTIONS.md, and the whole feature set ships covered by unit tests.

Now included

The latest additions

More situational awareness before landing, more context during the flight, more useful feedback afterwards — and simpler ways to listen, speak and fly with the real world.

🔁 Automatic handover to real ATC

Flip the VATSIM switch on the ATC tab and the app watches the network for you — no account and no login, just the public feed. The moment a controller comes online for your airport, or a center sector near the aircraft, the card turns green, names the controller and frequency, the companion AI ATC goes silent and COM 1 auto-tunes. When the controller logs off, the AI ATC announces it is back in charge and resumes the flight from live sim data — no manual switching in either direction. Facility choice follows your phase of flight, and on the map VATSIM traffic draws as amber aircraft while online controllers appear as tower icons with callsign and frequency.

💾 VATSIM CID, remembered

Optionally store your VATSIM CID (callsign ID) once and the app keeps it locally for quick reference when connecting through vPilot. Storage is local only — the CID is never sent anywhere, and your VATSIM password stays in vPilot on the sim PC. The companion itself only ever reads the public VATSIM feed anonymously.

🛰️ 3D flight tracking

The recorded trail lifts off the map by its own altitude — drop stems and height callouts in feet or flight levels — plus a perspective 3D track view with an orbit-and-zoom chase camera, and a heading-up map mode that swings smoothly with the aircraft.

📻 COM tuning & VHF realism

In AUTO the app retunes the sim's COM 1 on every handoff; in MANUAL you keep the radio with live COM1/STBY readouts and a 25 kHz tuner dial. A radio-realism dial adds band-limiting, squelch hiss, crackle and mic clicks — 0% clean to 100% full distanced VHF.

🌪️ Wake turbulence & traffic calls

Routine radar point-outs name the real traffic — "Traffic, Airbus A320, two o'clock, five miles" — with a "traffic in sight" acknowledgment by button, voice or the auto first officer. Wake cautions from a heavier aircraft ahead carry through to the tower's "cleared to land".

🛫 Intersection departures & taxi-in crossings

When the hold-short point is past the threshold pad and pavement allows it, the takeoff clearance says "runway 27 at B" with the remaining length logged. On arrival, the taxi-to-stand clearance names every active runway the route crosses — each one requested and cleared individually.

⏱️ On-time callouts

The first officer's departure brief compares the OFP schedule against the simulator's own clock — not your wall clock — and at touchdown closes the loop: "Scheduled arrival, 1825 Zulu. We are about 5 minutes behind schedule."

🛬 Published-procedure approaches

Approach clears you via the filed IAF fix — "cleared ILS approach runway 09 via GEI59" — suspends vectors over charted fixes, adds "descend and maintain 3000 until established on the localizer", reads the FAF speed limit in the briefing, and hands to tower the moment you're established.

📋 Grade-aware debrief

Every scoring category builds its coaching tip from the numbers that actually cost the points, and the debrief leads with the gap: "Grade B (84/100) — 6 pts to A." At A+ it reads "defend the top".

🎙️ Browse & install Piper voices

Search the complete official Piper voice catalog by language, country, voice or quality inside Settings, download a model on demand, and it stays installed offline for the ATC, pilot and first-officer selectors.

📖 VFR phrasebook

A quick-access phrasebook of standard VFR radio calls — requests, position reports and joining calls — so the right call is never more than a tap (or a spoken word) away.

🛑 Directional pushback

Call the tug face-left, straight or face-right by button or voice — with GSX or the stock MSFS tug. Cardinal directions and headings work too, such as “pushback facing north-east” or “pushback heading 270.”

🎬 Replay the approach

The final 12 NM is recorded automatically. Review an animated top-down track with nearby traffic, plus vertical-speed, bank, gear and flaps traces — play, pause and scrub step by step.

🧑‍✈️ Live F/O instruction stack

Cleared altitude, assigned speed, expected runway, phase and readback status at a glance. On final, a live stability gate compares speed and vertical rate with the approach criteria.

🗂️ Flight strip & datalink

A paper-style strip for callsign, route, runway, SID/STAR, squawk, ATIS and next fix, alongside a CPDLC-style uplink/downlink transcript.

📱 Android tablet edition

The same companion now runs on any Android tablet over your Wi-Fi — live map, voice ATC, checklists, scoring and logbook, with a “Find sim PC” button that locates your FSUIPC7 server automatically. One purchase covers Windows and tablet.

📡 Company ACARS

Simulated operational messages arrive at key flight phases — pushback, cruise, descent, arrival — are spoken, shown on screen and kept in the radio transcript.

🗣️ Regional radio character

Controllers keep a consistent curt, standard or chatty personality by facility, with station-aware voices. Supported VFR regions add native French, German or Spanish radio phrases.

🚨 Better emergency handling

Declare PAN-PAN or MAYDAY with structured radio calls, 7700 handling and diversion support. The frequency reacts to the emergency, and normal operations resume when it is cancelled.

🛬 Smarter arrival sequencing

Runway geometry, occupancy and live traffic inform spacing and crossing checks. Approach guidance covers transitions, IAF/FAF context, ILS frequency/course and heading corrections.

🤖 Optional local AI assistant

If Ollama is installed, adaptive ATC replies and an in-app assistant can run locally on your PC. Fully optional — the scripted procedure-aware ATC stays available without it.

🌐 Shared network lobby

Companion installs on the same network find each other automatically and share live flight state in a built-in lobby. Add internet peers by IP, or join an online lobby through the included relay server with private passcode rooms. Everyone sees callsign, aircraft, route and a moving position at one hertz.

📋 Every flight graded — gate to gate

Scoring starts at engine start and finishes with the shutdown checklist. It evaluates the flight, not only the touchdown.

94/100A“Smooth work. Nicely done.” · FACT → FAGG · 1 h 47 m

Startup / taxi out7/7

Departure / climb12/13

Approach stability8/10

Landing quality19/20

Flight discipline12/12

ATC compliance11/12

Landing rollout6/6

Shutdown flow8/8

Fuel / planning7/8

Smoothness / errors4/4

142 fpm · 0 bounces · 366 m past threshold, 3 m left of centreline
Ten categories, 100 points, A+ to F — with plain-English reasons and up to three coaching tips focused on what needs work.

Touchdown zone and centreline matter more than softness alone: a firm touchdown in the zone can beat an ultra-soft one far down the runway. Stability, sink rate and wings-level performance on short final are assessed separately.
Discipline counts: taxi speed, speed below 10,000 ft, altitude and heading compliance, fuel planning, warnings and shutdown flow all contribute.
Nothing is invented: an unobserved phase is marked neutral and explained instead of being filled with guessed telemetry.
Everything is stored: completed flights file themselves into the logbook with route, aircraft, duration, distance, touchdown, category scores, grade, reasons and next-flight coaching tips.

Everything else in the box

One purchase. No feature tiers or paid add-ons.

🛰️ Airport diagrams

Departure and destination diagrams with runways, taxiways, gates, own-ship and the active taxi route. Add Esri satellite imagery with local tile caching.

🧭 Nav database depth

Little Navmap data powers runways, frequencies, parking, taxiways, NAVAIDs, SIDs, STARs, transitions, approaches and wind-aware runway choice.

📖 Automatic logbook

Flights file themselves with route, aircraft, duration, distance, touchdown, category scores, grade, reasons and next-flight coaching tips.

⛽ Fuel & endurance

Progressively corrected burn estimates, endurance, destination arrival margin and alternate awareness are checked against the SimBrief plan.

✅ Aircraft-aware checklists

An aircraft profile is chosen automatically where supported. Challenge-and-response flows can auto-verify observable sim state; manual completion is always available.

🔊 Cabin & radio audio

Cabin announcements, PA chimes, phase-aware chatter, controller voices, radio effects, callouts and a live VU meter add atmosphere without blocking the flying.

🗒️ Persistent kneeboard

Keep manual notes and add quick weather or position entries for clearances, squawks, runway assignments and reminders.

🖥️ Second-monitor map

Pop the moving map into a separate desktop window while keeping the combined Map + ATC workspace available in the main app.

📡 SimBrief integration

Import the latest OFP by username. Route, procedures, waypoints, alternate, cruise level, weather and fuel plan drive the connected experience.

✈️ Fly together — three ways

The Lobby tab connects pilots with zero setup on a network, minimal setup across the internet, or a relay for the full open-lobby experience.

Same network (zero setup): start the lobby. Companion installs discover each other via broadcast and exchange live flight state automatically — no accounts, no IPs.
Across the internet, peer-to-peer: one pilot port-forwards the lobby port (or both join a VPN such as Tailscale), and the other adds them by IP or hostname. Reply-path learning means the reachable side is enough.
Across the internet, full lobby: run the included one-file relay server on any always-on machine. Everyone connects out — no port forwarding anywhere — and lands in the open lobby where anyone can open a private passcode room for the group.

🌐 In every mode the lobby shows the same live picture — callsign, aircraft, route, position, altitude, heading, ground speed, climb/descent, flight phase and route progress for every connected pilot, refreshed at one hertz. Last-flight score and career-average appear on the lobby scoreboard, and the shared presence is the foundation for virtual-ATC sessions in future updates.

New

📱 Fly it from any Android tablet

The full companion — live moving map, procedure-aware voice ATC, checklists, flight scoring, logbook, GSX monitoring, VATSIM handover and lobbies — running on a tablet beside you, connected to your sim PC over Wi-Fi. One purchase covers both editions.

🛰️ VATSIM handover from the tablet

The VATSIM monitor, handover card and map traffic layer all work on the tablet. When a real controller comes online the companion ATC stands down and the COM 1 tune flows to the sim PC over the Wi-Fi link, so the radio in MSFS follows along — and the AI ATC takes the frequency back when the controller logs off. Your VATSIM login stays in vPilot on the sim PC.

🔍 Find sim PC

No IP addresses to remember. Tap Find sim PC on network and the tablet scans your Wi-Fi for the FSUIPC7 server and connects itself. You can still type the address by hand.

🎙️ Hold-to-talk mic

A large on-screen transmit button replaces the keyboard/joystick PTT key. Voice readbacks use your tablet's own speech recognition, and ATC replies in your tablet's voices.

🗺️ Screen-sized layout

On a wide tablet the map and ATC console sit side by side; held in portrait you get a full-screen Map / ATC toggle. Navigation moves to a side rail in landscape.

🛰️ Same live picture

Position, altitude, speed, heading, fuel, gear, flaps, G-force and touchdown data stream from MSFS through FSUIPC7, plus real-world ADS-B traffic, weather radar and satellite imagery.

What the tablet needs from your sim PC: MSFS 2024 with FSUIPC7, its WebSocket Server enabled on port 2048, and — this is the part people miss — the server's bind address set to 0.0.0.0 rather than 127.0.0.1, plus a Windows Firewall rule allowing inbound TCP 2048. Both are one-time settings and the download includes a step-by-step TABLET_SETUP.md.

⚖️ Honest differences: the tablet never runs the simulator — it is a network companion, so your PC must be flying. Piper neural voices and local Whisper are Windows-only; the tablet uses its own system voices and speech recognition instead. There is no second-monitor pop-out, VATSIM voice itself runs in vPilot on the sim PC (the tablet watches the feed and hands you over), and airport diagrams, taxi routes and named SID/STAR procedures need the optional Little Navmap database, which the app downloads from a URL you provide (a trimming tool is included). Taxi routing also works without it via OpenStreetMap.

How buying works

Buy once through Gumroad using a card or PayPal where available.
Check your email for the receipt, download link and personal license key. Check spam if it does not arrive.
Download and extract the complete archive, then run the installer. Tablet buyers get an .apk plus TABLET_SETUP.md — copy the apk to the tablet and tap it to install.
Sign in and unlock the app with the license key in Settings. Cached entitlement supports offline relaunches after activation.

💳 Payments are handled by Gumroad. Your card details never touch MSFS Companion servers.

Requirements

Your download is delivered with your purchase and remains available in your Gumroad Library, including future updates.

Required (Windows edition): Windows 10/11 64-bit, MSFS 2024, FSUIPC7 with its WebSocket Server enabled, a free SimBrief account and internet access for sign-in and online services. A Little Navmap MSFS scenery database is required for full procedure, runway, taxiway and airport detail.

Required (tablet edition): an Android 8.0+ tablet on the same network as a sim PC that is itself running MSFS 2024 and FSUIPC7 with the WebSocket Server bound to 0.0.0.0:2048 and allowed through Windows Firewall. Your existing licence key works on both editions.

Optional: GSX Pro adds integrated ground services; Ollama adds local adaptive AI replies; OpenAIP adds an airspace overlay using your own free API key; a small self-hosted lobby relay server (a one-file Dart script, included in the download) enables the full online lobby over the internet — any always-on PC or free-tier VPS works, and no relay is needed for network lobbies. LiveATC and VATSIM integration needs internet access and their public feeds (VATSIM voice and your network login live in vPilot, the certified pilot client on the sim PC — the app itself only reads the public feed anonymously), and Piper voice catalog downloads need internet the first time only. Core flight, ATC and scoring features do not require these extras.

🔍 Being straight with you: scoring can only grade what it observes. Start after the engines are running and startup is marked “not observed.” Simulator touchdown data is suitable for broad scoring bands, not centimetre precision. The Charts tab uses simulator/Little Navmap geometry and optional satellite imagery; it does not include licensed Jeppesen or Navigraph charts.

Support

Questions?
admin@msfscompanionapp.co.za