Installing and flying with RogerATC

What RogerATC is and what you need

RogerATC replaces X-Plane 12's built-in ATC with an AI air traffic controller you talk to by voice. You hold a push-to-talk key, speak the way you would on a real frequency, let go, and the controller answers on COM1 or COM2 — in English or Spanish. A second voice, the virtual instructor, sits on the cabin intercom and answers questions about your flight.

The AI only works out what you asked for. What the controller says is decided by a rules engine and worded from phraseology templates written by people, with their sources. Runways, taxiways, frequencies, fixes and procedures come from your own X-Plane installation, add-on scenery included: if something is not in your data, the controller never says it.

What you need

• X-Plane 12.4 or later.
• macOS 11 or later (Apple Silicon or Intel) or Windows 10/11, 64-bit. Windows support is new in this beta.
• A free Copilot EFB account. RogerATC uses it to check your account and to fetch your keys.
• An OpenAI API key with credit, entered in Copilot EFB. You pay OpenAI directly for what you use.
• An internet connection, and a headset with a microphone (strongly recommended: a built-in microphone picks up the simulator's own sound).

RogerATC and Copilot EFB are free during the beta. This is version 1.0 beta: expect rough edges, and check the changelog on rogeratc.app for what changed.

Before you install: your Copilot EFB account and keys

RogerATC does not have its own sign-in. Your Copilot EFB account is your RogerATC account, and it is where every provider key lives. Do these three things first — they take five minutes.

1. Create your Copilot EFB account

Open copilot.rogeratc.app/sign-up, enter your name, email and a password, and confirm the six-digit code sent to your email. The account is free during the beta, and the EFB is a complete flight bag you can also use on its own.

2. Copy your Copilot EFB API key

In Copilot EFB, open Settings → API access. Every account has a personal key that starts with rat_live_. Use the copy button. This is the only key you will ever paste into RogerATC.

3. Enter your OpenAI key in Copilot EFB

In Copilot EFB, open Settings → Keys used by RogerATC and paste your OpenAI key. RogerATC uses it for speech recognition, the controller's voice and the language model. The plugin fetches your keys from your account every time it starts, so you never type a provider key into RogerATC.

The other keys in that section are optional. Without them, the feature is simply absent:

When Copilot EFB itself uses the same key (for example openAIP for its map), Settings marks it Used by Copilot EFB and RogerATC. Change it in one place and both apps use the new one; RogerATC picks it up the next time it starts.

Installing on macOS

• Download RogerATC-1.0-beta-macOS.dmg from rogeratc.app and open it.
• Drag RogerATC Setup onto the Applications folder in the same window.
• Open RogerATC Setup from Applications.

The first time: "Open Anyway"

This beta is not notarized by Apple, so the first time macOS refuses to open it and says it cannot check it for malicious software. To allow it:

• Close the message.
• Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll down to the Security section.
• Next to the line about RogerATC Setup, click Open Anyway and confirm with your password or Touch ID.

The microphone

The first time you press push-to-talk in X-Plane, macOS asks for permission to use the microphone. Allow it. If you clicked Don't Allow, open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone and switch on X-Plane (or RogerCore, if it appears there), then restart X-Plane.

Installing on Windows

Windows support is new in this beta. The installer works for your user only and does not ask for administrator rights.

• Download RogerATC-1.0-beta-Windows-Setup.exe from rogeratc.app and run it.
• The installer is not code-signed in this beta, so Windows SmartScreen shows "Windows protected your PC". Click More info, then Run anyway.
• Accept the licence, keep the suggested folder and click Install. At the end, leave Run RogerATC Setup ticked.

The microphone

Open Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone and make sure Microphone access and Let desktop apps access your microphone are both on. If Windows asks the first time you press push-to-talk, allow it.

RogerATC Setup, step by step

RogerATC Setup links your account, installs the plugin into X-Plane and holds every setting, in English or Spanish. Inside the simulator, Plugins › Roger ATC AI › Open RogerATC Setup… opens it.

Link your account

Paste your Copilot EFB key (rat_live_…) and link it. Setup checks it, shows the account name and lists which provider keys your account holds — names only, never values. If OpenAI is missing, add it in Copilot EFB before you fly. The key is stored in the macOS keychain or the Windows Credential Manager, never in a plain file.

Install the plugin into X-Plane

Setup finds your X-Plane 12 installations and shows whether RogerATC is installed in each. Choose yours and click Install; the same place offers Update, Repair and Uninstall. Close X-Plane first — Setup does not touch the plugin while it runs. Then Start X-Plane launches the simulator.

The plugin goes into its own folder; nothing else in X-Plane is changed:

X-Plane 12/Resources/plugins/RogerATC

Settings

Every setting is chosen in Setup. Most can also be changed mid-flight from Plugins › Roger ATC AI › Settings, and take effect from the next transmission.

Setup also shows a notice when a newer RogerATC is published, and Open the logs folder opens the folder with the logs and session records.

Your first flight

Bind the keys

In X-Plane, open Settings → Keyboard (or Joystick for a yoke button), search for Roger ATC and assign:

Hold the key while you speak and release it when you have finished: releasing is what ends the transmission, so a pause in the middle never cuts you off. A very short tap is ignored as an accidental press.

Start a flight

• Load a flight on the apron of an aerodrome with a tower or ground frequency, engines off.
• Look at Plugins › Roger ATC AI › About or Diagnostics: they show that RogerATC is running, which aerodrome it found and which runway is in use.
• Tune COM1 to the ground frequency (or the tower, if there is no ground station): the frequency decides who answers.
• Hold the key and make your first call: the station, then your call sign. Release and wait for the answer.

The answer takes two to three seconds. While it is being prepared you hear the wait tone; if you hear nothing at all, see Troubleshooting.

Talking to the controller

Talk like a pilot: station, call sign, position and request in one call. Standard phraseology works best, but you do not have to be word-perfect. The Spanish is native phraseology, not translated English.

The exchanges below are illustrative. The exact wording depends on your aerodrome, your region setting and the situation — the controller remembers what it already told you and does not repeat it.

Contact, start-up and taxi

A station that has not spoken to you yet introduces itself and greets according to the aerodrome's local time. The taxi route is worked out on the real taxiways of the airport you are at, from your own scenery.

PILOT  Ezeiza Ground, LV-GKM, on the apron, information Delta, request start-up.
ATC    LV-GKM, Ezeiza Ground, good morning. Start-up approved, QNH 1013, squawk 4321.
PILOT  Start-up approved, QNH 1013, squawk 4321, LV-GKM.
ATC    LV-GKM, readback correct.
PILOT  LV-GKM, request taxi.
ATC    LV-GKM, taxi to holding point runway 11 via Juliett, Echo, Alfa,
       hold short of runway 17.
PILOT  Taxi to holding point runway 11 via Juliett, Echo, Alfa,
       hold short of runway 17, LV-GKM.

PILOTO  Ezeiza Rodaje, LV-GKM, en plataforma, información Delta, solicito puesta en marcha.
ATC     LV-GKM, Ezeiza Rodaje, buen día. Puesta en marcha aprobada, QNH 1013,
        transpondedor 4321.
PILOTO  Puesta en marcha aprobada, QNH 1013, transpondedor 4321, LV-GKM.
ATC     LV-GKM, correcto.
PILOTO  LV-GKM, solicito rodaje.
ATC     LV-GKM, Ezeiza Rodaje, ruede a punto de espera de pista 11 vía calle de rodaje
        Juliett, Echo, Alfa. Mantenga antes de pista.
PILOTO  Ruedo a punto de espera de pista 11 vía Juliett, Echo, Alfa, LV-GKM.

Take-off, the circuit and landing

PILOT  Ezeiza Tower, LV-GKM, holding point runway 11, ready for departure.
ATC    LV-GKM, Ezeiza Tower, runway 11, cleared for take-off, wind 270 degrees 8 knots.
PILOT  Runway 11, cleared for take-off, LV-GKM.
       ...
ATC    LV-GKM, number one, report final.
PILOT  LV-GKM, final runway 11.
ATC    LV-GKM, wind 270 degrees 8 knots, runway 11, cleared to land.
       ...
ATC    LV-GKM, vacate the runway, contact ground 121.9.

PILOTO  Ezeiza Torre, LV-GKM, punto de espera pista 11, listo a la salida.
ATC     LV-GKM, Ezeiza Torre, pista 11, autorizado a despegar,
        viento 270 grados 8 nudos.
PILOTO  Pista 11, autorizado a despegar, LV-GKM.
        ...
ATC     LV-GKM, número uno, notifique en final.
PILOTO  LV-GKM, en final pista 11.
ATC     LV-GKM, viento 270 grados 8 nudos. Pista 11, autorizado a aterrizar.
        ...
ATC     LV-GKM, libere pista, pase con rodaje 121.9.

The circuit is understood the way pilots say it — crosswind, downwind, base, final — and checked against where you actually are. Report a leg the data contradicts and you hear "negative" and where you really are.

Requests: ATIS, QNH, frequencies and more

LV-GKM, request ATIS.
LV-GKM, request QNH.
LV-GKM, request the tower frequency for Rosario.
LV-GKM, request the METAR for Rosario.
LV-GKM, request the VOR frequency.
LV-GKM, request touch and go.
LV-GKM, request to cross runway 17.

LV-GKM, solicito ATIS.
LV-GKM, solicito QNH.
LV-GKM, ¿cuál es la frecuencia de torre de Rosario?
LV-GKM, solicito el METAR de Rosario.
LV-GKM, solicito la frecuencia del VOR.
LV-GKM, ¿me autoriza un toque y motor?
LV-GKM, solicito cruzar pista 17.

Answers come from your own data, for any aerodrome; if something is not there, the controller says so instead of guessing. Pushback, de-icing, zone transits, special VFR, flight plans filed or closed by radio, and position and level reports are understood too.

Readbacks and "say again"

Read back every clearance. A correct readback is confirmed with "readback correct" ("correcto" in Spanish); a wrong one is corrected with the right value. If you did not catch something, ask for it again: the repeat is marked so you know nothing changed.

PILOT  Taxi to holding point runway 29, LV-GKM.
ATC    LV-GKM, negative I say again, runway 11.

PILOT  Say again.
ATC    LV-GKM, I say again. Taxi to holding point runway 11 via Juliett, Echo, Alfa.

PILOTO  Ruedo a punto de espera de pista 29, LV-GKM.
ATC     LV-GKM, negativo repito, pista 11.

PILOTO  Repita.
ATC     LV-GKM, repito. Ruede a punto de espera de pista 11 vía Juliett, Echo, Alfa.

Traffic, crossings and go-arounds

When something is on final, a request to line up can be held and released when the traffic has gone. The tower can also order a go-around, and you can report one yourself.

ATC    LV-GKM, hold short runway 11, traffic on final, I will call you.
       ...
ATC    LV-GKM, cross runway 17, report runway vacated.
ATC    LV-GKM, go around, I say again, go around, runway occupied.
       Climb to 1500 feet, report downwind.

ATC     LV-GKM, mantenga fuera de pista 11, tránsito en final, lo llamo apenas quede libre.
        ...
ATC     LV-GKM, cruce pista 17, notifique pista libre.
ATC     LV-GKM, ida al aire, ida al aire, pista ocupada.
        Ascienda a 1500 pies, notifique tramo a favor del viento.

Emergencies

MAYDAY and PAN PAN are always recognised and answered — never with "say again". PAN PAN is not treated as a MAYDAY, and minimum fuel gets "no delay expected", not priority, as the rules say.

PILOT  MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY, Ezeiza Tower, LV-GKM, engine failure,
       four miles south, 2000 feet, returning to the field.
ATC    LV-GKM, Ezeiza Tower, roger. Emergency services alerted. Runway 11 available,
       wind 270 degrees 8 knots. Report your intentions and souls on board.

PILOT  PAN PAN PAN PAN PAN PAN, Ezeiza Tower, LV-GKM, passenger unwell, request priority.
PILOT  LV-GKM, minimum fuel.

PILOTO  MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY, Ezeiza Torre, LV-GKM, falla de motor,
        cuatro millas al sur, 2000 pies, regreso al aeródromo.
ATC     LV-GKM, Ezeiza Torre, recibido. Servicios de emergencia alertados. Pista 11 a su
        disposición, viento 270 grados 8 nudos. Notifique intenciones y personas a bordo.

PILOTO  PAN PAN PAN PAN PAN PAN, Ezeiza Torre, LV-GKM, pasajero indispuesto, solicito prioridad.
PILOTO  LV-GKM, combustible mínimo.

Getting understood

• Use a headset. A built-in microphone hears the engine.
• Say your call sign in every transmission; it can go at the start or the end.
• Say designators, do not spell them: "via Kilo Two", not "via K2". The controller always answers with the ICAO alphabet — Alfa, Juliett, Xray — and understands "Alpha" and "Juliet" too.
• The frequency is simplex: key the mic while the controller is talking and you cut it off, as on a real radio.

By voice, the stations that answer you today are Tower and Ground. Approach and area control are not yet stations you can call; IFR instructions reach you through the EFB live link instead (see IFR practice below).

What the controller does on its own

A real tower does not wait to be asked, and neither does this one. It works out where you are from your position and heading relative to the runway in use and speaks when a controller would:

• Turning downwind: your number in the sequence and "report final"; on final without a clearance, the landing clearance.
• Entering a runway without a take-off clearance: "hold position". Runway vacated: over to Ground.
• Another aircraft getting close, the runway in use changing with the wind, a new QNH: you are told unprompted.
• A transponder code with your clearance, and a check if the code is wrong, on standby on the runway, or IDENT is pressed.

Other aircraft on the frequency

With Traffic on frequency on, you hear other pilots call for start-up and taxi, report downwind and get cleared to land, in their own voices. They never talk over you and nothing said to you refers to them: you are sequenced only against aircraft your simulator actually shows.

The virtual instructor

Hold the intercom key and talk normally. The instructor answers in your language, close and clean, without the radio effect, in its own voice. It knows where you are, the weather, the frequencies, the airspace and your aircraft's state.

What's the crosswind on runway 11 right now?
How far am I from Ezeiza, and which runway is in use?
What is my pivotal altitude at this ground speed?
Give me the frequency of the San Fernando VOR.
How far out should I start down, and at what rate?
Let's do a steep turn to the left.
Remember that in this aeroplane we take the first stage of flap at 85 knots.

¿Cuál es el viento cruzado en la pista 11 ahora?
¿A cuánto estoy de Ezeiza y qué pista está en uso?
¿Cuál es mi altura pivotal a esta velocidad respecto al suelo?
Dame la frecuencia del VOR de San Fernando.
¿A qué distancia empiezo el descenso y con qué régimen?
Hagamos un viraje escarpado a la izquierda.
Acuérdate de que en este avión sacamos el primer flap a 85 nudos.

• Every number is calculated, never remembered. Crosswind, distances, pivotal altitude, the radial you are on, where to start down: all computed from the simulator and your data. When there is no way to work something out, it tells you so.
• Regulations with a source. With a Tavily key it looks things up in a closed list of aviation sources and tells you where the answer came from; check it against the current edition before relying on it.
• Drills. Steep turns, a level 360, slow flight, straight-and-level, turns around a point, a course reversal and a holding pattern. Start one by voice or from Plugins › Roger ATC AI › Instructor: it briefs it, corrects you while you fly it and scores you at the end.
• Its memory is yours. Ask it to remember something and it writes it, one note per line, in Documents/RogerATC/instructor-memory.txt, a text file you can edit by hand.

Proactive mode

Set the instructor to Proactive and it also speaks up unasked: flap speed, a high sink rate close to the ground, gear up on final, an altimeter that does not match the QNH, a strong crosswind, low fuel, controlled airspace ahead.

IFR practice with Copilot EFB

With the EFB live link on, an instructor — or a friend playing ATC — follows your flight in Copilot EFB and asks the controller for the next instruction of the lesson. You hear it on COM1 from the same controller as everything else, read it back, and the readback is checked.

Set it up

• In RogerATC Setup, switch EFB live link on. Optionally set EFB sync to Full so the console also shows the radio transcript.
• Start X-Plane and fly. On a tablet or computer, open Copilot EFB with the same account and go to the RogerATC screen.
• The aircraft appears on a map with its altitude, speeds, heading, squawk, COM1 and wind; the light reads LIVE while the plugin is reporting.
• Tap an instruction, check the values (they open filled in from where the aircraft is) and send it. Below, you see whether it was spoken, with the exact words, or refused and why.

What can be asked for

• Holds with their entry, course reversals, radials, DME arcs, headings, levels, squawk and frequency changes.
• Approaches by type — ILS, GLS, LOC, VOR, NDB, TACAN, RNAV, RNP, visual and contact — plus circling, vectors to final, and SRA and PAR approaches talked down mile by mile.
• Missed approaches, SIDs, STARs, direct to a fix and diversions — and VFR circuit work, landing, go-around and the QNH.

ATC  LV-GKM, this will be a precision radar approach runway 02, check your minima.
ATC  LV-GKM, six miles from touchdown, slightly left of track, slightly above glide path.
ATC  LV-GKM, four miles from touchdown, check gear down, on track, on glide path.
ATC  LV-GKM, approach completed, if runway not in sight, go around.

ATC  LV-GKM, esta será una aproximación con radar de precisión pista 02, verifique sus mínimos.
ATC  LV-GKM, seis millas del punto de toma de contacto, ligeramente a la izquierda del rumbo,
     ligeramente por encima de la senda de planeo.
ATC  LV-GKM, cuatro millas del punto de toma de contacto, verifique tren abajo, en el rumbo,
     en la senda de planeo.
ATC  LV-GKM, aproximación completada, si no tiene la pista a la vista, ida al aire.

The controller still decides

Every procedure, fix and frequency is looked up in your own X-Plane navigation data. One that is not there is refused with a reason the instructor sees; the controller never substitutes another. Nothing is said while the simulator is paused or during an emergency, and a request not collected within two minutes expires instead of being given late.

What RogerATC sends to Copilot EFB, and what never leaves your computer

Every time it starts

RogerATC checks your account with Copilot EFB, sending a random identifier for this installation, the RogerATC, operating system and X-Plane versions, and a few settings (language, region, language model, instructor, traffic, data source, EFB options). Then it fetches your provider keys over an encrypted connection. If Copilot EFB cannot be reached, it keeps working for up to 14 days since the last successful check, with a copy of your keys kept in your system's keychain or Credential Manager.

After every session

RogerATC always sends a session summary to your own Copilot EFB account, where you and the service's administrators can see your plugin usage:

If you are offline the summary waits on disk and is sent later. A session you delete in the EFB is deleted on every device.

Only if you switch them on

• EFB live link: every few seconds, your aircraft's current position and state, the aerodrome and the runway in use. Each report replaces the last and the server forgets it ten minutes later: a position, never a track.
• Data source Both or EFB: RogerATC reads your filed flight plan, your aircraft profile and your aerodrome cards' frequencies from your account.

What never leaves your computer for us

• Your voice. Audio goes from your computer straight to OpenAI on your key, for recognition. It never passes through our servers and is never sent to Copilot EFB.
• Navigation data. Your X-Plane navigation data is licensed to you and is read where it is. It is never uploaded, and no runway, frequency or navaid list is ever sent.
• Your keys are sent only to the provider that issued them. Copilot EFB records which key names were fetched and when, never their values.

Other services — NOAA, Windy, openAIP, Flightradar24, Tavily — are contacted only for what you enabled, with your own keys. Session records and logs stay on your computer:

~/Library/Application Support/RogerATC

%APPDATA%\RogerATC

Updating

RogerATC checks for a new version every time it starts — in X-Plane and when you open RogerATC Setup. When there is one, X-Plane shows a notice with Update and Later, and RogerATC Setup shows Update now. Either way, Setup downloads the new version, checks that it is exactly the file published on rogeratc.app, installs it and restarts. Later hides the notice until tomorrow; Help & logs › Check for updates looks again at any time.

• Click Update in X-Plane (or Update now in RogerATC Setup).
• If X-Plane is open, RogerATC Setup says Close X-Plane to finish updating RogerATC and updates the plugin as soon as X-Plane quits. It never touches the plugin while X-Plane runs.
• When it says RogerATC <version> is ready, start X-Plane.

If the update cannot replace RogerATC Setup where it is (for example, an Applications folder you cannot write to), it opens the new version in Finder: drag RogerATC Setup onto Applications and replace the old one. You can always install by hand: download the installer from this site and run it over the old one (macOS: drag to Applications; Windows: run the .exe). Your settings, your linked account and your session records are kept.

Uninstalling

macOS

• Close X-Plane, open RogerATC Setup and click Uninstall. This removes the plugin folder from X-Plane.
• Drag RogerATC Setup from Applications to the Trash.

Windows

Open Settings → Apps → Installed apps, find RogerATC and choose Uninstall. It asks whether to remove the plugin from X-Plane as well.

Removing everything

Your settings, session records and stored keys are kept on purpose, so a reinstall does not lose them. To remove them too, delete the RogerATC support folder shown under What RogerATC sends above and the RogerATC folder in your Documents (the instructor's memory). Then remove the stored keys: on macOS, open Keychain Access and delete the items named ai.rogeratc; on Windows, open Credential Manager → Windows Credentials and remove the entries starting with ai.rogeratc.

Troubleshooting

"Link your Copilot EFB account in RogerATC Setup"

The plugin has no valid key, or the key was rotated in the EFB. Open RogerATC Setup, paste the current key from Settings → API access in Copilot EFB, link it, and restart X-Plane. If the account has been paused, the message stays until it is resumed.

"RogerATC needs to reach Copilot EFB once every 14 days"

Connect to the internet and restart X-Plane. One successful check unlocks it for another 14 days.

The controller does not answer

• Check the push-to-talk key is bound to the RogerATC command and that you hold it while speaking.
• Check the microphone permission (see the installation sections) and that your headset is the system's input device.
• Check COM1 is tuned to a frequency of the aerodrome. On the wrong one, the station tells you which frequency to use.
• Open Plugins › Roger ATC AI › Diagnostics: it shows whether RogerATC is running and why not.
• If you fly on VATSIM with xPilot connected, RogerATC stays out of the way on purpose and tells you so.

It hears me but never answers, or the voice is missing

Your OpenAI key is missing, wrong or out of credit. Check it in Copilot EFB → Settings → Keys used by RogerATC and your balance on OpenAI's platform, then restart X-Plane: keys are fetched when the plugin starts.

It keeps saying "say again"

Use a headset, say your call sign, say designators instead of spelling them, and stay in the language you chose. If a taxiway or runway is not in your scenery, the controller will not accept it — check the aerodrome in X-Plane's map.

Setup does not find X-Plane, or will not install

Start X-Plane 12 once so it records where it is installed, then reopen Setup, or point Setup to your X-Plane folder yourself. Installing, updating and uninstalling only work with X-Plane closed.

Where the logs are

Click Open the logs folder in RogerATC Setup, or open the support folder shown under What RogerATC sends above. The sessions folder holds one record per flight (the twenty most recent are kept); attach the latest one when you report a problem.

For simulation and practice only

RogerATC is for flight simulation and radio communication practice. It is not an approved training device and does not replace certified flight instruction. Its phraseology is built from published sources, but real procedures vary by country, aerodrome and controller: in a real aircraft, follow your instructor, the official publications and the instructions of real ATC.