[Passion Project] Real-Time ATC
Transcription for Pilots

CLIENT

Myself

PROJECT

ATC Transcription

ROLE

Designer/User

On February 25, 2025, a near-tragic runway incursion occurred at Chicago Midway Airport involving Flexjet Flight 560 (a Challenger 350) and Southwest Flight 2504 (a Boeing 737-800). Despite ATC’s instruction to “hold short” of Runway 31C, the Flexjet crew misheard and mistakenly crossed the active runway without clearance.

This serious communication breakdown between ATC and experienced pilots highlights how easily misunderstandings can escalate into dangerous situations. If such errors can occur among professionals, the risks are even greater for student pilots or less experienced aviators—making clear, accessible communication tools essential for aviation safety.

What makes me want to start this project?

As both a licensed pilot and a non-native English speaker, I’ve personally experienced one of the biggest challenges in aviation: ATC (Air Traffic Control) communication. Fast speech, aviation-specific jargon, and the pressure of flying can make it difficult to catch every instruction. Missing or mishearing critical instructions can compromise situational awareness, safety, and pilot confidence.

This case study explores the design of a real-time ATC transcription tool—a system that listens to ATC transmissions and instantly provides text transcriptions for pilots in the cockpit.

Overview

  • Pilots often struggle to fully understand ATC communications due to speed, accent, jargon, or nervousness.

  • In high workload environments, even experienced pilots can miss transmissions.

  • Current avionics systems provide no text backup—only audio.

  • A misheard instruction (e.g., wrong altitude or heading) can lead to dangerous outcomes.

Problem

HOW MIGHT WE

help pilots improve comprehension and confidence in ATC communications through accessible, real-time support?

HMW

  • Pilot Interviews (5 private pilots, 2 CFIs): to understand real-world ATC struggles.

  • Flight Observation: listening in on tower communications at a local Class C airport.

  • Competitive Benchmarking: looked at speech-to-text tools (Otter.ai, Microsoft Azure STT, LiveATC), but none were optimized for aviation.

Methods

Persona 1: Rodrigo

International Student Pilot

  • 28 years old, Spanish native speaker.

  • Struggles with fast ATC speech.

  • Goal: Increase confidence during solo flights.

  • Pain: Often needs to request “say again,” feels embarrassed.

Persona 2: Sarah

Private Pilot, Busy Airspace

  • 35 years old, English native speaker.

  • Goal: Reduce workload in busy Class B airspace.

  • Pain: Misses instructions when multitasking.

Personas

A real-time ATC transcription display integrated into the cockpit, showing live text of ATC audio transmissions:

🎙️ Live Transcription: Converts ATC speech to text instantly.

📜 Scroll-back History: Lets pilots review the last 10 transmissions.

📖 Keyword Highlighting: Altitude, heading, squawk codes shown in bold.

🔔 Safety Alerts: If transcription detects “immediate” or “go around,” highlight in red.

🌐 Offline Optimization: Designed to work without needing internet.

Solution

Information Architecture

Setup

  • 4 pilots tested prototype on iPad during a simulator session.

  • Tasks: Respond to ATC instructions with transcription support.

Results

  • 100% of pilots reported increased confidence in ATC comprehension.

  • Non-native speakers said reading helped “decode” instructions much faster.

Feedback

  • Need a bigger font size for readability.

  • History should store at least last 20 transmissions.

  • Request for voice playback of last instruction as a backup.

User Testing

  • Explore integration with ForeFlight / Garmin Pilot.

  • AI glossary identification: Using AI to identify aviation glossary to make more accurate transcription predictions.

  • Test with IFR scenarios or untowered airports where communication is denser and more complex.

Next Steps

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