JO 7110.65BB · 3-9-1phraseology
An aircraft is on a 5-mile final to runway 09. You're working tower and want to clear them to land. Pick the correct phraseology.
Pick an answer to see the explanation.
§ 02 · Try one
Three real cards. No signup.
A tiny taste of what your daily queue feels like. 1 of 3.
The real product schedules these for you with FSRS so each card comes back exactly when you’re about to forget it. How it works.
§ 01 · The Problem
You worked for years to score Best Qualified. Then you got a Tentative Offer Letter and a stack of community PDFs.
The pipeline from TOL to a fully certified facility is one of the hardest selection processes in U.S. aviation. The hard part is no longer the aptitude test. It’s the months of self-study before the Academy, where the failure rate is loud and the available tools are quiet.
Academy washout
30 to 35%
Recent FAA reporting puts trainee washout above 30%.
Second attempts
0
Failed Academy = career change. There is no retake.
Time between TOL and Academy
3 to 9 mo
Months of silence, and no commercial-grade study product to fill them.
Numbers above reflect FAA and DOT-OIG reporting in 2024 and 2025. They will be updated as new figures are published.
§ 02 · How it works
A daily habit, scheduled by an algorithm that optimizes for what you’re about to forget.
- 01
Create your account
Email + password, no credit card for the first 14 days. Pick a target retention probability (default 90%).
- 02
Pick a deck
Basics → Tower → Terminal → En Route. Or jump straight to a chapter you're weak on. The first day's queue is curated to find your starting baseline.
- 03
Review every day
Five to twenty minutes. Hit Again / Hard / Good / Easy. The scheduler keeps each card on the edge of forgetting, where retention compounds fastest.
- 04
Pull out cards on demand
Block Prep gives you timed exams that mirror Academy block-tests in shape and pacing. Use them the week before a milestone to surface your weakest cards.
§ 03 · Modules
Four modules, one progression: from first read of the .65 to recurrent training years later.
M1▸ Ships at launch
The .65
Spaced-repetition over JO 7110.65BB chapter by chapter, the Pilot/Controller Glossary, and AIM Chapters 4 and 5.
- Definition, fill-the-phraseology, scenario, spot-the-error
- Tagged by Academy block: Basics, Tower, Terminal, En Route
- Citation on every card (paragraph-level, not just chapter)
M2▸ Ships at launch
Block Prep
Timed practice exams that mirror Academy block-tests in shape and pacing, not in content.
- Per-block scoring and weakness heatmap
- Composition follows public Academy course objectives
- Resume mid-test on a different device
M3◆ Closed beta
Phraseology Pro
Audio readback drills. You play the controller, the app plays the pilot. The app scores fidelity to the .65.
- Whisper-based scoring, no live audio retained
- 50+ readback scenarios at launch: IFR, VFR, runway ops
- Two-tier grading: keyword match plus exact-phrase rank
M4◇ On the roadmap
Career Tracks
Facility-shaped curated tracks for working controllers approaching transfer or recurrent training.
- Tower-only, TRACON, En Route Center variants
- Custom retention target per track
- Recurrent topics refreshed each .65 change package
§ 04 · Comparison
Why not just use Anki, the Nolan textbook, or pointSixtyFive PDFs?
You can. We use them too. Here’s where we differ on the things that move washout odds.
| Feature | ModernATC | Anki / Quizlet | Nolan textbook | Forum PDFs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Authored questions | Mixed | |||
| FSRS-6 scheduling | ||||
| Cited to JO 7110.65 paragraph | Sometimes | |||
| Mobile, offline, sync | ||||
| Block Prep timed exams | ||||
| Phraseology audio drills | Pro tier | |||
| Updates with each .65 change | 16-yr-old ed. | |||
| Cost per year | $99 to $199 | Free / $5/mo | $200 once | Free |
§ 05 · Method
Modern spaced repetition. Public-domain source. Original questions.
FSRS-6
Schedules to a retention target, not a fixed interval.
The Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler models difficulty, stability, and retrievability of every card you’ve seen, then schedules so each review lands at your chosen retention probability of 90% by default, dialable per deck.
Source
Cited to the paragraph, never to a textbook.
Every card cites its anchor in JO 7110.65BB, the Pilot/Controller Glossary, JO 7400.11, or the AIM. All are works of the U.S. Government, all public domain. No commercial textbooks, no scraped Quizlet, no paywalled corpora.
Authoring
Original questions, reviewed by hand.
Distractors are crafted to test the boundary cases that bite real trainees in real block-tests. Every question is reviewed against its citation before it ships, and corrections propagate to your study queue automatically.
We never publish or paraphrase Academy block-test items. Those are For Official Use Only and stay that way. ModernATC tests the same material, not the same items.
▸ Free tools — no signupThe free reference tools the
See all tools The free reference tools the
browser games skip.
Interactive, citation-backed answers from JO 7110.65, AIM, and the PCG. Bookmark and use them any time — sign up only when you want spaced repetition layered on top.
Phraseology Studio
Canonical FAA clearances with every variable highlighted and cited.
Hold entry visualizer
Direct, parallel, or teardrop — live AIM 5-3-7 diagram.
Wake separation matrix
Pick two categories, get the .65 § 5-5-4 minimum instantly.
Daily quiz
Five new questions a day with full explanations + citations.
▸ Free for 14 days
Five minutes a day, scheduled by FSRS.
No card on file for the trial. Cancel inside the app any time. Your deck progress is yours — export it whenever.
§ 04 · PricingSave $19 Save $99
Priced for a career, not a textbook.
Start free — no card, real product. 14-day refund on every yearly plan.
Free
$0forever
- Sample .65 question bank
- FSRS-6 spaced repetition
- ATSA mock exam (timed)
- 5 phraseology scenarios / day
- Mobile + desktop, offline-capable
Trainee
$89/ year
- Everything in monthly
- Two months free vs. monthly billing
- Locks the price for the year
Pro
$249/ year
- Everything in Pro monthly
- Best value for full-time studiers
- Locks the price for the year
We retired the Lifetime tier in May 2026. Existing Lifetime members keep everything, forever, at no further cost.
Need an institutional license for an AT-CTI program? partners@modernatc.com.
§ 06 · Field reports
People who’ve sat in the chair.
From AT-CTI students through certified controllers. Real names and class numbers are published only with each contributor’s written permission.
◆ MARCUSZID
“I burned out two stacks of flashcards before I found ModernATC. The FSRS schedule actually keeps the cards I miss in front of me until they stick — block 1 went from white-knuckle to manageable.”
Marcus L.
Class 24-19 · En Route
◆ JESSAT-CTI
“The citations are the difference. Every card tells me which paragraph it came from, so when I get one wrong I can go straight to the .65 and read the source — not just memorise an answer key.”
Jess R.
AT-CTI · Junior
◆ DEVINTRACON
“I've been certified five years and still use this for refreshers. Phraseology drift creeps in if you're not careful; ten minutes a day on the readback module fixed it before my next eval.”
Devin K.
Recurrent · TRACON
▸ Used the product? Email hello@modernatc.com with your story.
§ 06 · FAQ
Frequently asked
Is this affiliated with the FAA?
No. ModernATC is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration. We cite FAA documents that are works of the U.S. Government and therefore in the public domain.
Where do the questions come from?
Original wording, written and reviewed against the cited paragraph in the public-domain source documents: JO 7110.65BB, the Pilot/Controller Glossary, JO 7400.11, and the AIM. We do not reproduce, paraphrase, or include FAA Academy block-test items, and we do not scrape commercial textbooks.
What is FSRS-6?
The Free Spaced Repetition Scheduler, version 6. It models difficulty, stability, and retrievability of every card and schedules the next review so the probability of recall lands at your target retention. Default 90%; you can dial it.
Who is this for?
Post-TOL trainees waiting for a Class Convening Date, AT-CTI students, and certified controllers preparing for transfer or recurrent training. The .65 question bank is the same; what changes per audience is the deck mix and the retention target.
How do I cancel?
From your account page in the app. One click opens the Stripe customer portal where you can cancel, change plan, update payment, or download invoices. Cancellation is effective at the end of the current period.
Do you offer refunds?
Yes. 14-day money-back on yearly plans, no questions asked. Reply to your receipt and we'll process it. Monthly subscriptions: cancel any time, prorated to the end of the period.
Will my progress sync across devices?
Yes. Your FSRS state, deck progress, and review history live in your account and are available wherever you sign in.
Do you have a mobile app?
ModernATC is a Progressive Web App. Install it from your browser's share menu and it behaves like a native app on iOS and Android, including offline review of cards you've already loaded. Native iOS/Android wrappers are on the roadmap.
Is the .65 changing soon?
JO 7110.65 is updated by change packages roughly every six months. We track each one and update affected questions; your queue absorbs corrections automatically. The current revision is BB (effective Feb 20, 2025).
Can institutions buy seats?
Yes. Standard and Enhanced AT-CTI programs can request institutional licenses (typically 25 to 100 seats with instructor analytics) at partners@modernatc.com.
One TOL. One Academy. One shot.
Start a 14-day free trial. If it’s not the best $99 you spend on the Academy, we’ll refund you.