Approach Control vs Crash Landing 3D
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Approach Control
Experience the thrill of managing air traffic in a realistic simulation. Guide passenger jets to safe landings by controlling their heading, speed, and altitude, adhering to strict separation rules. This app offers an authentic taste of air traffic control.
- Realistic radar simulation
- Authentic pilot voices
- Manage heading, speed, and altitude
- Maintain aircraft separation
- Simulates final approach procedures
- Earn points for efficiency
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Approach Control is a highly realistic air traffic control simulation, designed by real world air traffic controllers. It uses authentic pilot voices. This app is designed to give aviation enthusiasts a taste of the world's greatest job. The radar behavior in this app is identical to that of real-world air traffic control radar screens, utilizing a 3-second sweep that air traffic controllers are accustomed to. Much work has been done to make such a complex job fit inside the palm of your hand. You are the approach controller whose job is to manage arriving passenger jets at various busy airports. Establish arriving aircraft onto 'final approach' as safely and efficiently as possible. As in the real world of ATC, you must walk a very fine line between being cautious and being expeditious. A top notch air traffic controller knows how to bring planes in 'tight', without breaking the 'three mile rule'. Keep all aircraft at least THREE MILES apart or at least 1000 FEET VERTICALLY apart. That's your job in a nutshell! Earn extra points by establishing the planes onto final approach without extra wasted space. Air traffic controlling is achieved by assigning a mixture of three things: HEADING, SPEED, and ALTITUDE. Use these three tools to achieve safety and efficiency. A successful air traffic controller must remain CALM, COOL and COLLECTED, known as the 'three C's'. Who knows, you may one day use these skills and apply for a real ATC job! Find out why real-world air traffic controllers have nerves of steel.
Crash Landing 3D
Test your piloting skills by tapping to control your aircraft's descent. Aim for a safe landing or face fiery consequences. Experience the thrill of flight and precision landing.
- Tap-based flight control
- Precision landing challenges
- Avoid fiery crashes
- Skill-based gameplay
- Casual arcade experience
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Anyone can fly, but it takes skill to land?! Keep on tapping to keep the plane in the air. Can you slowly bring the plane down for a safe landing… or will you end up as a ball of flames?!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Crash Landing 3D at 4.4 against Approach Control's 3.2. Crash Landing 3D also leads on ratings volume (38K vs 18). Approach Control's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (47% vs 25%). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Approach Control sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Crash Landing 3D sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Crash Landing 3D holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Crash Landing 3D has 38K ratings behind it against 18, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 47% of Approach Control's written reviews are positive against 25% of Crash Landing 3D's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Approach Control ships an update every 2 weeks, Crash Landing 3D monthly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Approach Control | Crash Landing 3D |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.2 (18 ratings) | 4.4 (38K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 46.6% of reviews — better | 25.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 18 | 38K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 6.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 186 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Big Fat Simulations Inc. | Full Fat Productions Ltd |
Customer experience
Approach Control
Crash Landing 3D
User reviews
Approach Control
From 18 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Realistic feel
- 👍 Good for passing time
- 👍 Challenging gameplay
- 👍 Addictive
- 👍 Professional interface
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent crashes
- 🐛 Game freezes
- 🐛 Does not save progress
- 🐛 Lacks realism in procedures
- 🐛 Limited space for traffic
Crash Landing 3D
From 38K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Fun game
- 👍 Enjoyable gameplay
- 🎨 Visually appealing
Room to improve
- 🔋 Too many ads
- 💰 Excessive in-app purchases
- 🐛 Glitches and bugs
- 🤖 Repetitive levels
Bugs and requests
Approach Control
Reported bugs
60 issues- Game ends without user awareness
- End game screen broken
- Try again/replay button doesn't work
- Game feels like crashing
- Game is frozen
Show 55 moreShow fewer
- Close app and re-launch needed
- Loss of previous gameplay
- Broke sep on aircraft over 30degrees
- Diverting or paths won't intercept
- Scores won't reset
- Glitches
- Crashes
- Scores won't reset
- Crashes a lot
- Doesn't save the score
- Crashes after playing for 10 mins or longer
- Crashes on both iPad and iPhone
- Doesn't save your game
- Lose all your progress
- 4x3 aspect ratio in a 16x9 world
- Crashes regularly after prolonged play
- Behaving funny on paid level
- Basically unplayable on paid level
- Game bugs
- Frequently crashing when selecting a target
- Issues with altitude
- Errors aren't detected
- Better ATC apps available
- Crashes after 8-12 minutes of gameplay
- Lose all my progress
- Game over problem
- Force quit the game after each game
- Blank screens and nothing comes up
- Stopped working following iOS8 upgrade
- Doesn't work on iOS8
- App stopped working following iOS8 upgrade
- Deleted and reinstalled to no avail
- Not working on iOS 8
- Black screen on iPad Air running 8
- App won't even open
- Just a blank screen
- Was a fun game back when it worked
- Separated my planes over 1000' as stated yet it says that I haven't
- Takes a life off me until the game ends
- Deleted as a waste of time
- Completely non-compatible with iOS multitasking
- Once you switch to another app for more than a few minutes, the game would restart
- All scores reset
- Quite annoying
- Game crashes and freezes continually
- Have to start all over again
- Stats aren't recorded
- Start with 203 landings and 'n' number of strikes
- Doesn't keep your game score
- If you pause the game and turn off the phone you loose your game score
- Effort of over an hour being wasted
- No facility for your high scores to be saved and displayed
- If you end a game by getting '3 strikes' and start a new one, you start with the previous games stats
- Good but judgemental
- Some times this man comes up and starts giving you tips and assigns blame
Requested features
33 requests- Random VFR traffic
- Varying runway alignment
- More traffic
- Two runways or more
- Departures
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- Real airports (JFK, KLAX)
- Clear for ILS only in localizer
- Real airlines with callsigns
- New scenarios
- Adjust passage of time (faster/slower)
- Dual airport
- More variety of planes
- Save option
- Ability for time shifting
- More interesting progression
- More features (bigger map, real movements, traffic)
- Choose different airports
- Vectors to direct planes
- Details about planes
- More space to sequence
- Basic aircraft data (light, medium, heavy)
- Space according to wake turbulence
- Divergence rules
- Diverging courses
- Different planes
- Different approach categories
- Dogleg right approaches
- Save game
- Spacing of 3 miles instead of 6 miles
- Pause game and turn off phone
- High scores saved and displayed
- Voice option
- Separation rings
Crash Landing 3D
Reported bugs
3 issues- Inability to take off on certain levels
- Plane controls not responsive
- Frequent crashes
Requested features
4 requests- More plane customization options
- Ability to spend coins on new planes
- Increased level variety
- Reduced ad frequency
In-app purchases
Approach Control
- Airport 2$1.99
- Airport 3$1.99
- Airport 4$1.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Level 5$1.99
- Level 6$1.99
Crash Landing 3D
- Remove Ads$5.99
Questions
Is Approach Control free?
Is Crash Landing 3D free?
Which has better reviews, Approach Control or Crash Landing 3D?
Do Approach Control or Crash Landing 3D have ads?
Which is updated more often, Approach Control or Crash Landing 3D?
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