How this Aviator apron was cut to four

The shortlist is four because four store URLs arrived for this pass. I did not pad it with a fifth card to look busy, and I did not drop a card to look exclusive.

What I weighed

• Whether the card publishes a rating count I can quote.
• Whether size, OS, version, and an update date are on the listing.
• What the description actually describes: globe sim, systems sim, mission set, or dogfight.
• How old the current version is. Air Force Jets still shows 23 October 2024; that sits on the card, so it sits in rank four.

What I refused to weigh

Install counts. The App Store does not publish them. Chart position on the Racing tab for Infinite Flight was visible on the page I opened (#42 Racing) but I am not treating a moving chart slot as a durable fact for the apron, so it stays out of the rank line.

Paid placement, affiliate promises, or a studio briefing. None of that is on this desk.

Rank order

NO. 1 Infinite Flight — densest published systems and the largest rating sample among the globe-style cards. NO. 2 X-Plane — the other systems sim, smaller average (4.0) and a 9+ line. NO. 3 US Airplane Pilot — mission loop, 1,964 ratings. NO. 4 Air Force Jets — 23 ratings and the oldest current-version date on this apron.

Checked 14 October 2026. The same facts appear on the ranking.