Rules of the Air: Right of Way, Levels and Separation
General operating rules
Rules of the air derive from ICAO Annex 2. The overriding rule is that the pilot in command is responsible for avoiding collisions, even where a clearance has been issued. Questions often test whether a clearance removes that responsibility - it does not.
Right of way
Learn the hierarchy. Converging aircraft of the same category: the one on the right has right of way. Head-on: both turn right. Overtaking: the overtaking aircraft keeps clear, whether climbing, descending or level. Landing: an aircraft on final approach or landing has right of way over aircraft on the ground or in the traffic pattern. Lower category yields to higher: balloons over gliders, gliders over airships, airships over powered aircraft - and aircraft in emergency have priority over all. A frequent trap is reversing the glider/airship order.
Cruising levels and semicircular rule
Track-based level allocation uses magnetic track: 000–179 degrees uses odd thousands (or flight levels), 180–359 uses even thousands, with the quadrantal variant adding 500 feet in some airspace. Traps include using true track instead of magnetic, and forgetting that the rule may be modified by ATC or by regional differences.
Minimum heights and VMC
Know the minimum height rules over congested and non-congested areas and the VMC visibility and distance-from-cloud minima by airspace class. Questions often present flight conditions that are legal in one class but not another.
Worked example
Two aircraft converge at the same level, one from the left and one from the right. The aircraft on the left must give way and, if both are powered, should normally pass behind and below the other. Rule of thumb: right before left, overtaker always yields, landing traffic has priority.
Signals and interception
Know the interception signals, the meaning of a rocking of wings, and the requirement to follow the intercepting aircraft's instructions.