Right of Way

While spring has yet to officially arrive, the worst of winter is likely over.  Recent warming trends have all but discredited that prophetic groundhog in Pennsylvania and his fortune-teller prediction for a longer winter season.  Warmer temperatures have also granted us at least a few flyable days over the past two weeks and eager pilots in our area have flocked to the skies.  And large numbers of rusty fliers and eager students taking to the air all at once can lead to overcrowding.  If you did manage to fly this past week, you likely found your local pattern to be at or near maximum capacity with pilots eager to make the most of the occasion.  My home airfield was no exception.

This past weekend, I was performing circuits in my local traffic pattern with four other aircraft.  Five planes in the pattern may not sound like a large number – particularly to those flying from larger airfields with parallel runways – but five represents my field’s safe maximum given our one and relatively short runway.  I performed several normal “touch-and-go” landings without incident, but my sixth lap around the circuit proved more challenging.  Lap six began with a “go-around” for arriving traffic that had not yet cleared the runway.  ‘No big deal,’ I thought to myself.  I hadn’t performed a “go-around” in months and this life-saving maneuver ought to be practiced occasionally.  But upon climbing back out on the departure leg, a warning flashed across my Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI) for conflicting traffic.  While flying crosswind, the approaching pilot announced they were completing their “teardrop turn and would enter the downwind leg on the 45” (i.e., 45 degrees). “OK, I have right of way,” I said aloud, turning my plane onto the downwind leg. 

Not a second after announcing my “downwind turn” on the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF), the conflicting pilot announced the same and my CDTI flashed a second warning, “traffic within ½ mile.”  I immediately turned left – back toward the runway – applied full power, and pitched for Vx (i.e. best climb angle) to avoid the oncoming pilot.  I was able to turn around and safely complete a “teardrop” re-entry a few minutes later.

It’s not clear if this encounter constituted a “close-call.”  I never spotted the incoming aircraft visually and couldn’t judge his closing distance to be within 500 feet.  But which pilot – they or I – possessed the “right of way” in this instance?  The majority of pilots would be quick to rebuke the approaching pilot, “aircraft established in the pattern have the right of way” they might say.  While this does constitute prevailing wisdom and is a safe practice to observe, neither current regulations nor current guidance legally supports it.  Instructors might “hold short” of blaming the oncoming pilot, opining that Advisory Circular 90-66C, Non-Towered Airport Flight Operations is “non-regulatory” guidance that didn’t guarantee me the right of way.  If so, you’re in the legal right.[1]  A still smaller group of aviators might follow-up by citing Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR), 91.113 as not granting me the “right of way” either.[2]  If so – you’re also correct – but neither definitively answers the above question. 

The Airplane Flying Handbook does make a direct reference about what a pilot “should” do when encountering “conflicting traffic” before entry “on the 45”:

"Why is it advantageous to use the preferred 45° entry? [Because] if it is not possible to enter the pattern due to conflicting traffic, the pilot on a 45° entry can continue to turn away from the downwind, fly a safe distance away, and return for another attempt to join on the 45° entry—all while scanning for traffic."[3]

The Airplane Flying Handbook is not the FAR – like the AC, its guidance without a regulatory mandate.  But it does make a clear suggestion about what pilots should do when encountering conflicting traffic already in the pattern.  With respect to the Airplane Flying Handbook, the oncoming pilot should have “turned away from the downwind,” circled around, and tried again.[4]  Here, a 360-degree turn would have proven appropriate for the approaching pilot and is a maneuver I’ve leveraged many times in my flying career to avoid conflicting downwind traffic.  More on this later.

While the Airplane Flying Handbook might side with me on this one, I still did not have the regulatory right of way per the FAR.  It’s also prudent not to assume that conflicting traffic entering the pattern “on the 45” has read the aforementioned guidance or that they’ll heed it.  But there was one, very safe option available to me and that I hope you’ll consider in a similar situation:  extend your departure leg.  In much the same way pilots on the downwind might extend that leg to create space for instrument pilots approaching “straight-in,” we can also extend the departure leg for VFR pilots entering the downwind.  I had spotted the oncoming traffic on my CDTI after overflying the runway and knew they were inbound.  But this CFI was so absorbed in the “go-around” maneuver that I hadn’t thought to continue my climb on the departure leg for a few moments and before turning “crosswind.”  Doing so may have generated the necessary space to accommodate the approaching pilot and prevented this situation altogether.  AC 90-66C does recommend that you make your crosswind turn “within at least 300 feet below traffic pattern altitude” (i.e., at or above 700 feet Above Ground Level in standard traffic patterns), but does not regulate how long your departure leg must be.[5]  Should it be necessary, you’re free to extend your departure leg to accommodate traffic, even if you’ve already reached pattern altitude.

The above situation also yields another important lesson:  how to exit the pattern to avoid an immediate traffic conflict.  I’d recommend that any pilot in this situation turn away from conflicting traffic when exiting the pattern.  In the above instance, turning left and overflying the runway immediately addressed the oncoming traffic while also mitigating the risks to those on the departure and final approach legs, who were flying at a much lower altitude.  My immediate goal in the Vx climb was to reach 1,500 feet AGL, a safe altitude that permitted overflying the field and upwind traffic by at least 500 vertical feet.[6]  Once you’ve departed the pattern in the opposite direction, you’re well positioned to reenter the pattern utilizing a tear-drop maneuver.

While this was my first time encountering a traffic conflict in the pattern, I have previously experienced several situations that called for a 360-degree turn before my 45-degree entry on the downwind.  For those folks who have visited Sporty’s at Clermont County Airfield, you understand just how busy that traffic pattern is.  The 360-degree turn proved to be a useful tool when attempting to jockey for position with the high-volume student traffic on two separate occasions at I69.  During one busy afternoon last fall, I employed this maneuver a third time to avoid conflicting traffic in the downwind at my home airfield.  If you’re unsure about how to utilize a 360-degree turn, query your CFI for a demonstration.  This maneuver can be a lifesaver. 

My final suggestion to mitigate the risk of a midair collision is to depart the pattern when it reaches or exceeds a safe capacity.  One of my students – who happened to be in the air practicing solo takeoffs and landings at the same time I was – departed after a single circuit in the pattern.  They didn’t feel comfortable with that many aircraft in close proximity to the field and diverted to the “play area” to practice ground reference maneuvers until traffic had subsided, thirty minutes later.  It was the smart move and one this CFI should have exemplified.  There were also several less crowded and safer options within ten minutes of my local airfield.  I could have just as easily diverted to another empty pattern, kept tabs on homefield traffic via my Foreflight, and returned after most of the traffic had departed.  Along those same lines, a cautious pilot may have also opted for a “full stop” landing and stood by in the FBO with a cup of coffee until the traffic thinned out.

As Old Man Winter begins his slow retreat to the far north and temperatures warm, we pilots should be on the lookout for flying opportunities.  But because those days are still few and far between, everyone is likely to have the same idea and rush for the airfield.  Crowding will occur and with it, the increased risk of midair collisions in the local airspace.  By all means, get out there and get the rust off!  But do be mindful of your fellow aviators, keep your eyes outside of the cockpit to “see and avoid,” and be ready to employ spacing techniques to avoid potential collisions.

Fly on Folks,

Josh Meyer

[1] Advisory Circular 90-66C, Non-Towered Airport Flight Operations. FAA.gov, 2023:  www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/media/advisory_circular/ac_90-66c.pdf

[2] Federal Aviation Regulation, Part 91.113, Right of Way Rules: Except Water Operations. ECFR.gov, 2026:  https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F/part-91/subpart-B/subject-group-ECFRe4c59b5f5506932/section-91.113

[3] Airplane Flying Handbook, Chapter 8: Airport Traffic Patterns. FAA.gov, 2021:  https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/airplane_handbook

[4] Ibid.

[5] Advisory Circular 90-66C, Non-Towered Airport Flight Operations. FAA.gov, 2023:  www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/media/advisory_circular/ac_90-66c.pdf

[6] Ibid.