Right-of-way and see-and-avoid

The rule in one breath

Here is the entire rule, in the words of the regulation: “Each small unmanned aircraft must yield the right of way to all aircraft, airborne vehicles, and launch and reentry vehicles.” It continues with the definition that makes the sentence work: yielding means the small unmanned aircraft “must give way to the aircraft or vehicle and may not pass over, under, or ahead of it unless well clear.”

14 CFR § 107.37(a)

Read that twice, because it is shorter than it feels. There is no list of exceptions and no ladder to memorize for your own aircraft. Every other aircraft in the sky outranks you. Giving way means more than not hitting something: you also may not cross above it, below it, or in front of it unless you are well clear. A drone that sneaks across a helicopter’s nose with “plenty of room” has not yielded; it has passed ahead.

Paragraph (b) is the backstop: no person may operate a small unmanned aircraft so close to another aircraft as to create a collision hazard. Paragraph (a) is about who moves. Paragraph (b) is about distance, and it applies even if you believe you are the one who has the right of way, which you never do.

14 CFR § 107.37(b)

Why the burden is one-sided

Between two airplanes, right of way is a negotiation with rules, because both pilots can see out and both can steer. Between an airplane and a drone it is not a negotiation at all, and that is deliberate. A pilot at cruise speed cannot reasonably pick out a small object against ground clutter in time to dodge it. The FAA calls the duty see and avoid, and it falls on you because you are the one who can actually carry it out.

The AC puts the working version in one sentence: the remote pilot must take action to ensure other aircraft will not need to maneuver to avoid colliding with the small unmanned aircraft. Notice that the test of success is that nobody else had to react.

AC 107-2A ¶ 5.13

The manned hierarchy, and why you still learn it

Section 91.113 is the right-of-way rule for manned aircraft. You are below all of it, and the test asks about it anyway, because the ACS lists it and because it is how every other pilot in your airspace is thinking. In order of rank:

1. An aircraft in distress has the right of way over all other air traffic.
2. A balloon has the right of way over any other category of aircraft, because it can barely steer.
3. A glider has the right of way over powered aircraft.
4. An airship has the right of way over other powered aircraft, except one towing or refueling another aircraft.
5. An aircraft towing or refueling another has the right of way over all other powered aircraft.

14 CFR § 91.113(c), (d)

The ranking follows maneuverability: the less an aircraft can dodge, the more the others must dodge for it. Three geometry rules sit alongside it. Among aircraft of the same category converging at about the same altitude, the aircraft to the other’s right has the right of way. When two aircraft approach head-on, or nearly so, each alters course to the right. When one is overtaking another, the aircraft being overtaken has the right of way, and the overtaker alters course to the right to pass well clear.

14 CFR § 91.113(d), (e), (f)

One more: aircraft on final approach to land, or landing, have the right of way over other aircraft in flight or on the surface. Of two aircraft approaching to land, the lower one has it, though not so as to cut in front of one already on final.

14 CFR § 91.113(g)

Notice the phrase the two rules share. Section 91.113(b) says a pilot who must give way “may not pass over, under, or ahead of it unless well clear.” That is the same wording § 107.37 borrows for you. The difference is only how often it applies: a manned pilot sometimes owes the duty, and you always do.

See and avoid, as a remote pilot

Yielding requires knowing something is there. The FAA study guide describes how to look. Scan in stops about 30 degrees wide, start at the farthest distance you can perceive and work inward, hold each stop for no more than two to three seconds, and overlap each new view with the previous one by about 10 degrees. That is a deliberate, stepping search of segments, not a slow sweep and not a stare at the aircraft.

FAA-G-8082-22, Ch. 9 (Scanning Techniques)

At night the technique changes. In low light the cones, which give sharp central vision, stop working well, so the FAA says to use off-center vision as well as proper scanning. Look slightly to the side of the point you want to examine. A faint light looked at head-on can vanish. Empty sky is a trap of its own: with nothing specific to focus on, the eyes relax toward a near focal distance, which the handbook calls empty-field myopia, and you end up looking without seeing. Pick a distant light or landmark and refocus on it now and then.

FAA-H-8083-25C, Ch. 17 (Night Vision, Empty-Field Myopia)

A visual observer helps with exactly this. If you use one, the remote pilot, the person at the controls, and the observer must keep effective communication and coordinate to scan the airspace for potential collision hazards and to keep track of where the aircraft is by looking at it. Splitting the work this way gives you one pair of eyes on the drone and another on the sky. An observer is optional, but the responsibility to yield is not delegated: the AC says the remote pilot always has the see-and-avoid duty, even if sight of the aircraft is briefly lost.

14 CFR § 107.33(a), (c) · AC 107-2A ¶ 5.9

What does “well clear” mean in practice? The regulation does not give a distance, so there is no number to memorize. Treat it as a margin the other pilot never notices: they never alter course, and you never find yourself guessing. In practice that usually means increasing the separation vertically and laterally, moving down and away from their path, not holding in place. A hovering drone is predictable to you and invisible to them. The scenes below test that instinct more than any number would.

When you must break the rules to avoid a collision

Section 107.21 lets the remote pilot in command deviate from any rule in Part 107 to the extent necessary to meet an in-flight emergency that requires immediate action. Climbing above 400 feet to get away from a manned aircraft is the kind of case it covers. The cost of using that freedom is paperwork, and only on request: the pilot who deviates must send the Administrator a written report of the deviation if the Administrator asks for one. There is no duty to report it on the spot.

14 CFR § 107.21

How to use the scenes

The scenes below are six short encounters, each with three possible actions. Do not click straight through. Look at the setup, say aloud what you would do and why, and then pick. A prediction you made before seeing the choices is worth much more than a lucky guess after, because the point is to find out whether your instinct for yielding is yet automatic. When you miss one, read the explanation until you can say what you would have needed to notice.

The right answer always has the same shape: you move, away and down, and early. If you catch yourself choosing “hold position because they must see me,” stop. That is the mistake this lesson exists to prevent.

How the test asks it

FAA-G-8082-22 sample questions 6 and 19 · 14 CFR § 107.37(a) · § 107.21(b)

After the scenes

If you worked through all six, you have seen the same answer five times in different dress: give way, early, and not by passing across the other aircraft. Nothing about the other aircraft’s category or position changed your duty. Category matters only in the last scene, where the test checks the manned order.

To see what the other pilots are saying and where they are flying, read the traffic pattern and runways, which turns a radio call into a place in the sky. For the rules these scenes depend on, including observers, line of sight, and what a waiver can reach, return to the Regulations chapter.