FAR Ninety-One Point One Thirteen, the Right-of-Way Rules, and Who Actually Has to Turn When Two Airplanes Are Pointed at Each Other

Under Federal Aviation Regulation 91.113, when two aircraft meet, the rules decide who holds course and who moves so both pilots aren’t guessing. In a converging situation, the aircraft on the right has the right of way; head-on, both pilots turn right; when overtaking, the slower aircraft ahead has the right of way. Above all of it, every pilot is responsible for seeing and avoiding other aircraft, regardless of who technically has the right of way.

What is FAR 91.113 and why does it matter?

Picture a clear Saturday morning - ten miles visibility, not a cloud in the sky. You’re northbound, straight and level. Another airplane is southbound at your exact altitude, closing on you at a combined speed neither of you can really feel. Neither pilot is doing anything wrong. Both are legal, both are current, both have every right to be there.

So who turns?

That question has a written answer, and FAR 91.113 is where it lives. Many pilots learned these rules once for the written test, checked the box, and never really thought about them again. The rules aren’t about who gets to “win.” They exist to remove the guesswork - so one airplane knows for certain to hold its course, and the other knows the responsibility to move is squarely on its shoulders.

The danger is never that someone follows the rule. The danger is two pilots both hesitating, both turning, both being polite in a way that puts them in the same piece of sky at the same time.

Does having the right of way mean the other pilot has to avoid you?

No. This is the single most important line in the whole regulation, and it outranks everything else: regardless of who has the right of way, every pilot is responsible for seeing and avoiding other aircraft.

Right of way does not give you the right to hit somebody. Even if you are dead in the right, even if the other airplane is one hundred percent obligated to move, if you see a collision developing you are required to do something about it.

Having the right of way is not a shield. It’s not a legal argument you get to make afterward - because there is no afterward if two airplanes touch. See and avoid comes first, last, and always.

Who has the right of way when two aircraft are converging?

When two aircraft at roughly the same altitude are on paths that will cross at an angle, the aircraft on the other’s right has the right of way. Practically: look to your right. If traffic is coming from your right side, that airplane holds course, and you give way.

If you’ve driven up to a four-way stop, you already have a feel for this. The vehicle on the right generally goes first, and aviation borrowed the same logic.

Here’s the part pilots forget. When you give way, you may not simply dive or climb underneath and hope. The regulation requires the pilot who gives way to alter course to the right and to not pass over, under, or ahead of the other aircraft unless well clear. Turn right, open up the distance, and pass behind them.

Why right? Because it’s predictable. If both pilots somehow think they’re the one yielding, they both turn right and slide apart. The rule is built to fail safely.

What do you do in a head-on situation?

This is the scenario with the least time and the highest closure rate. Two airplanes doing 120 knots each are closing at 240 knots - that’s four nautical miles a minute. A dot on your windshield becomes a real airplane faster than you’d believe.

The rule is clean and applies to both pilots equally: when two aircraft are approaching head-on, or nearly so, each pilot shall alter course to the right.

Nobody has the right of way in a head-on. You both move, you both go right, and you pass left side to left side - like two cars passing in opposite directions.

The practical piece: turn right early and turn right obviously. A big, clear, early heading change tells the other pilot exactly what you’re doing and gives them room to do the same. A tiny, late nudge invites confusion. When in doubt, make the turn unmistakable.

Who has the right of way when overtaking another aircraft?

The rule here flips your instinct: the aircraft being overtaken has the right of way. The slower airplane in front holds course and speed. You, the faster airplane coming from behind, carry all the responsibility - you must alter course to the right to pass and stay well clear.

Notice the pattern. Converging, you turn right. Head-on, you both turn right. Overtaking, you pass on the right. When your brain is loaded and the seconds are ticking, that’s the thread to hold onto: the regulation defaults to the right turn, because a whole sky full of pilots defaulting right is a sky that sorts itself out.

What is the right-of-way order for different aircraft categories?

When the two aircraft aren’t the same kind at all - an airplane and a glider, an airplane and a balloon, someone towing a banner - the regulation sets a pecking order by category. The principle makes the whole list easy to remember: the aircraft least able to maneuver or get out of the way has the right of way. The more powered and maneuverable you are, the more the burden to yield falls on you.

From the top down:

• Balloon - has the right of way over just about everything. A balloon goes where the wind goes; it can change altitude a little but cannot turn to avoid you. Least able to maneuver, so it sits at the top.
• Glider - no engine, so it can’t add power and climb away from a conflict. A glider yields to a balloon but has the right of way over airships and airplanes.
• Airship - yields to balloons and gliders, but has priority over powered airplanes.
• Airplane - powered and maneuverable, so it sits near the bottom. We yield to the balloon, the glider, and the airship because we have the engine and the ability to turn, climb, and get clear.

Two special cases sit outside the ladder. An aircraft towing or refueling another aircraft has the right of way over all other engine-driven aircraft - picture a tow plane dragging a glider up on a rope; that combination isn’t nimble. And above everything, an aircraft in distress has the right of way over all other air traffic. If someone has declared an emergency, they get whatever they need and the rest of us get out of the way.

This isn’t just trivia. Near a gliderport, a balloon launch area, or a banner-tow operation along a beach, that glider has the right of way over you - and it can be very hard to see, thin as a knife edge when it turns toward you.

Who has the right of way when landing?

When two aircraft are approaching an airport to land, the aircraft at the lower altitude has the right of way. The lower airplane is more committed, has less room to go around gracefully, and is harder pressed to give up its spot.

But the regulation puts a fence around that rule: a pilot shall not take advantage of it to cut in front of an aircraft on final approach, or to overtake that aircraft. You can’t dive down from above, slide underneath someone already established on final, and then claim you were lower. That’s exactly the move the rule is written to forbid.

This matters most at busy nontowered fields on beautiful weekends, when traffic and tempers both run high. If someone’s established on final and you’re maneuvering, the polite thing and the legal thing line up perfectly - you let them go.

How do you apply all this in the pattern?

Put yourself at a nontowered field on a nice day, so there’s traffic. You’re on downwind and someone calls a straight-in on the same runway. Now you’ve got a converging problem and the whole spirit of 91.113 in your lap - who’s higher, who’s faster, who’s going to see whom.

You’re not going to key the mic and read the other pilot the regulation. You’re going to look, build a picture, and make room. Being right is worthless if it puts two airplanes in the same piece of sky. That’s the mindset the rule is really teaching - not who wins, but how to keep everyone out of the same spot.

Key Takeaways

• See and avoid always comes first. Right of way never relieves you of the duty to avoid a collision.
• Converging: the aircraft on the right has the right of way; if that’s not you, turn right and pass behind.
• Head-on: both pilots turn right - early and obviously - and pass left-to-left.
• Overtaking: the aircraft in front has the right of way; pass on the right and stay well clear.
• Category order: balloon over glider over airship over airplane, with towing aircraft and aircraft in distress on top; on approach, the lower aircraft has the right of way but may never cut in front of someone on final.