FAR Ninety-One Point One Thirteen, the Right-of-Way Rules Most Pilots Quote Wrong, and the Aircraft Category Hierarchy That Determines Who Yields When Two Planes Are on a Collision Course
FAR 91.113 covers six distinct right-of-way situations - and most pilots only know one. Here's the complete hierarchy and how to apply it.
FAR 91.113 establishes a complete six-situation framework for right-of-way in the air. Most pilots learn the converging rule and stop there - but knowing half of this regulation is nearly as dangerous as knowing none of it. Understanding the full structure, including the aircraft category hierarchy, is required for your checkride and essential for safe flight.
What Does FAR 91.113 Actually Say First?
The regulation opens with a foundational statement that pilots often overlook: when weather conditions permit, each pilot is responsible for seeing and avoiding other aircraft. That responsibility belongs to you - not to ATC, not to the other pilot.
This matters because the right-of-way rules that follow are a legal framework for who must yield, not a reassignment of collision avoidance responsibility. The regulation is explicit: a pilot who has the right of way shall continue on course, but shall also take whatever action is necessary to avoid a collision. Right of way is not a force field. It does not protect you if the other pilot doesn’t see you or doesn’t know the rule.
What Is the Aircraft Category Hierarchy Under FAR 91.113?
The category rule is where most pilots have it partially right - or completely backwards. When aircraft of different categories are converging, the following priority order applies from highest to lowest:
- Balloons
- Gliders
- Airships
- Powered parachutes and weight-shift control aircraft
- Airplanes and helicopters
If you’re flying a Cessna 172, you are at the bottom of that list. A powered parachute has the right of way over your airplane. A glider has priority over your airplane. A balloon has priority over the glider.
The logic is maneuverability. A hot air balloon cannot meaningfully alter its course - it goes where the wind takes it. A glider has no engine and is always managing energy. As you move down the hierarchy, aircraft become more maneuverable. The least maneuverable aircraft holds priority; the most maneuverable bears the greatest obligation to yield.
This comes up in real flying. Balloon operations happen at low altitude, often in early morning and evening over agricultural areas. Many balloon pilots don’t have radios or aren’t monitoring your frequency. When you see a balloon ahead on a cross-country, the obligation to give way is yours - not the balloon’s.
Gliders operate along ridge lines, in thermal areas, and in mountain wave lift. They are quiet and difficult to spot against terrain. If you’re overflying a ridge and a glider is working it, you yield. The category hierarchy applies regardless of the geometry of the encounter.
A practical example: a Piper Cherokee at 3,500 feet on a cross-country with a glider converging at the eleven o’clock, slightly higher, at a shallow angle. The instinct might be to apply the converging rule since they’re close in altitude. But the correct answer is the category hierarchy - the glider has priority over the airplane. The airplane alters course to the right, passes well behind the glider. The glider pilot doesn’t need to move at all.
What Are All Six Right-of-Way Situations in FAR 91.113?
1. Aircraft in distress. An aircraft in distress has the right of way over every other aircraft. Everyone yields. This one is intuitive.
2. Aircraft category hierarchy. Covered above. Balloons first, airplanes last.
3. Aircraft landing or on final approach. An aircraft on final approach has the right of way over other aircraft in flight and over aircraft on the surface. The lower aircraft on final has priority over the higher one. Importantly, the regulation explicitly prohibits using this rule to cut in front of an aircraft already established on final or to overtake it on approach. You cannot descend to a lower altitude to claim right of way ahead of someone who was already there.
4. Converging aircraft at approximately the same altitude. Same category, not on approach, paths about to intersect. Each aircraft shall turn to the right. Both aircraft turn right, creating lateral separation. You do not hold your course and wait for the other pilot to react.
5. Head-on approach. Two aircraft approaching each other head-on or nearly so. Each shall turn to the right. Same answer as converging.
6. Overtaking. If you are overtaking another aircraft, you pass to the right and stay to the right until well clear.
How Do You Actually See Other Aircraft in Time?
None of the right-of-way rules help if you don’t see the other aircraft first - and seeing them is harder than most students expect.
The human eye needs a stationary moment to detect detail. A smooth windshield sweep produces blur, not a scan. Effective scanning means moving your gaze in discrete steps: stop in a sector, actually look, then move to the next sector. The FAA recommends spending two to three seconds in each sector before moving to the next. That guidance exists because accident investigations found that pilots weren’t naturally scanning effectively.
The most dangerous aircraft in your sky is not the one tracking across your windshield. It’s the one that isn’t moving. An aircraft on a collision course with you has no relative motion from your perspective - it’s just a point that gets larger. That’s the target you have to learn to find, and it requires deliberate technique.
Why Do Most Mid-Air Collisions Happen in the Traffic Pattern?
Most mid-air collisions in general aviation occur in the traffic pattern and the vicinity of uncontrolled airports. The concentration of aircraft, the range of pilot experience levels, and the proximity to the ground all create conflict potential that structured environments don’t always eliminate.
At an uncontrolled airport, there is no tower sequencing traffic. Radio calls are the primary coordination tool - but they are not a substitute for visual scanning. Ultralights, gliders, and some certificated aircraft can legally operate at uncontrolled airports without a radio. You may not hear everyone sharing the pattern with you.
The right-of-way rules apply directly in pattern operations. If you are on left base and there is an aircraft lower on final below you, that aircraft has the right of way. You extend your base. You fly wider. You go around if necessary. You do not slide in front of them because the spacing looks workable. The regulation is clear, and the safety logic is obvious.
At a towered airport, a controller’s clearance does not eliminate your responsibility for visual separation. A clearance to land is authorization to land - it is not a guarantee the approach path is clear. Your eyes remain your primary safety system regardless of what the tower says.
How Does FAR 91.113 Appear on the Private Pilot Checkride?
The Airman Certification Standards for private pilot require you to know FAR 91.113 thoroughly. The oral exam will present scenario-based questions where you identify which rule applies and what action you take.
One common oral exam scenario: a glider and an airplane are converging at the same altitude on the same heading. The instinct is to apply the converging rule - both turn right. That’s a reasonable action. But when the examiner asks which regulation applies and why, the answer is the category hierarchy, not the converging rule. The glider has priority over the airplane regardless of geometry. The examiner wants the correct legal framework, not just the correct outcome.
A related checkride error: a student on base leg sees a higher aircraft on long final and concludes that being lower gives them right of way, so they continue without extra margin. That student isn’t wrong about the legal framework. But if the higher aircraft is faster, if the other pilot misjudges spacing, if anything deviates from expectation - the student’s legal status resolves nothing. Good airmanship means never positioning yourself where exercising your right of way requires another pilot to take the correct action on your behalf. Give way early. Give way with margin.
Key Takeaways
- You are always responsible for collision avoidance, regardless of who has the legal right of way. Having the right of way does not remove your obligation to avoid a collision.
- The category hierarchy places airplanes and helicopters at the bottom - below balloons, gliders, airships, and powered parachutes. You yield to all of them.
- There are six right-of-way situations in FAR 91.113: distress, category hierarchy, landing/approach, converging, head-on, and overtaking.
- For both converging and head-on encounters between same-category aircraft, both pilots turn right.
- Effective visual scanning requires discrete stops of two to three seconds per sector - not a continuous sweep. An aircraft on a collision course has no relative motion; it just gets bigger.
- Most mid-air collisions happen in and around the traffic pattern. Right of way is a coordination framework. Airmanship is what you do when coordination fails.
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