Help, please! I’m studying for my Air Law exam and I’m confused…
In the UK, if an aircraft on the ground is converging with a vehicle towing another aircraft, which of them has right of way?
SERA.3210 says:
(d) Surface movement of aircraft, persons and vehicles.
(4) Movement of persons and vehicles at aerodromes:
(iv) … vehicles on the manoeuvring area shall be required to comply with the following rules:
(A) … vehicles towing aircraft shall give way to aircraft which are … taxiing
which seems straightforward. But the Air Law manual says:
Aircraft on the ground must give way to … any vehicle towing an aircraft.
(APM2, p.41)
So which is it? Any clues? I can’t find anything in the Rules of the Air 2015 that countermands SERA on this point, so I’m stumped…
Thank you!
What licence are you studying for? I vaguely remember UK and (back then) JAA had slightly different regulations (actually it may have been rights of way on the ground too) so PPL theory said one thing but CPL & ATPL the opposite.
Hi Capitaine – I’m just doing my PPL(A).
In case anyone else Googles this in future: I think I’ve found the answer.
In the UK Rules of the Air Regulations 2007, s. 42 states that vehicles (not towing aircraft) give way to taxiing aircraft, which give way to vehicles towing aircraft, which give way to aircraft taking off or landing. So that’s where the Air Law Manual drew its assertion that “aircraft on the ground must give way to … vehicles towing aircraft”.
BUT that was repealed in 2015!
SERA.3210 states that vehicles (not towing aircraft) shall give way to vehicles towing aircraft, which give way to aircraft (whether landing, taking off or taxiing), and that appears to be the correct position now.
So it transpires that the Air Law Manual hasn’t been updated properly and makes an assertion that is no longer correct.
