Concerning right of way

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1

I’ve been to some very busy events and it’s quite a pandemonium sometimes especially when without ATC.

Sometimes on a taxiway, there is an intersection, or another taxi way merging into another.
Now if I have a Larger aircraft on the Merging taxi way, and another pilot with a smaller aircraft is crossing same intersection, who has the right of way? (In the absence of ATC)
Or is it purely common sense for one pilot to wait for another?
Does size of aircraft matter?

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Hey Harry

The general rule of thumb that I follow is that the aircraft on the “main taxiway” has the right of way, the priority. They would also most likely be going at a quicker speed than an aircraft on an intersecting taxiway (like an apron taxiway).

The only main exception to this would be giving way to an aircraft exiting the runway (for which the reason is fairly obvious.

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So, my situation was there were about 10 aircrafts on the main taxi way, and I was coming from an intersecting Taxi way, am I to wait for all 10 of them. ?

They didn’t want to stop

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In a case of multiple aircraft:

If I was the controller, I would probably take a look at the gaps between those 10 aircraft. If they were all bunched up together then yes, I would’ve probably told you to wait for all of them to pass.

If however, there was a sizeable gap between one of them then I would probably try and slot you in. Particularly if it’s a group flight all going to the same destination, having you slot in between two of them can provide an adequate separation barrier once in the air.

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I understand, now there was no ATC, it was in the hands of the pilots.
Most of those aircrafts I spawned in before them, but they wouldn’t let me on the taxiway.

Just checking if there is a rule or something, but thanks.

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That doesn’t really matter. If they were on the main taxiway, then in my eyes they have priority. If one of them decides to stop and let you in, that’s on them but I would argue they are not obligated to.

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Alright, I exited the flight though, couldn’t wait as I was on a timer, needed to be airborne and use AP+