Originally Posted by
Big Pistons Forever
That is they are always required to give way to any manned aircraft under all circumstances.
This comment by the UK CAA on EASA's NPA 2017-05 may be of interest -
"We agree that the remote pilot must be made clearly responsible for the safe separation from any other airspace user(s), however we do not think that an explicit statement regarding ‘giving way’ is appropriate or required. While an ‘always give way’ requirement sounds fine as a basic statement, it is not necessarily practicable, or even desirable when considered more closely. We should not give other aviators the impression that they always have right of way - this will only confuse pilots of manned aircraft at best, or promote inaction at worst, especially for encounters with the larger drones - while this limitation is aimed at the ’open’ category, it will undoubtedly become a de-facto impression that all drones, irrespective of their size, will always give way. In the UK, we have already had instances where pilots have flown towards drones they've seen and had Airprox with because they think they have right of way over the drone - manned aircraft must be ready to give way and, of course, avoid, too. We fully agree that the default option for drone operators in the ’open’ category should be avoidance, and it is likely that, in almost all cases, it will be the drone operator who sees the confliction before the pilot of the manned aircraft, but this is the reason for maintaining and closely defining the VLOS requirement."