Beechnut still hasn't said why ability to pay comes into it.
I can accept an air safety argument, and I can accept that rules of the air are all to do with safety, but I don't get reasoning which suggests the poorest pilot should have priority.
I wasn't suggesting that the poorest pilot have priority. I am suggesting that his using an economic argument for me to give up my priority was plainly wrong, and
in the circumstances, he would be causing me a greater economic hardship that he would endure if we did things the way the rules of the air plan it (remember, this was an uncontrolled field). Of course, if he had legal priority, I would have been obliged to yield to him and would have and always do, without complaint.
As it was, I had legal priority and was under no obligation, as was said, to pay for his poor planning (assuming his planned fuel load was marginal).
It was his use of the economic argument that was wrong (in fact that was his argument: "we're sitting here burning xxx pounds per hour" were his words). Or maybe it was an operational argument...see above ref. marginal fuel load.
In any case he got what he wanted, and I got out of his way.