Originally Posted by
WOHOOO
Hi, recently one of pilots reported my collegue stating that his FL was changed in spite of the fact that he was the one being overtaken by the succeeding traffic and according to Annex 2 to he has the right-of-way and he must keep his flight level. I checked Annex 2 but under the related section it is stated that the aircraft that has the right-of-way shall maintain its speed and heading. There is no mention of FL. In this respect I am a bit confused.
Ok, I think that the root of your confusion is that you're attempting to apply the right of way rules outside of their intended application.
Right of way rules , like in Annex 2, are intended to guide *pilots* as to who has the responsibility to alter course when there is a conflict in the absence of ATC. (presumably, if ATC were present, there would be no conflict) They are not intended as instructions or procedures for Air Traffic Control on how to manage traffic.
As an analogy, think of road traffic right of way rules. In the US, at least, a driver is required to yield to another who is to the right of them
in the absence of other traffic control devices That's the key. If there is a stop sign, the driver wit the stop sign yields to the one without, even though he may be to the other's right.
The right of way rules are intended to guide you when there here there is no other information on who has the right of way. They are not intended as rules for programing traffic signals or for traffic cops to direct traffic at an intersection. In fact, as a busy intersection if you had a traffic light that always allowed the driver on the right to proceed, you'd have complete failure, everybody has someone else to their right.
Likewise the Right of way rules for aviation are to keep pilots from running into each other when they have no other guidance, they are not intended as rules for Air Traffic Controllers. There can be many situations where the simplest, most efficient way for ATC to keep traffic moving may be at odds with the right of way rules which would be in effect if there were no ATC present.