Definition
The pilot's responsibility and ongoing actions to detect other aircraft and maneuver as needed to prevent a collision, accomplished through visual scanning outside the cockpit, monitoring onboard traffic displays when available, and responding to traffic information or instructions from air traffic control.
Plain English
Watching for other aircraft and changing your flight path when necessary so you don't get too close to them.
Context Anchor
Seen in instrument flying when a pilot is managing other aircraft nearby, especially during approaches, departures, and busy airspace operations.
Derivation
Traffic comes from an older word meaning trade or movement along a route. Avoidance comes from avoid, meaning to keep away from. Together, the term points to keeping away from other moving aircraft in shared airspace.
Why Pilots Care
Mid-air collisions remain a leading cause of fatal accidents in general aviation; consistent traffic avoidance directly reduces that risk.
Intuition Check
Traffic avoidance does not mean simply hoping other aircraft stay clear. It means actively noticing, tracking, and staying safely away from them.
Example Sentence 1
After receiving a traffic advisory from approach control, the pilot looked out, spotted the other aircraft, and made a shallow turn for traffic avoidance.
Example Sentence 2
During the cross-country flight the student applied traffic avoidance by turning slightly to keep a passing airplane in sight until it was well clear.