AIM 5-4-26 Landing Priority
Chapter 5. Air Traffic Procedures · Section 4. Arrival Procedures
A reference copy of the official AIM text for study. It is not legal advice or an FAA interpretation; always confirm against the current official source.
A clearance for a specific type of approach (ILS, RNAV, GLS, ADF, VOR or Visual Approach) to an aircraft operating on an IFR flight plan does not mean that landing priority will be given over other traffic. ATCTs handle all aircraft, regardless of the type of flight plan, on a “first-come, first-served” basis. Therefore, because of local traffic or runway in use, it may be necessary for the controller in the interest of safety, to provide a different landing sequence. In any case, a landing sequence will be issued to each aircraft as soon as possible to enable the pilot to properly adjust the aircraft's flight path.