When traffic is reported as "2 o'clock, 5 miles, eastbound", where is this traffic in relation to the pilot flying a heading of 270°?

When traffic is reported as "2 o'clock, 5 miles, eastbound," it means that the traffic is positioned at a 60-degree angle to the right of the pilot's current heading, which is 270° (due west).

To understand this, visualize the cockpit as the center of a clock face where the 12 o'clock position is directly in front of the aircraft (the direction of travel). Therefore, when the traffic is at 2 o'clock, it translates to a position that is to the right of the aircraft's heading.

Given that the pilot is flying a heading of 270°, anything to the right of this heading would be measured clockwise from 270°. Since 2 o'clock is equivalent to 60 degrees on the clock face, you can ascertain that this traffic is indeed located 60 degrees to the right of the current flight path.

This interpretation is crucial for effective situational awareness and traffic avoidance, especially in busy airspaces. Hence, recognizing the spatial relationship of traffic in relation to one's own heading is essential for safe operations in flight.