Gary Drescher wrote:

The AIM doesn't set forth regulations, but its subtitle is "Official Guide
to Basic Flight Information and ATC Procedures"; and it states in the
preface that it presents information that the FAA wants pilots use to
understand and interpret the regulations. There's no way the FAA could get
away with officially telling pilots to use a given explicit definition, and
then prosecuting them for complying.

There's every way. In the first place, case law trumps everything. In the second
place, the Federal administrative court system has an explicit policy that any
government agency has the last word in interpreting its own regulations. The
only time the court will rule against the FAA is when the FAA attempts to
interpret a regulation in a fashion that is different from an earlier
interpretation. In other words, the FAA can't violate a pilot for doing
something one way and then violate another pilot for doing just the opposite.
Other than that, the FAA can interpret the regulations any way they see fit.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.