Final answer:
Commercial airliners follow strict FAA separation standards of five miles horizontally and 2,000 feet (or 1,000 feet below 29,000 feet altitude) vertically to prevent collisions, analogous to electron positions in quantum mechanics.
Step-by-step explanation:
The flight paths of commercial airliners are meticulously managed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to prevent collisions. To achieve this, specific separation standards are enforced such that each airplane must maintain a distance of five miles from another plane flying at the same altitude.
Furthermore, an aircraft must be 2,000 feet above or below another aircraft, or 1,000 feet if they're both flying at altitudes below 29,000 feet. These regulated spacings ensure that aircraft have certain allocated positions in the air, similar to the positional restrictions of electrons in quantum mechanics.