C172 solo student pilot is instructed by the tower that he is 'number three follow the cessna opposi...

Narrative:

I'm a student pilot and was flying solo; practicing closed traffic at whiteman airport. It was a busy day with multiple aircraft in the general area; including other students working a closed traffic pattern. When abeam the tower on the downwind leg in the left traffic pattern; I had put in a request for landing with the tower. The tower cleared me for landing as number 3; saying '(call sign) number three follow the cessna opposite downwind.' I acknowledged 'number three for landing (call sign).' I looked around in the pattern; and thought I saw two aircraft; one crossing the fence and one on final; so I turned to base for landing. That's when I received a call from the tower; 'what are you doing (call sign)?' I looked to my right and saw an aircraft; the cessna I was supposed to be following; on a right traffic pattern on base; approximately a half mile to my 1 o'clock. The pilot of the other aircraft announced he was doing a 360 left; and the tower told me to land right way; so I did so; turning to final early to avoid the other aircraft. I believe the error was my lack of familiarity with the phrase 'opposite downwind'; a phrase that had not come up in my previous instruction. Because I didn't fully understand the request; I believed I was told I was number three after a cessna on left pattern. I thought I had both aircraft in sight proceeded to turn base for landing; and did not look out in the right hand pattern direction for conflicting traffic.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C172 solo student pilot is instructed by the Tower that he is 'number three follow the Cessna opposite downwind.' The student does not comprehend the meaning of this clearance and turns base in conflict with the aircraft he was to follow.

Narrative: I'm a student pilot and was flying solo; practicing closed traffic at Whiteman Airport. It was a busy day with multiple aircraft in the general area; including other students working a closed traffic pattern. When abeam the tower on the downwind leg in the left traffic pattern; I had put in a request for landing with the Tower. The Tower cleared me for landing as number 3; saying '(call sign) number three follow the Cessna opposite downwind.' I acknowledged 'number three for landing (call sign).' I looked around in the pattern; and thought I saw two aircraft; one crossing the fence and one on final; so I turned to base for landing. That's when I received a call from the Tower; 'what are you doing (call sign)?' I looked to my right and saw an aircraft; the Cessna I was supposed to be following; on a right traffic pattern on base; approximately a half mile to my 1 o'clock. The pilot of the other aircraft announced he was doing a 360 left; and the Tower told me to land right way; so I did so; turning to final early to avoid the other aircraft. I believe the error was my lack of familiarity with the phrase 'opposite downwind'; a phrase that had not come up in my previous instruction. Because I didn't fully understand the request; I believed I was told I was number three after a Cessna on left pattern. I thought I had both aircraft in sight proceeded to turn base for landing; and did not look out in the right hand pattern direction for conflicting traffic.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1041586
Time
Date	201210
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	WHP.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Cessna Aircraft Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Student
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 33 Flight Crew Total 45 Flight Crew Type 45
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Clearance
Miss Distance	Horizontal 2500 Vertical 0

C172 solo student pilot is instructed by the tower that he is 'number three follow the cessna opposite downwind.' the student does not comprehend the meaning of this clearance and turns base in conflict with the aircraft he was to follow.