Narrative:

I made initial contact with the tower at frg which was quite busy with multiple arrivals and departures. I was instructed by the tower to report over the dpk VOR which is about six miles east of the airport and just about a mile east of the class D airspace for frg. One minute later an inbound BE36 also reported inbound near the 'northport stacks' and was issued the same instruction to report over dpk. No altitude was suggested to either aircraft operator. The controller may have alerted the bonanza to my cherokee also inbound. I reported over dpk and began a left 180 degree course reversal. I was at 2500 MSL and began a shallow descent toward the pattern altitude of about 1100 MSL. Tower issued a clearance to report mid field; right downwind for runway 32. One minute later the bonanza also reported dpk.as I descended on a westerly heading toward the airport to enter the downwind for 32 at mid-field; the bonanza passed under me by not more than 200 feet headed south at a horizontal distance of not more than 500 feet (or so it seemed at the time). I have not been that close to another aircraft aloft in my memory over more than 25 years.I have located the pilot of the bonanza and spoken to him. He recalls the event and claims that he had me in sight in the vicinity of dpk which is somewhat comforting. I did not see him until my on board traffic alert advised me of a very close approaching aircraft.neither pilot was in error in my view. However; while I understand that; at this airport; that has a great deal of training activity and; on good VFR days has a great deal of traffic; and the controllers are very busy; I question the wisdom and safety of sending two aircraft that arrive in the vicinity of the airport from the same general direction; but at differing speeds; to each fly to the same fix; without issuing an altitude suggestion or insuring that each pilot has the other in sight. Contributing factors was a very busy pattern of VFR arrivals and departures.I would have preferred that the two aircraft that were each approaching at about the same time to have been issued separate fixes to avoid this potential conflict. While I do not suggest that any far was violated by either pilot or the controller in the tower; I think that a better method should be developed to deal with this type of situation; which; I think; is common at this facility.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PA28 pilot experienced an airborne conflict with a BE36 approaching FRG. The Tower had both aircraft report over DPK and the faster BE36 overtook the PA28 between DPK and FRG. The PA28 pilot was alerted to the approaching BE36 by his traffic alerting system.

Narrative: I made initial contact with the tower at FRG which was quite busy with multiple arrivals and departures. I was instructed by the tower to report over the DPK VOR which is about six miles east of the airport and just about a mile east of the Class D airspace for FRG. One minute later an inbound BE36 also reported inbound near the 'Northport Stacks' and was issued the same instruction to report over DPK. No altitude was suggested to either aircraft operator. The controller may have alerted the Bonanza to my Cherokee also inbound. I reported over DPK and began a left 180 degree course reversal. I was at 2500 MSL and began a shallow descent toward the pattern altitude of about 1100 MSL. Tower issued a clearance to report mid field; right downwind for Runway 32. One minute later the Bonanza also reported DPK.As I descended on a westerly heading toward the airport to enter the downwind for 32 at mid-field; the Bonanza passed under me by not more than 200 feet headed south at a horizontal distance of not more than 500 feet (or so it seemed at the time). I have not been that close to another aircraft aloft in my memory over more than 25 years.I have located the pilot of the Bonanza and spoken to him. He recalls the event and claims that he had me in sight in the vicinity of DPK which is somewhat comforting. I did not see him until my on board traffic alert advised me of a very close approaching aircraft.Neither pilot was in error in my view. However; while I understand that; at this airport; that has a great deal of training activity and; on good VFR days has a great deal of traffic; and the controllers are very busy; I question the wisdom and safety of sending two aircraft that arrive in the vicinity of the airport from the same general direction; but at differing speeds; to each fly to the same fix; without issuing an altitude suggestion or insuring that each pilot has the other in sight. Contributing factors was a very busy pattern of VFR arrivals and departures.I would have preferred that the two aircraft that were each approaching at about the same time to have been issued separate fixes to avoid this potential conflict. While I do not suggest that any FAR was violated by either pilot or the controller in the tower; I think that a better method should be developed to deal with this type of situation; which; I think; is common at this facility.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.