Narrative:

Turning onto the 45 for left downwind for runway xx; I lost sight of a cessna turning downwind and the cessna took evasive action (dive) to avoid collision. I crossed mid-field at aprox 2;500 feet MSL; 1;000 feet above PA. I was a bit higher because I knew there was traffic in the pattern. Crossing mid-field; I had the traffic in sight that was climbing departing [runway] xx. After crossing the downwind; I began my descent; extending further than I would normally before turning to the 45 to allow for spacing; as the cessna had now announced they were crosswind. Thinking I provided enough space I began my turn to the right; while still descending; to the 45 to join the downwind. At the same time; the adsb display on my ipad flickered and I lost traffic reporting. I also got a bit of the setting sun in my eyes. About when I reached 90 degrees to the runway; a different voice in the cessna; what sounded like an instructor; indicated that they were about at my 11 o'clock and diving to avoid. I saw them; retarded my throttle; halted my turn; and radioed I had them in sight. The situation was caused by losing sight of the cessna due to the sun; the descending turn with wing down towards the other traffic; and the distraction of losing the adsb display. Contributing was the fact that; since I started flying the cub and planning power off landings; I find myself flying a pattern that has tighter downwind (laterally closer) than most cessnas I'm in the pattern with (no commentary; I swear). What I thought of as extending before turning didn't put me as far out from the downwind the cessna was flying as I thought it would. To prevent a reoccurrence I could have waited to begin the turn until completing the descent; stopped turning when I was parallel to the runway and had re-established visual contact with the other traffic (or received radio verification of their location); and anticipated the cessna's downwind was likely to be laterally further from the field than what I would choose myself.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: J-3 Piper Super Cub pilot reported an NMAC event during landing pattern entry with departure traffic in crosswind turn.

Narrative: Turning onto the 45 for left downwind for Runway XX; I lost sight of a Cessna turning downwind and the Cessna took evasive action (dive) to avoid collision. I crossed mid-field at aprox 2;500 feet MSL; 1;000 feet above PA. I was a bit higher because I knew there was traffic in the pattern. Crossing mid-field; I had the traffic in sight that was climbing departing [Runway] XX. After crossing the downwind; I began my descent; extending further than I would normally before turning to the 45 to allow for spacing; as the Cessna had now announced they were crosswind. Thinking I provided enough space I began my turn to the right; while still descending; to the 45 to join the downwind. At the same time; the ADSB display on my ipad flickered and I lost traffic reporting. I also got a bit of the setting sun in my eyes. About when I reached 90 degrees to the runway; a different voice in the Cessna; what sounded like an instructor; indicated that they were about at my 11 o'clock and diving to avoid. I saw them; retarded my throttle; halted my turn; and radioed I had them in sight. The situation was caused by losing sight of the Cessna due to the sun; the descending turn with wing down towards the other traffic; and the distraction of losing the ADSB display. Contributing was the fact that; since I started flying the Cub and planning power off landings; I find myself flying a pattern that has tighter downwind (laterally closer) than most Cessnas I'm in the pattern with (no commentary; I swear). What I thought of as extending before turning didn't put me as far out from the downwind the Cessna was flying as I thought it would. To prevent a reoccurrence I could have waited to begin the turn until completing the descent; stopped turning when I was parallel to the runway and had re-established visual contact with the other traffic (or received radio verification of their location); and anticipated the Cessna's downwind was likely to be laterally further from the field than what I would choose myself.

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.