Narrative:

I was eight miles southeast of gky and cleared for visual to 34 by approach control and told to contact tower. I was 160 KIAS and switched but there was a lengthy conversation between tower and student and by the time the backlog of conversations was finished I was five miles and on initial contact was told to report right base for 34. I called one mile right base and was told there was aircraft on three mile final. I sensed a conflict developing and turned to a modified base of approximately 300 degrees since tower said that I was not in sight. Incidentally; there was a bonanza one mile behind me heading toward airport as well. My heading; facing the tower; should have made it easy for tower controller to see both taxi and landing lights as well as wingtip strobes. Both the cessna and I arrived at a quarter mile final at the same time and altitude (within 300'); the cessna initiated a go-around and I continued. I called the tower and said I was on a quarter mile final and inquired if he had me in sight. After landing I asked tower if he saw me and he said that the haze made it difficult to spot targets. This is a very active airport with some seemingly inexperienced controllers. The tower does not have a 'bright scope'. The controller appeared to be working both tower and ground frequencies. There is a great deal of student training and when a student reports a 'five mile final'; it may be anywhere between two and seven miles. The training planes are using flying a 70-80 knot final from the marker inbound and the controllers seem not to make the connection that an airplane six miles out at 160 is going to arrive the same time as one three miles out doing eighty. When the controller said that he couldn't see the airplanes on base or short final because of haze (AWOS reporting 5 miles haze as I recall); something should have happened. Either calling the airport IFR and shutting down VFR traffic or telling approach control to hold IFR arrivals. Secondly; at a minimum; there should have been a spotter helping the controller to spot traffic and thirdly; an airport with such heavy traffic should have a bright scope. I think it actually would have been safer if the aircraft would self announce their position and intentions if tower cannot spot aircraft visually and doesn't have radar. In a 35 year career and over 25;000 hours; I have only submitted one other NASA report. I am only submitting this one as this is the second time I've had a near miss at this airport within the last three months. I truly believe someone is going to get seriously hurt unless there are immediate improvements made at gky to facilitate the flow of traffic. While nearby ads has much more traffic; it appears to be a much more orderly flow.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An IFR BE36 on visual approach to GKY Runway 34 was instructed to report a right base for the runway. A near miss on a quarter mile final with a C172 cleared straight in occurred. The reporter questioned the lack of RADAR equipment in this busy tower as well as the overall controller experience level.

Narrative: I was eight miles southeast of GKY and cleared for visual to 34 by Approach Control and told to contact Tower. I was 160 KIAS and switched but there was a lengthy conversation between Tower and student and by the time the backlog of conversations was finished I was five miles and on initial contact was told to report right base for 34. I called one mile right base and was told there was aircraft on three mile final. I sensed a conflict developing and turned to a modified base of approximately 300 degrees since Tower said that I was not in sight. Incidentally; there was a Bonanza one mile behind me heading toward airport as well. My heading; facing the Tower; should have made it easy for Tower Controller to see both taxi and landing lights as well as wingtip strobes. Both the Cessna and I arrived at a quarter mile final at the same time and altitude (within 300'); the Cessna initiated a go-around and I continued. I called the Tower and said I was on a quarter mile final and inquired if he had me in sight. After landing I asked Tower if he saw me and he said that the haze made it difficult to spot targets. This is a very active airport with some seemingly inexperienced controllers. The Tower does not have a 'Bright Scope'. The Controller appeared to be working both Tower and Ground frequencies. There is a great deal of student training and when a student reports a 'five mile final'; it may be anywhere between two and seven miles. The training planes are using flying a 70-80 knot final from the marker inbound and the Controllers seem not to make the connection that an airplane six miles out at 160 is going to arrive the same time as one three miles out doing eighty. When the Controller said that he couldn't see the airplanes on base or short final because of Haze (AWOS reporting 5 miles haze as I recall); something should have happened. Either calling the airport IFR and shutting down VFR traffic or telling Approach Control to hold IFR arrivals. Secondly; at a minimum; there should have been a Spotter helping the Controller to spot traffic and thirdly; an airport with such heavy traffic should have a Bright Scope. I think it actually would have been safer if the aircraft would self announce their position and intentions if Tower cannot spot aircraft visually and doesn't have RADAR. In a 35 year career and over 25;000 hours; I have only submitted one other NASA report. I am only submitting this one as this is the second time I've had a near miss at this airport within the last three months. I truly believe someone is going to get seriously hurt unless there are immediate improvements made at GKY to facilitate the flow of traffic. While nearby ADS has much more traffic; it appears to be a much more orderly flow.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.