Narrative:

I launched in clear VMC with good visibility for the short trip direct from my home base. This is a trip I make at least weekly. I climbed to 2;500 ft MSL on a heading of 330 degrees; which aligned me for a straight-in approach to the active runway. The area is a busy aviation training and tourism destination. This frequency is shared by several airports. There was a great deal of radio traffic; much of it unrelated to flight operations. (Aircraft parking; fuel orders; ground transportation; etc.) there were also at least four other bonanzas transmitting on the frequency. Many transmissions were being stepped on and blocked. I made my normal position/intention reports on the CTAF: 10 miles from ZZZ: 'ZZZ; bonanza 10 miles to the southeast inbound ZZZ.' 5 miles from ZZZ: 'ZZZ; bonanza 5 miles to the southeast; traffic permitting planning straight-in ZZZ.' crossing the shoreline approximately 2 miles from the runway: 'ZZZ; bonanza shoreline final ZZZ.' less than 1 mile from the runway: 'ZZZ bonanza short final ZZZ.' about two miles out I heard the following transmission: 'ZZZ an arrow is positioning for a 45 entry for the downwind for ZZZ.' I paid particular attention to scanning west of the airport to locate that traffic. I did not; and did not hear another transmission from that aircraft. After I made my 'short final' call and was below 500 ft AGL an aircraft I believe was waiting to depart ZZZ transmitted: 'bonanza look in front of you.' assuming that the transmission was for me I immediately focused my scan forward; but did not see anything unusual. The same aircraft then transmitted 'there's an aircraft under you; the arrow is going around.' at this point I was unsure that mine was the bonanza being called and; if so; whether the conflicting traffic was above or below me. If the transmission was intended for me; the potential conflict presumably had me in sight and was going around. I decided to continue to land rather than abort myself and risk climbing into the other aircraft. I landed uneventfully and did not see the arrow until they came around again to land. I spoke with the arrow pilot(s) on the ground. They were understandably upset that I had not yielded to them in the pattern. I told them that I had not seen them nor heard another radio call from them after 'positioning for the 45.' they assured me that they had called all the legs of their pattern. I believe that this is true; but that their transmissions were blocked by all the radio chatter. I told them that I had also made several calls and wished that they had alerted me if they saw a potential conflict developing before we were on short final. We left it at that. I am not sure how close our aircraft actually came. I believe that at times of peak usage this single radio frequency may be insufficient to support the number of facilities to which it is assigned. Inappropriate use of the frequency for ground operations can compound the problem dramatically.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BE35 pilot reports conflict with Piper Arrow on short final at an uncontrolled airport; after a straight-in approach. An observer reports aircraft are stacked one above the other on final and the Arrow went around.

Narrative: I launched in clear VMC with good visibility for the short trip direct from my home base. This is a trip I make at least weekly. I climbed to 2;500 FT MSL on a heading of 330 degrees; which aligned me for a straight-in approach to the active runway. The area is a busy aviation training and tourism destination. This frequency is shared by several airports. There was a great deal of radio traffic; much of it unrelated to flight operations. (Aircraft parking; fuel orders; ground transportation; etc.) There were also at least four other Bonanzas transmitting on the frequency. Many transmissions were being stepped on and blocked. I made my normal position/intention reports on the CTAF: 10 miles from ZZZ: 'ZZZ; Bonanza 10 miles to the southeast inbound ZZZ.' 5 miles from ZZZ: 'ZZZ; Bonanza 5 miles to the southeast; traffic permitting planning straight-in ZZZ.' Crossing the shoreline approximately 2 miles from the runway: 'ZZZ; Bonanza shoreline final ZZZ.' Less than 1 mile from the runway: 'ZZZ Bonanza short final ZZZ.' About two miles out I heard the following transmission: 'ZZZ an Arrow is positioning for a 45 entry for the downwind for ZZZ.' I paid particular attention to scanning west of the airport to locate that traffic. I did not; and did not hear another transmission from that aircraft. After I made my 'short final' call and was below 500 FT AGL an aircraft I believe was waiting to depart ZZZ transmitted: 'Bonanza look in front of you.' Assuming that the transmission was for me I immediately focused my scan forward; but did not see anything unusual. The same aircraft then transmitted 'There's an aircraft under you; the Arrow is going around.' At this point I was unsure that mine was the Bonanza being called and; if so; whether the conflicting traffic was above or below me. If the transmission was intended for me; the potential conflict presumably had me in sight and was going around. I decided to continue to land rather than abort myself and risk climbing into the other aircraft. I landed uneventfully and did not see the Arrow until they came around again to land. I spoke with the Arrow pilot(s) on the ground. They were understandably upset that I had not yielded to them in the pattern. I told them that I had not seen them nor heard another radio call from them after 'positioning for the 45.' They assured me that they had called all the legs of their pattern. I believe that this is true; but that their transmissions were blocked by all the radio chatter. I told them that I had also made several calls and wished that they had alerted me if they saw a potential conflict developing before we were on short final. We left it at that. I am not sure how close our aircraft actually came. I believe that at times of peak usage this single radio frequency may be insufficient to support the number of facilities to which it is assigned. Inappropriate use of the frequency for ground operations can compound the problem dramatically.

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.