Narrative:

I made contact with tower; 9 miles to the west of the airport requesting a visual approach for landing and was instructed to head for the downwind for runway 07. At approximately 4 miles from the airport; I made a call to ATC to confirm I should head for a right downwind; which is the published pattern for runway 07. I was told to transition to a straight-in approach; and was cleared to land; number one; on runway 07. I read back the landing clearance; but I had not clearly heard my call sign on the transmission from the tower; so I asked for and received a second confirmation that I was cleared to land on runway 07 with a straight in approach. I do not recall hearing any communications between the tower and any other aircraft in the pattern after I was cleared to land. At 1.5 miles out on final; the tower made an urgent call to a cessna; asking if the cessna had turned base. I immediately scanned for the traffic in the vicinity and spotted the cessna on a right base; near and ahead; heading directly for my flight path. The cessna must have spotted me at this point; or realized he was not instructed to turn base; because he made an evasive turn to the left to avoid collision. The tower then instructed the cessna to make a left 270 degree turn and rejoin the base for spacing. I called the tower and told them that it was a close call; and reminded them again of my position; which was now 1 mile on final. The remainder of the approach and landing was nominal. I feel there were several errors made that led to this near mid-air collision. It was a busy afternoon at the airport; and the tower controller appeared to be the only controller on duty; because he was handling both the tower and ground frequencies. The controller seemed to have forgotten about the cessna on downwind (or was preoccupied with another task); and failed to instruct the cessna to extend downwind for traffic. The controller was not providing position reports to aircraft in the pattern. On a VFR sunday afternoon; a larger volume of traffic should be expected at this popular fly-to destination; more controllers should have been on duty. The second error was on the part of the pilot of the cessna. He never received instructions from the tower indicating he was cleared to land; or that he should turn base. He should not have turned base without a positive indication from the tower. He also failed to maintain situational awareness that there was traffic on a straight-in approach; despite the fact that I had received two landing clearances on the frequency. Another error was on my part. I was lax with my scan pattern for traffic and failed to see the cessna on its downwind to base turn. Had I seen him during the turn; I could have notified the tower; who could have handled the situation before it became a close call.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Light plane pilot described an NMAC; citing what he felt was an overworked Controller and a lack of awareness on the part of the other pilot.

Narrative: I made contact with Tower; 9 miles to the west of the airport requesting a visual approach for landing and was instructed to head for the downwind for Runway 07. At approximately 4 miles from the airport; I made a call to ATC to confirm I should head for a right downwind; which is the published pattern for Runway 07. I was told to transition to a straight-in approach; and was cleared to land; number one; on Runway 07. I read back the landing clearance; but I had not clearly heard my call sign on the transmission from the Tower; so I asked for and received a second confirmation that I was cleared to land on Runway 07 with a straight in approach. I do not recall hearing any communications between the Tower and any other aircraft in the pattern after I was cleared to land. At 1.5 miles out on final; the Tower made an urgent call to a Cessna; asking if the Cessna had turned base. I immediately scanned for the traffic in the vicinity and spotted the Cessna on a right base; near and ahead; heading directly for my flight path. The Cessna must have spotted me at this point; or realized he was not instructed to turn base; because he made an evasive turn to the left to avoid collision. The Tower then instructed the Cessna to make a left 270 degree turn and rejoin the base for spacing. I called the Tower and told them that it was a close call; and reminded them again of my position; which was now 1 mile on final. The remainder of the approach and landing was nominal. I feel there were several errors made that led to this near mid-air collision. It was a busy afternoon at the airport; and the Tower Controller appeared to be the only controller on duty; because he was handling both the Tower and Ground frequencies. The Controller seemed to have forgotten about the Cessna on downwind (or was preoccupied with another task); and failed to instruct the Cessna to extend downwind for traffic. The Controller was not providing position reports to aircraft in the pattern. On a VFR Sunday afternoon; a larger volume of traffic should be expected at this popular fly-to destination; more controllers should have been on duty. The second error was on the part of the pilot of the Cessna. He never received instructions from the Tower indicating he was cleared to land; or that he should turn base. He should not have turned base without a positive indication from the Tower. He also failed to maintain situational awareness that there was traffic on a straight-in approach; despite the fact that I had received two landing clearances on the frequency. Another error was on my part. I was lax with my scan pattern for traffic and failed to see the Cessna on its downwind to base turn. Had I seen him during the turn; I could have notified the Tower; who could have handled the situation before it became a close call.

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.