Narrative:

I had been under flight following with patuxent river approach and was handed off to CTAF just past salisbury (sby). Shortly after switching to CTAF; I heard [a] navion make a traffic call that he was 5 miles out and landing ocean city. I also made a traffic call that I was 5 miles west of the airport with an altitude call out. The radio frequency was extremely congested with other airports that share the same frequency; oxb unicom chatter; chatter from the plane dropping jumpers just north of oxb; and oxb pattern traffic. As I approached the airport to set up a 45 degree entry to left downwind for runway 32; I heard the navion report 'downwind.' I then transmitted that I was setting up a '45 degree entry to left downwind and was looking for the navion on downwind'. I searched the normal downwind portion of the pattern to find the navion. While still on the 45 entry and still northwest of the 14 end of the runway; a light green navion was talking on the radio but then stopped mid-sentence as we simultaneously saw each other converging. He was in front of me and to my left. The navion turned left and climbed and I turned right to steer clear. The navion then reestablished downwind; I finished my right turn behind him on downwind; and I landed number two behind him. During our avoidance maneuvers; another airplane in the traffic pattern transmitted that a low wing airplane and a high wing airplane were 'right on top of each other.'possible causes: 1) from our angle of convergence; it appears the navion did not use a 45-degree entry to enter the downwind at midfield. Instead; it appears the navion flew directly into downwind via an extended pattern a couple miles northwest of the normal pattern. An aircraft on a normal downwind would have been ahead of me and to my right rather than approaching from the left as the navion did. 2) the extremely congested frequency; also shared with other airports within reception range; made effective communications very difficult. Also; I'm not sure if the navion pilot received and mentally processed my position reports. Mitigating factors were: 1) both of us were in level flight; so we saw each other in time to see and avoid. My aircraft is high wing and the navion is low wing; so blind spots would have been amplified if either of us were climbing or descending. 2) I had my landing light on; so this may have provided an extra second reaction for either aircraft to see me. Corrective actions: 1) re-emphasis on traffic pattern entry techniques per the aim and AOPA's air safety foundation literature. 2) with many aircraft radios today now having 3 decimal capabilities; the number of airports within reception range of each other should be minimized by assigning different frequencies. 3) chatter not immediately relevant to airborne flight operations should be minimized on CTAF; especially when the pattern is busy. FBO parking instructions and other non-flight chatter should be avoided in these situations by unicom operators and taxiing aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C182 pilot experiences a critical conflict with a Navion entering the pattern for Runway 32 at OXB.

Narrative: I had been under Flight Following with Patuxent River Approach and was handed off to CTAF just past Salisbury (SBY). Shortly after switching to CTAF; I heard [a] Navion make a traffic call that he was 5 miles out and landing Ocean City. I also made a traffic call that I was 5 miles west of the airport with an altitude call out. The radio frequency was extremely congested with other airports that share the same frequency; OXB UNICOM chatter; chatter from the plane dropping jumpers just north of OXB; and OXB pattern traffic. As I approached the airport to set up a 45 degree entry to left downwind for Runway 32; I heard the Navion report 'downwind.' I then transmitted that I was setting up a '45 degree entry to left downwind and was looking for the Navion on downwind'. I searched the normal downwind portion of the pattern to find the Navion. While still on the 45 entry and still northwest of the 14 end of the runway; a light green Navion was talking on the radio but then stopped mid-sentence as we simultaneously saw each other converging. He was in front of me and to my left. The Navion turned left and climbed and I turned right to steer clear. The Navion then reestablished downwind; I finished my right turn behind him on downwind; and I landed number two behind him. During our avoidance maneuvers; another airplane in the traffic pattern transmitted that a low wing airplane and a high wing airplane were 'right on top of each other.'Possible causes: 1) From our angle of convergence; it appears the Navion did not use a 45-degree entry to enter the downwind at midfield. Instead; it appears the Navion flew directly into downwind via an extended pattern a couple miles northwest of the normal pattern. An aircraft on a normal downwind would have been ahead of me and to my right rather than approaching from the left as the Navion did. 2) The extremely congested frequency; also shared with other airports within reception range; made effective communications very difficult. Also; I'm not sure if the Navion pilot received and mentally processed my position reports. Mitigating factors were: 1) Both of us were in level flight; so we saw each other in time to see and avoid. My aircraft is high wing and the Navion is low wing; so blind spots would have been amplified if either of us were climbing or descending. 2) I had my landing light on; so this may have provided an extra second reaction for either aircraft to see me. Corrective actions: 1) Re-emphasis on traffic pattern entry techniques per the AIM and AOPA's Air Safety Foundation literature. 2) With many aircraft radios today now having 3 decimal capabilities; the number of airports within reception range of each other should be minimized by assigning different frequencies. 3) Chatter not immediately relevant to airborne flight operations should be minimized on CTAF; especially when the pattern is busy. FBO parking instructions and other non-flight chatter should be avoided in these situations by Unicom operators and taxiing aircraft.

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.