Narrative:

I was returning to rhv airport after doing air work in the area to the south of rhv. After a failure to contact rhv tower it quickly became apparent that the area around rhv was congested with many aircraft coming and going. The controller at the rhv tower frequency was very busy. Several planes were trying to contact rhv tower with the intent to come in and land. Another plane; a citabria; was in the same area as me (south east of rhv; near UTC) and also was trying to contact rhv tower with the intent to land. After being told to wait a few minutes; the citabria was contacted by rhv tower and told to make a straight in approach for 31L at rhv. Shortly thereafter; I was also contacted by rhv tower and told to make the same straight-in for 31L. At this point I started looking for the citabria ahead of me; expecting to follow it in. Meanwhile the tower controller continued to be extremely busy on the frequency; directing planes on the ground around the runways and also controlling planes coming and going on the right runway. I attempted in vain to contact the tower to ask for a position report on the citabria but was unable to do so. The frequency was already busy as it was and to make matters worse; other pilots and the tower were stepping over each other which just made my contacting the tower all the more impossible. I continued my approach into 31L; still looking for the citabria I was trying to follow; but not being able to see it. The plane I was in has a bubble canopy and extremely good visibility all around; so I was getting quite nervous when I couldn't locate the citabria. In addition; it has a slow cruise speed; so the last thing I expected was to be over-taking the citabria. But in fact; that is exactly what had happened. I finally managed to spot the citabria a few hundred feet behind me at roughly the same altitude. At this point we were on a 1 mile final and there still had been no communication possible about my position relative to the citabria with the tower. I was a bit confused as to how I managed to be ahead of the citabria; but was fairly sure that something was not right and that I was not cleared to land as '#1'. I then did what I think was the safest thing which is to continue the approach over 31L. I overflew the runway; having no intent to land without the proper clearance; at which point the tower finally contacted me and told me to make left traffic for 31L. I then heard the tower tell the citabria (behind me) to go around and also make left traffic for 31L. We both flew regular left-traffic patterns and came in to land one after another without further incident. There was clearly a communication failure between me and the tower. The frequency was too congested for me to be able to ask about the position of the citabria. I believe this problem would not have occurred if two controllers were working in the rhv tower facility; one controlling traffic for 31L and the other controlling traffic for 31R. In addition; as much as I was flying a very slow plane; clearly I was going fast enough to be able to overtake the citabria along the course of the roughly 3 mile approach to the airport. I was probably going faster than I though I was because I was nervous about not being able to find the citabria. If I were in this type of situation again I would as much as possible slow my airplane down to be sure not to overtake another airplane that I cannot see.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Two VFR arrivals to RHV were issued a straight in approaches to Runway 31L; aircraft were unable to spot one another resulting in two aircraft in close proximity and both executing a go-around.

Narrative: I was returning to RHV airport after doing air work in the area to the South of RHV. After a failure to contact RHV tower it quickly became apparent that the area around RHV was congested with many aircraft coming and going. The controller at the RHV tower frequency was very busy. Several planes were trying to contact RHV tower with the intent to come in and land. Another plane; a Citabria; was in the same area as me (South East of RHV; near UTC) and also was trying to contact RHV Tower with the intent to land. After being told to wait a few minutes; the Citabria was contacted by RHV Tower and told to make a straight in approach for 31L at RHV. Shortly thereafter; I was also contacted by RHV Tower and told to make the same straight-in for 31L. At this point I started looking for the Citabria ahead of me; expecting to follow it in. Meanwhile the tower controller continued to be extremely busy on the frequency; directing planes on the ground around the runways and also controlling planes coming and going on the right runway. I attempted in vain to contact the tower to ask for a position report on the Citabria but was unable to do so. The frequency was already busy as it was and to make matters worse; other pilots and the tower were stepping over each other which just made my contacting the tower all the more impossible. I continued my approach into 31L; still looking for the Citabria I was trying to follow; but not being able to see it. The plane I was in has a bubble canopy and extremely good visibility all around; so I was getting quite nervous when I couldn't locate the Citabria. In addition; it has a slow cruise speed; so the last thing I expected was to be over-taking the Citabria. But in fact; that is exactly what had happened. I finally managed to spot the Citabria a few hundred feet behind me at roughly the same altitude. At this point we were on a 1 mile final and there still had been no communication possible about my position relative to the Citabria with the tower. I was a bit confused as to how I managed to be ahead of the Citabria; but was fairly sure that something was not right and that I was not cleared to land as '#1'. I then did what I think was the safest thing which is to continue the approach over 31L. I overflew the runway; having no intent to land without the proper clearance; at which point the tower finally contacted me and told me to make left traffic for 31L. I then heard the tower tell the Citabria (behind me) to go around and also make left traffic for 31L. We both flew regular left-traffic patterns and came in to land one after another without further incident. There was clearly a communication failure between me and the tower. The frequency was too congested for me to be able to ask about the position of the Citabria. I believe this problem would not have occurred if two controllers were working in the RHV tower facility; one controlling traffic for 31L and the other controlling traffic for 31R. In addition; as much as I was flying a very slow plane; clearly I was going fast enough to be able to overtake the Citabria along the course of the roughly 3 mile approach to the airport. I was probably going faster than I though I was because I was nervous about not being able to find the Citabria. If I were in this type of situation again I would as much as possible slow my airplane down to be sure not to overtake another airplane that I cannot see.

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.