Narrative:

I was practicing for a spot landing competition. After 7 laps in the pattern; I decided to depart and rolled to the turnaround area at the end of runway xx which I had used largely for the sake of convenience as wind was calm. I had set my altimeter so that field elevation read 1000 feet for practice; so I made a takeoff call and tuned AWOS. Unable to hear the AWOS broadcast; I set the altimeter to read field elevation; checked for traffic; and took off runway xy; having forgotten to tune the CTAF. After no more than 100 feet of climbing; I noticed the AWOS on the radio and failed to realize I should be on CTAF. Shortly after that I noticed another airplane (I was not able to identify it but it looked like a C172/C182) on short final; very close to myself and flying nearly a collision course. I initiated an evasive right turn and continued to my home base without making any further communications on the CTAF. I had not heard any radio communications; but 122.9 had been quite busy all day; so it is quite possible I missed one. One factor in this is that I had been talking with my passenger for much of the flight and not paying close attention to the radio calls being made. I believe the other aircraft had made a straight-in; as I did not see it when looking for traffic and I would have expected to hear radio calls in the pattern prior to having tuned the AWOS frequency; but it is possible I had simply not seen it and not heard radio calls due to my lack of attention or being on the wrong frequency. To prevent recurrence; I will be checking radio frequencies prior to takeoff; limiting conversation when in the pattern and paying more attention to radio traffic in general; ensuring that I announce my departure only when fully ready to take off; and recommending other pilots do likewise.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C152 pilot reports a NMAC shortly after takeoff with an opposite direction Cessna. The takeoff had been announced on CTAF with no response then the radio switched to AWOS and the takeoff initiated.

Narrative: I was practicing for a spot landing competition. After 7 laps in the pattern; I decided to depart and rolled to the turnaround area at the end of runway XX which I had used largely for the sake of convenience as wind was calm. I had set my altimeter so that field elevation read 1000 feet for practice; so I made a takeoff call and tuned AWOS. Unable to hear the AWOS broadcast; I set the altimeter to read field elevation; checked for traffic; and took off runway XY; having forgotten to tune the CTAF. After no more than 100 feet of climbing; I noticed the AWOS on the radio and failed to realize I should be on CTAF. Shortly after that I noticed another airplane (I was not able to identify it but it looked like a C172/C182) on short final; very close to myself and flying nearly a collision course. I initiated an evasive right turn and continued to my home base without making any further communications on the CTAF. I had not heard any radio communications; but 122.9 had been quite busy all day; so it is quite possible I missed one. One factor in this is that I had been talking with my passenger for much of the flight and not paying close attention to the radio calls being made. I believe the other aircraft had made a straight-in; as I did not see it when looking for traffic and I would have expected to hear radio calls in the pattern prior to having tuned the AWOS frequency; but it is possible I had simply not seen it and not heard radio calls due to my lack of attention or being on the wrong frequency. To prevent recurrence; I will be checking radio frequencies prior to takeoff; limiting conversation when in the pattern and paying more attention to radio traffic in general; ensuring that I announce my departure only when fully ready to take off; and recommending other pilots do likewise.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.