Narrative:

I was on a visual approach to P19 for landing and was anticipating landing on runway 35 since the weather report favored that runway. At about 5 miles out; local traffic indicated that 17 was in use. I realized I was approaching from the wrong side of the field for 17 and needed to select a transition route. Turning immediately would have violated the class D airspace to the east; and crossing directly over the field at midfield would have required flying over a set of houses west of the airport that visiting pilots are asked not to overfly. I elected to cross over the field just south of runway 17 to avoid the two airspace issues. During this period; a cessna called that it was departing 17. I saw what I believed to be the departing traffic that had called on the CTAF and had heard only one aircraft call a departure. It turned out the aircraft I saw had not made a radio call; and the departing traffic that had made a call was still nearer the airport and below me as I transitioned from the west of P19 to the east. We passed much closer than intended; probably at 250-300 feet total separation. Neither aircraft took evasive action; but we became visible to each other just prior to the point of closest approach. The departing aircraft continued on course and I proceeded to land at P19 without further incident.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: GA pilot reported a near-mid-air-collision while maneuvering towards a non-towered airport when a departing aircraft had not announced departure on the CTAF.

Narrative: I was on a visual approach to P19 for landing and was anticipating landing on runway 35 since the weather report favored that runway. At about 5 miles out; local traffic indicated that 17 was in use. I realized I was approaching from the wrong side of the field for 17 and needed to select a transition route. Turning immediately would have violated the class D airspace to the east; and crossing directly over the field at midfield would have required flying over a set of houses west of the airport that visiting pilots are asked not to overfly. I elected to cross over the field just south of runway 17 to avoid the two airspace issues. During this period; a Cessna called that it was departing 17. I saw what I believed to be the departing traffic that had called on the CTAF and had heard only one aircraft call a departure. It turned out the aircraft I saw had not made a radio call; and the departing traffic that had made a call was still nearer the airport and below me as I transitioned from the west of P19 to the east. We passed much closer than intended; probably at 250-300 feet total separation. Neither aircraft took evasive action; but we became visible to each other just prior to the point of closest approach. The departing aircraft continued on course and I proceeded to land at P19 without further incident.

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.