Narrative:

I had taken my student to cma for pattern work. During the course of doing pattern work; we had begun doing abnormal landing configuration training. After several patterns; we were cleared for the option number 3; behind an arrow joining downwind abeam the numbers. Initially; we did not have any aircraft in sight; and I had my student report negative contact to the tower. We continued on downwind. Shortly thereafter; due to my student's accent; the tower did not understand that we did not have the aircraft in sight. He used the verbiage 'aircraft not in sight.' not fully understanding; the controller asked if we did or did not have traffic in sight. At that point; we noticed a plane landing behind us; and another off our left wing on final. My student reported traffic in sight as we had an aircraft clearly visible passing our left wing on final. At this point; I made the mistake of not having my student verify with tower that the aircraft at our 9 o'clock was in fact the traffic we were to follow. We turned base to follow traffic as we thought we were sequenced properly. As we began to turn final I saw an aircraft at our 3 o'clock; converging quickly; and took evasive action to avoid a collision. I rejoined the south downwind; and continued in for an uneventful landing. To avoid the scenario; we should have checked final more thoroughly; and should have verified the traffic was the correct aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SR20 flight instructor reported an NMAC with another light aircraft in the pattern at CMA airport.

Narrative: I had taken my student to CMA for pattern work. During the course of doing pattern work; we had begun doing abnormal landing configuration training. After several patterns; we were cleared for the option Number 3; behind an Arrow joining downwind abeam the numbers. Initially; we did not have any aircraft in sight; and I had my student report negative contact to the Tower. We continued on downwind. Shortly thereafter; due to my student's accent; the Tower did not understand that we did not have the aircraft in sight. He used the verbiage 'aircraft not in sight.' Not fully understanding; the controller asked if we did or did not have traffic in sight. At that point; we noticed a plane landing behind us; and another off our left wing on final. My student reported traffic in sight as we had an aircraft clearly visible passing our left wing on final. At this point; I made the mistake of not having my student verify with Tower that the aircraft at our 9 o'clock was in fact the traffic we were to follow. We turned base to follow traffic as we thought we were sequenced properly. As we began to turn final I saw an aircraft at our 3 o'clock; converging quickly; and took evasive action to avoid a collision. I rejoined the south downwind; and continued in for an uneventful landing. To avoid the scenario; we should have checked final more thoroughly; and should have verified the traffic was the correct aircraft.

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.