PA28 and a cessna experienced an near midair collision in the traffic pattern.

Attributes
ACN	844330
Time
Date	200907
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ARB.Airport
State Reference	MI
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Cessna Aircraft Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 13 Flight Crew Total 768 Flight Crew Type 144
Events
Anomaly	Conflict NMAC
Miss Distance	Horizontal 300 Vertical 0

Narrative:

Several miles out the tower instructed me to enter a right base for runway 24 at arb. Shortly afterward; I was sequenced #2 behind a cessna on left downwind for runway 24. I told the tower I was looking for the traffic. Myself and the other pilot continued looking for each other. About the time I reached the extended runway centerline; we saw each other. The cessna was at my 10:00; same altitude; opposite direction; about 300 ft away. It was apparently on its left base leg. The situation could have been avoided by the controller asking the cessna to extend its downwind leg; or somehow turning me away. Since the neither pilot had visual contact with the other; it's hard to understand why the controller didn't do that.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PA28 and a Cessna experienced an NMAC in the traffic pattern.

Narrative: Several miles out the Tower instructed me to enter a right base for Runway 24 at ARB. Shortly afterward; I was sequenced #2 behind a Cessna on left downwind for Runway 24. I told the Tower I was looking for the traffic. Myself and the other pilot continued looking for each other. About the time I reached the extended runway centerline; we saw each other. The Cessna was at my 10:00; same altitude; opposite direction; about 300 FT away. It was apparently on its left base leg. The situation could have been avoided by the Controller asking the Cessna to extend its downwind leg; or somehow turning me away. Since the neither pilot had visual contact with the other; it's hard to understand why the Controller didn't do that.

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.