A C172 pilot described a near miss with a caravan on approach to lgb.

Attributes
ACN	927080
Time
Date	201101
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	LGB.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	Caravan Undifferentiated
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Student
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 95 Flight Crew Type 60
Events
Anomaly	Conflict NMAC
Miss Distance	Horizontal 500 Vertical 300

Narrative:

I was on final approach to runway 25L with clearance to land from ATC; approximately 1 mile from the runway. A cessna caravan made an abrupt left turn to base in front of me and continued on his base. The tower instructed me to make a right turn; which I did. The caravan; which was slightly behind my position at this time; made an abrupt turn to his left to line up with runway 25L and directly into my path. Evasive action was taken with a full power climb to the right. Approximate distance between aircraft was 300 ft. Other than the initial instruction to me for a right turn; the tower made no further communication or mention of this incident. The pilot of the caravan had received an instruction from ATC to turn base behind my aircraft. Instead; he turned in front of me. He did acknowledge this to the tower. I believe the tower was in error by not instructing the caravan to make right traffic to 25L. I; then; could have followed him in without incident.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A C172 pilot described a near miss with a Caravan on approach to LGB.

Narrative: I was on final approach to Runway 25L with clearance to land from ATC; approximately 1 mile from the runway. A Cessna Caravan made an abrupt left turn to base in front of me and continued on his base. The Tower instructed me to make a right turn; which I did. The Caravan; which was slightly behind my position at this time; made an abrupt turn to his left to line up with Runway 25L and directly into my path. Evasive action was taken with a full power climb to the right. Approximate distance between aircraft was 300 FT. Other than the initial instruction to me for a right turn; the Tower made no further communication or mention of this incident. The pilot of the Caravan had received an instruction from ATC to turn base behind my aircraft. Instead; he turned in front of me. He did acknowledge this to the Tower. I believe the Tower was in error by not instructing the Caravan to make right traffic to 25L. I; then; could have followed him in without incident.

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.