It was July of 2017 in Port Townsend, WA (0S9) and I was a newly certificated pilot. The airport has a right pattern for 9 and a left pattern for 27, with a hill to the North and NW of the Airport, and Discovery Bay (Puget Sound) to the West. I was flying a rented C-150, and was returning to Jefferson County Airport after dropping my friend (and instructor) off in Bellingham so he could pick up his plane after having ADS-B installed. I made the appropriate radio calls on CTAF and was crossing midfield North to South just above pattern altitude (hill avoidance) over 9-27 for a left downwind for 27. Suddenly a lady yelled "look out" into the radio. She and her husband were holding short at 27 for another landing aircraft. I was jolted out of my complacency and saw something out of the corner of my eye to the right. I put the plane into a hard left turn directly over the runway and a plane whizzed by my right wing only about 30 feet away. She had noticed another airplane descending over the end of 09 diagonally toward me and had reacted appropriately, with only enough time to shout two words. The pilot made no radio calls and was not following proper procedure. He went on to land, and after recovering my marbles, I did as well. The nice couple returned to the ramp for a "discussion" with the pilot (student pilot). He was amazingly still unaware of any issue. To make matters worse, an instructor was on board and both were oblivious. It turns out they had the com frequency set for Sequim, a nearby airport. I was mad, but held my tongue. The couple were mad. Of course, I thanked her for saving my life and the lives of the other two miscreants. They did apologize. I spoke with my former instructor about it later and he gave them another what for. Lessons from the incident? Follow the established pattern without cutting and keep alert, since many people do stupid stuff. Double check frequencies too.

Similar story. Except I was the bad one. It was the first time I had taken my wife flying with me. We went for a short jaunt from Little Rock over to Memphis. I had been on the radio with Memphis as they are Charlie and the GA airport was inside their vail. I had been cleared to change frequencies, I did follow the correct pattern and had followed visibly behind another cessna in the pattern but every call I made no one responded and I could not hear their calls. Finally as I am about to turn base, the controller for memphis says you might want to try frequency xyz. I said thank you and changed to frequency xyz. Stated where I was in the pattern and asked if there where any other aircraft discrepancies, I was met with kind no we have been following you and your right in place. Safe landing without incident.

Traffic patterns can be scary places. And, even traffic patterns where there is a tower aren't exempt from near misses.

I like to absolutely minimize tasks when I get near an airport. My rule is "sterile cockpit" withing five miles or more of the airport....I use the "pilot isolate" function on my intercom. I brief passengers to please be quiet on the intercom when I ask them to, but using pilot isolate is simpler, and they can have their conversations without distracting me.

I always assume that someone in the pattern is going to do something goofy, and wind up somewhere they shouldn't be, and I am rarely disappointed at least in busy airspace. So, high alert is the operative condition....condition RED. Always time to relax when the plane is parked.

Developing a map in your mind of where everyone is is an acquired skill, and it can be tough with a lot of airplanes to keep track of. I've had pilots tell me that they don't bother with any communications that don't specifically pertain to them. I tell them that EVERY communication in an airport area MAY pertain to them.....they just don't realize it.

I've been in to Johnson Creek during one of the big fly ins, and those can be a real cluster, especially when you have someone on the frequency to decides to have a "conversation" with someone else......thus blocking everyone else. The problem being, with an airport in a canyon, you have fewer escape routes if someone comes at you.

Be careful out there, and use your radio for what it was designed for......radios don't fly airplanes or avoid traffic.

MTV

MTV