SMA CROSSES APCH PATH OF MLG FOR INTERSECTING RWY.

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PILOTING SMA; ARRIVING FROM E SW (TUNUNAK) I INITIATED CONTACT WITH BET TWR 10 NM SW. I HAD BEEN MONITORING THE FREQ (118.10) FOR APPROX 10 NM PRIOR TO INITIAL CONTACT; AS PER MY SOP. DURING THIS TIME AN AIRLINES MLG INITIATED COMS WITH TWR. I WAS AWARE THAT THE MLG WAS APCHING FROM THE NE AND THAT ITS ARR WOULD LIKELY COINCIDE WITH MY ARR. I INITIALLY REQUESTED RWY 36 BASED ON WIND INFO FROM ATIS BROADCAST. MOMENTS AFTER MAKING MY FIRST CALL TO TWR (AT 10 NM); NEW ATIS WAS ANNOUNCED. I LISTENED ON MY SECONDARY RECEIVER; AND; CONSIDERING THE NEW WIND VELOCITY (WHICH MORE FAVORED RWY 29) AND THE PENDING SEQUENCING CONFLICT WITH THE JET; SUGGESTED TO TWR THAT RWY 29 WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE; 'IF THAT WOULD HELP.' PRIOR TO THE RWY 29 REQUEST; I HAD BEEN INSTRUCTED TO RPT 3 (OR 2; DON'T REMEMBER PRECISELY) NM SW; FOR L TFC TO RWY 36; AND FOLLOW THE JET; WHICH WAS NOT IN SIGHT AS OF YET. JUST BEFORE XING THE ARPT PERIPHERY (NEAR THE OLD BIA SITE); I RECEIVED NEW INSTRUCTIONS FOR RWY 29 AFTER REQUESTING/SUGGESTING I COULD UTILIZE RWY 29. THE TWR RESPONDED TO MY RWY 29 REQUEST BY APPROVING IT AND INSTRUCTING ME TO RPT DOWNWIND AND LOOK FOR THE JET. AS I WAS READING BACK THE INSTRUCTIONS I SPOTTED THE JET ON A R DOWNWIND ROUGHLY ABEAM THE RWY 36 THRESHOLD. I WAS INSTRUCTED TO 'FOLLOW' THE JET. I ENTERED THE L DOWNWIND LEG FOR RWY 29 CLOSE-IN (NEARLY OVER THE RWY 36 THRESHOLD); MAINTAINING VISUAL CONTACT WITH THE JET AT ALL TIMES AND MAINTAINING ALT AT 800 FT AGL. I DID THIS BASED ON PRIOR EXPERIENCE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AS A FLT INSTRUCTOR (2300 HRS INSTRUCTION GIVEN) WHILE TRAINING STUDENTS USING THE LONG BEACH ARPT (LGB). WHEN IN THE PATTERN FOR RWY 25L; PLTS ARE INSTRUCTED TO AND EXPECTED TO MAINTAIN THE DOWNWIND LEG 'INSIDE SIGNAL HILL' (A GEOGRAPHICAL LANDMARK); IN OTHER WORDS; 'CLOSE-IN.' THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROC IS TO ALLOW JETS APCHING RWY 30 (SEE DIAGRAM) TO PASS SAFELY BELOW AS THEY APCH THE THRESHOLD OF RWY 30L OFTEN WITH ANOTHER AIRPLANE DIRECTLY ABOVE ON THE L DOWNWIND FOR RWY 25L. I INTERPRETED THE INSTRUCTION; 'FOLLOW THE JET' TO MEAN; ALLOW THE JET TO LAND FIRST. I DID NOT CONSIDER THIS TO BE ANYTHING APCHING A 'NEAR MISS' OR EVEN; 'INCIDENT.' HOWEVER; THE PLT OF THE MLG ASKED THE TWR; DURING ROLLOUT; IF I WAS SUPPOSED TO PASS IN FRONT OF THE AIRLINER. THE TWR RESPONDED IN THE NEGATIVE. THE TWR THEN ADDED THAT I WAS 'NO FACTOR;' HOWEVER. THIS ALARMED ME; AND THAT IS MY REASON FOR THIS RPT. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE HELPFUL IF ATC HAD ADVISED ME TO 'PASS BEHIND THE JET.'