NMAC DURING A NIGHT OP WHEN 2 GA ACFT CLOSE TOWARDS EACH OTHER DURING A TFC PATTERN CONFLICT AT A TWR ARPT AT PTK; MI.

Narrative

THE INCIDENT OCCURRED AS I FIRST DEPARTED ON MY SECOND FLT; AND AT ROUGHLY XA30. MONITORING TWR WHILE AWAITING CLRNC; I HEARD THAT A CESSNA WAS INBOUND FROM THE NW TO RWY 27R; THE RWY I WAS ABOUT TO USE. I RECEIVED TWR CLRNC TO DEPART RWY 27R AND TO FLY R TFC. I DEPARTED WITH NAV LIGHTS ON BUT WITHOUT LNDG LIGHT OR WINGTIP STROBE ILLUMINATION. AS I TURNED XWIND LEG; I SAW AN ACFT APCHING FROM THE N AND SLIGHTLY ABOVE MY ALT. I IMMEDIATELY WIDENED MY FLT PATH AND WAITED FOR THE ACFT TO TURN DOWNWIND; EXPECTING IT WAS THE INBOUND CESSNA AND INTENDING TO FOLLOW IN LINE ASTERN. AS I CLBED TO PATTERN ALT; THE ACFT WAS APCHING ME AND APPEARED TO BE DSNDING. I AGAIN WIDENED MY PATTERN AND CLBED TO A LITTLE ABOVE PATTERN ALT AND ASSURED MYSELF THAT OUR FLT PATHS WERE NO LONGER CONVERGING. I EXPECTED THE ACFT TO TURN AHEAD OF ME ONTO THE DOWNWIND AND I SAW WHAT I INTERPED TO BE THE CESSNA TURNING. IN FACT; I BELIEVE IN RETROSPECT; WHAT I SAW WAS THE APPARENT MOTION OF THE ACFT APPEARING TO TURN E; AS A RESULT OF MY WIDENING MY PATTERN BY TURNING WESTWARD. AT THAT POINT; I BEGAN A SLOW TURN TOWARD THE E; TO CURVE BEHIND; N OF; AND PARALLEL TO THE ACFT'S FLT PATH. AT THAT POINT; I RECALL THAT I TURNED ON MY WINGTIP LNDG LIGHT. MOMENTARILY I LOST SIGHT OF THE ACFT'S LIGHTS. THIS WAS NOT UNEXPECTED UNDER THE PREMISE THAT; NOW EBOUND; ITS LNDG LIGHT WOULD BE POINTING AWAY FROM ME; AND BEING BELOW ME ITS NAV LIGHTS WOULD BE MIXED AMONGST GND CLUTTER. I WAS IN THE PROCESS OF RE-ESTABLISHING VISUAL SEPARATION AHEAD OF ME WHEN THE ACFT PASSED; SLIGHTLY AHEAD (50-100 FT) AND UNDER ME BY ABOUT A 200 FT SEPARATION. I RECOGNIZED THE ACFT AS A SINGLE ENG CESSNA. I CALLED TWR TO ADVISE OF WHAT APPEARED TO ME NOW TO BE AN INTRUDER ACFT. IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER; THE PLT OF THE CESSNA CALLED TWR AND RPTED ON DOWNWIND; AND THE CTLR CLRED THE CESSNA TO LAND. THE TWR CTLR USED WORDS THAT EXPRESSED SURPRISE THAT THE CESSNA WAS READY TO LAND; AS IF HAVING MISUNDERSTOOD THE CESSNA'S POS AT THE TIME OF INITIAL CONTACT. THERE WERE NO RECRIMINATIONS AND WHILE I COMPLETED SEVERAL 'FULL STOP LNDGS;' THE CESSNA PLT FLEW SEVERAL TOUCH-AND-GOES BEFORE DEPARTING THE CLASS D AIRSPACE. I BELIEVE I SHARE SOME RESPONSIBILITY ALONG WITH THE PLT OF THE CESSNA AND THE TWR CTLR. I BELIEVE THAT THE PLT OF THE CESSNA WAS INATTENTIVE. AN ATTENTIVE PLT ENTERING THE ARPT TFC PATTERN SHOULD HAVE OBSERVED MY DEP. I BELIEVE THAT THE TWR CTLR WAS INATTENTIVE AS WELL. HE ADMITTED AS MUCH OVER THE FREQ; STATING THAT HE WAS NOT EXPECTING THE CESSNA TO BE ON DOWNWIND SO QUICKLY. I ACCEPT THAT I DID NOT PERFORM 3 TASKS AS I SHOULD HAVE. FIRST; I SHOULD HAVE DEPARTED WITH MY LNDG LIGHT ILLUMINATED. SECOND; I SHOULD HAVE KEPT VISUAL CONTACT WITH THE CESSNA UNTIL WE WERE PAST EACH OTHER'S POS. I SHOULD HAVE ANNOUNCED TO TWR THAT I WAS BREAKING FROM THE PATTERN AND TO THE W. THIRD; I SHOULD HAVE QUERIED THE TWR OPERATOR EARLY ON MY XWIND LEG RATHER THAN ATTEMPTING TO SHOULDER ALL THE RESPONSIBILITY TO 'SEE AND AVOID' THE UNEXPECTED TFC. I PRACTICED POOR COLLABORATIVE SKILLS BY NOT ADVISING THE TWR OF THE UNEXPECTED TFC APCHING THE ARPT. I AM ALSO REMINDED THAT TO 'SEE AND AVOID' CAN BE A SAFE POLICY ONLY IF ONE 'KEEPS SEEING AND KEEPS AVOIDING.' I WILL USE MY LNDG LIGHT ON ALL TKOFS AS WELL AS WHILE APCHING AND ENTERING THE PATTERN DURING THE DAY AND NIGHT.