C172 PILOT HAS NEAR MISS WITH ANOTHER LANDING CESSNA AT VNY.

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I CALLED VNY TWR AT SANTA SUSANA PASS FOR LNDG WITH ATIS INFO. MY ALT WAS 2900 FT; AIRSPD 100 KTS; HDG 100 DEGS. CTLR ACKNOWLEDGED CALL; SAID TFC WOULD BE A 'CESSNA AHEAD AT 11 O'CLOCK POS; YOU'RE #2 FOR RWY ONE SIX R.' I DIDN'T SEE THE TFC; SAID; LOOKING. IN THE MEANTIME; OTHER PLTS CALLED IN AND CTLR WAS ANSWERING THEIR CALLS. ABOUT 2 MINS LATER; I SPOTTED THE TFC; FROM N; MAKING A STRAIGHT-IN APCH ON LONG FINAL. I CALLED CTLR; TFC IN SIGHT. I HAD ALREADY STARTED A DSCNT; LEVELING OFF AT 2300 FT; 85 KTS; 2000 FPM. WHEN I SAW THE OTHER PLANE SECONDS FROM LNDG; I WAS STILL ABOUT 2 MI FROM THE ARPT. AT ABOUT 1.5 MI FROM ARPT; NEARING BASE LEG; I SLOWED TO 75 KTS; 1500 RPM; 10 DEGS FLAPS. THEN CTLR SAID; 'CESSNA X; FOLLOWING CESSNA Y; CLRED TO LAND ONE SIX R.' CTLR ALSO CAUTIONED; TFC ON PARALLEL RWY. NEARING ENTRY TO FINAL; I WAS HIGH -- 1800 FT. I PUT 20 DEGS FLAPS IN; THEN SAW THE CESSNA AT MY L; SLIGHTLY HIGHER ALT; ABOUT 400-500 FT. I TURNED TO L; AND OTHER PLANE MADE A STEEP DSCNT TO THE L. THE ARPT WAS VERY BUSY. AT ONE POINT; I STEPPED ON THE TWR'S COM. THE 'TFC' THAT THE CTLR ALERTED ME TO WAS NOT THE TFC I SAW; BUT ANOTHER PLANE.