A corporate pilot reported the HPN Local Controller lost track of traffic in that airport's airspace. The Reporter had a near miss with unreported traffic at 2;500 FT near the airport.
Synopsis
A corporate pilot reported the HPN Local Controller lost track of traffic in that airport's airspace. The Reporter had a near miss with unreported traffic at 2;500 FT near the airport.
Narrative
NY Approach handoff to HPN Tower about 7 NM from airport. TCAS alert signaling traffic at 11 o'clock 3 miles. Started to look for traffic while contacting HPN Tower. Took a right turn northbound until we had visual with traffic. A second TCAS alert traffic at 2 o'clock roughly 1 NM southbound. Started to look for additional traffic. Copilot spotted second traffic less than half a mile moving southbound right at us. I gave controls to copilot as he had sight of traffic and could better avoid. He banked aircraft 45 degrees left and descended away from traffic. Near mid-air collision. The traffic was never advised by either NY TRACON on the hand off or HPN Tower. Also; on a side note; HPN Local Control seemed to have lost positive control of the flow of traffic in the pattern many times. We had a total of two runway changes; three 360 degree turns or course reversals either back to final or in pattern area and multiple requests from HPN Tower for S-turns last minute before actually landing. We felt a loss of safety while in HPN's Class D airspace and in the pattern. We also felt like we had to aggressively 'see and avoid' in their airspace in fear of getting hit by other aircraft.
Second reporter narrative
While descending into HPN; we were instructed to follow a company aircraft into HPN and to contact tower for sequence. When tuning in the tower frequency we received a TCAS alert for 1 airplane at 11 o'clock and 300 FT below. Immediately after this we received another alert and I looked out my right window and saw a light twin approximately 100 yards and moving fast! I took control of the airplane and went into a diving left turn to avoid an impending collision. After the conflict we were told to join the downwind for Runway 16. We were about to turn base when we were instructed to go back 5 miles east of the airport and orbit. This is when we realized how many aircraft were circling in this area - all instructed by HPN Tower. We were then instructed to join the downwind for Runway 11. Upon turning final we were told to slow down the S-turns followed by a left 360. As we start the left 360; we found a helicopter half a mile off our left wing and tower turned us into them! We rejected final with more S-turn instructions with a very late landing clearance (about 30 from the ground about to start a go-around). The main issue was that HPN was saturated and the controller had lost control of the airspace. In the future I would suggest using only 1 runway and making everyone wait for their turn. Better to wait than to be dead. In addition; don't tell all the traffic to go to the same spot to hold; which is also the primary arrival corridor for the airport (approximately 45 degrees for the Runway 16 downwind). This was truly a frightening experience not only for us but our passengers as well.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.