Small Aircraft; High Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 16; Flight Crew Total 219; Flight Crew Type 219
Communication Breakdown
Conflict NMAC; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Procedure; Airspace Structure
I would like to report a near mid-air collision at the BAZ - New Braunfels National Airport which occurred at approximately XA:58pm or so. We were flying and returning. We were entering the 45 degree pattern entry for Runway 13. We were on the return flight back and were I was acting as a Safety pilot. He was verbalizing his location on CTAF as well were 2 other pilots. I believe 1 was a helicopter based upon the sounds we were hearing and he was flying in the right pattern for Runway 13. The Helicopter Pilot appears to have left before the other 2 planes arrived; assuming he didn't want to deal with the Airport getting busy. The other pilot was also announcing their location but was going to perform a tear drop over the Airport. We were scanning for traffic as we saw him on the ADS-B IN. The other pilot alerted us he was climbing 500 ft. above pattern to avoid hitting us as we were already flying at pattern and in the down wind leg. We maintained visual contact as he flew directly over us; if the other Pilot had not climbed would we have hit each other. Our options were rather limited being a slow moving aircraft; the other aircraft I believe was a bonanza and had more abilities than us. It is my opinion the Tower at BAZ closes too early and should perhaps be open for an additional 2 hours as the Airport can get extremely busy as the Tower begins to close. Also; I am not a fan of pilots performing tear drops over airports when others are near it.
Safety pilot reported while in traffic pattern; additional traffic on entry reported climb to avoid collision.