Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 33; Flight Crew Total 8900; Flight Crew Type 280
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict NMAC
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Airspace Structure; Procedure
I was cleared for takeoff; Runway 32 at Lake Hood; and instructed to turn right towards the Tudor Overpass for the Tudor Overpass Departure procedure. I cleared my right turn; and continued to clear it as best I could while continuing a right hand turn in a high wing airplane. As I rolled wings level on a heading towards the Tudor Overpass; Tower told me 'traffic is on a downwind for landing on the lake'. No traffic position or altitude was given. While Tower was transmitting; I saw a 170 on skis appear about 50 ft. above me at my 12:30 moving 11:30; and between 1/8 and 1/4 mile. I immediately stopped [the] climb so as not to fly into the 170; stated that I had the traffic in sight and would stay away from him. After my blood pressure went back to normal; I asked the Tower if 'he ever saw me' to which the Tower replied; 'no'. Then I said on air 'That was unacceptable traffic clearance'; flew my departure; and never got any response back so switched to CTAF as per the Chugach Transition. The Tower made a mistake by clearing an aircraft to climb in a right turn; directly towards the known flight path of an aircraft that was descending in the pattern. I never received notice to scan for traffic or any traffic alert at all until the other plane was filling up my windshield at close range. I do not know if the skiplane was told to look for my 172. If I had not been climbing with a slow rate of climb; the airplanes would have collided in midair; no question; as he descended on top of me while I was in a right turn. The Tower should have seen the potential conflict; and could have done any number of other things than they did. They could have not cleared me to take off until that skiplane was clear; they could have told me about the skiplane at any point PRIOR to almost colliding; they could have told me to stop turn or vector me left; they could have vectored the skiplane away from his path; etc. I called the Tower upon my return and very nicely asked to talk about a traffic separation issue that had happened. The man on the other end of the phone said that that had been him; and that they were in the middle of the shift changeover briefing when it occurred; that the 170 flew its base 'early'; that I had called the aircraft in sight; basically had all sorts of defensive remarks when I didn't come at him offensively. I specifically said that I didn't want anyone to get in trouble but that we should talk about it so we could all work together to reduce the chances of it happening in the future. I'm not sure anything was learned; as he never stated that anything went wrong; or that normal accepted traffic separation was compromised. I think he was afraid of getting in trouble. I will be reporting this to the FAA as I have a sneaky suspicion that the Controller; due to the fact that he was the person to answer the phone; will try to keep this quiet and not add it to any near miss reports. Lake Hood has hundreds of near misses a year; and the accepted levels of safety are absolutely out of whack with what is accepted anywhere else; even at other towered airports in the region; such as Merrill Field. It almost seems as if many of the controllers at Lake Hood think that traffic separation in their airport area is optional; given the lack of traffic calls that occur on a regular basis. I have flown all over the world and it's egregious. Lake Hood Tower and the pilots in their airspace need to be held accountable for safety violations and we should also have a change in the airspace due to its business.There is so much traffic in the Lake Hood segment and north of Anchorage in the practice area; that I think it is time to admit it's too much traffic for the level of airspace to be justified. In the interest of safety; I strongly believe that we need to change the airspace to Class C all the way from Lake Hood to 30 miles north of Anchorage; except for a 700 foot layer where all the non certificated [people] can hang out if they want to. The rest of us who want to be safe ( MANY ) are tired of being afraid for our lives on a regular basis; and it is [the] Government's responsibility to change it. I am shocked we have not had more midairs in the area. They will come if we don't change things.
C172 Pilot reported a near mid air collision after takeoff.