Helicopter
Flight Crew Student
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20; Flight Crew Total 47; Flight Crew Type 47
Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Situational Awareness
Conflict NMAC; Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach
General None Reported / Taken
Aircraft; Human Factors; Procedure
While conducting a Private Pilot Checkride for Rotorcraft Helicopter; we were making right traffic for Runway 11.  After scanning for traffic and only hearing one airplane call crosswind 11; I made my radio call and conducted a simulated engine failure resulting in a 180 autorotation.  At about 70 feet AGL and directly over the numbers for runway 11; a Cessna flew directly underneath us on final approach.  He then executed a touch and go; while I terminated the autorotation.  Vertical distance was about 40 feet.  We never heard any transmissions of his position after crosswind from the previous takeoff.  We had scanned the area; though he was too low on final for us to see him in addition to not hearing him make a call on his position.
It was a close call. Neither the helicopter pilot applicant; nor I saw the Cessna that must have been on final approach when the applicant pilot initiated the 180 autorotation. It was apparent that the Cessna pilot never saw the helicopter either as he simply completed a touch and go.
A student pilot; demonstrating a 180 degree autorotation to a hover to a Designated Pilot Examiner while on a private rotorcraft rating checkride; suffered an NMAC with a landing Cessna single at a non-towered airport.