Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 2 Eng; Retractable Gear
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 18; Flight Crew Total 234; Flight Crew Type 11
Situational Awareness; Workload
Conflict NMAC
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors
During my multi-engine check ride; we were circling from the ILS 17 to runway 35 just above circling minimums with the left engine simulated as failed. The examiner had failed the engine just before beginning to circle. I made a traffic call that we were splitting off of the ILS 17 and circling for runway 35 with a simulated engine failure; I believe that I included altitude of 4;900 but am unsure. Due to the amount of traffic congesting the radios and being distracted flying the plane with the simulated engine out; I was unable to make another pattern call until we were midfield left downwind for runway 35. I heard a call that stated that someone was on left downwind but did not completely hear who they were. After asking the left downwind traffic to repeat; they stated that were at 4;800 feet; a helicopter; and that we were directly overhead. During the downwind phase of the flight our altitude varied from 4;950 to about 5;100. I was able to see the helicopter below us after we passed it off of the rear left side. The examiner was not able to view the helicopter. This helicopter was being used to provide flight training from a different flight school at the airport. The helicopter traffic was unknown to us until we had passed the aircraft; therefore we did not take extreme corrective action but increased altitude slightly. I believe that due to having the left engine failed upon beginning to circle and having a large volume of traffic calls; the examiner and I were unable to distinguish helicopter position calls and find the helicopter operating below the normal airplane flight pattern.
Light twin pilot receiving instruction reported an NMAC with a helicopter in the pattern at LGU.