Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 150; Flight Crew Total 1300; Flight Crew Type 1100
Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Conflict NMAC; Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors; Procedure
A helicopter contacted San Carlos tower requesting to do photo work over the Oracle campus at 1;000 feet. The Oracle campus is NW of the SQL airport and is right under the standard traffic pattern. It is roughly positioned at the crosswind leg of the traffic pattern. Traffic pattern altitude at SQL is 805 MSL. The helicopter was in this area for approximately 15-20 minutes. I was with a student in the traffic pattern at SQL. We were cleared for takeoff with no restrictions on altitude or traffic pattern turns. As we were in the takeoff climb we had visual contact of the helicopter directly ahead. Due to noise abatement procedures; the upwind/departure leg is flown nearly to the Oracle campus.  As we were approaching the location where we could turn crosswind; we still had visual contact with the helicopter. The distance between our airplane and the helicopter at that time is estimated to be about 200 feet vertically and approximately 400 feet horizontally. As we turned crosswind we lost sight of the helicopter but could catch glimpses of it at our 6 o'clock. At that time the student climbed slightly above pattern altitude to around 900 feet and we were probably within 100 feet of the helicopter. The onboard traffic display showed the traffic at 100 feet above us. It was only at this point that the Tower Controller direct us to extend the crosswind leg; which we did. It appeared that this caused our airplane and the helicopter to be on the same course and separated by only 100 feet.In hindsight it would have been safer to have taken different actions. For example; we could have ignored the noise abatement procedure and turned crosswind earlier to avoid the path of the helicopter or the Tower could have told the helicopter to climb to a higher altitude or move out of the traffic pattern area.We were depending on that helicopter to not descend below 1;000 feet and maintain visual separation from us all while it was performing a photo mission. In hindsight; that was likely not the safest thing to do.
C172 flight instructor reported an NMAC with a helicopter in the pattern at SQL.