Air carrier flight crew reported delaying their rotation and initial climb to avoid a helicopter crossing their course.
Synopsis
Air carrier flight crew reported delaying their rotation and initial climb to avoid a helicopter crossing their course.
Narrative
We were departing off of runway XXL and the best option was to select TCAS on the report form despite the fact the TCAS was inhibited during this critical phase of flight. There's no option in the report form for a near miss. Immediately after V1 the FO called traffic which was an army Blackhawk helicopter. With my attention focused on aircraft control on the runway and transition to rotation my field of vision was narrow. When the FO called traffic I immediately saw an army Blackhawk helicopter on a collision course with our aircraft. I responded to the FO by stating that I was going to delay rotation. Additionally I reduced my rotation rate to fly under the army helicopter to avoid a collision but due to the critical phase of flight I only stated my intent to delay rotation. The army helicopter was flying low near the departure end of the runway from north to south. As a result of the FO calling the traffic we were able to avoid a collision and I estimate that we were approximately 1500 feet horizontally and no more than 300 vertically from impact.Shortly after the event I asked the FO to query ATC about the situation. I believe the controller responded that the situation was not normal. Due to the stress of the event admittedly we were both a bit shaken and distressed momentarily that resulted in us verifying the next few ATC clearances while flying the complex ZZZZZ departure with ZZZ approach. I also suspect from his response (ZZZ ATCT) that the near mid air collision was not going to be logged or reported. In summary this was clearly a near miss event and I would like to get any data possible to determine what happened and why. It appears that either ZZZ ATCT made a mistake or the army helicopter was in the wrong spot or perhaps both! I also suspect that by the respond ZZZ ATCT controller that he was not going to report or log the loss of separation. Additionally several hours later upon landing ZZZ1 I called both the union and the ACP (Assistant Chief Pilot) office to report this aircraft mishap. The person that answered the union after hours call stated that they no longer handle after hours calls for the union. With that response I called the chief pilots office and spoke to Person A. Person A seemed to have a severe lack of aviation knowledge. I attempted to diplomatically ask him if he was a pilot. To my surprise said he was so I then I proceeded to ask which fleet he was on and he responded. I cannot emphasize how Person A seemed to have a serious lack of aviation knowledge; especially in a time when I needed a strong voice of confidence. Since both the union after hours number was a failure and Person A seemed clueless I called Person B from the union. Person B did what I expected from both the union after hours incident report system and the ACPs office. It was way after normal business hours when he took my call and he was professional; knowledgeable; courteous all while been empathetic to the stress we experienced as a crew. Needless to say the event was both dangerous and avoidable. Further; the support that we received as a crew after the event from both the union and the ACPs office was a failure. My recommendation is to both figure out why there was no answer from the union after hours; why the ACPs office (Person A) seemed to lack basic aviation knowledge and why ZZZ ATCT allowed this to happen. Perhaps some retraining and review of who is answering the calls for the union after hours is in order?
Second reporter narrative
I was PM; captain was PF. We were cleared for takeoff XXL in ZZZ on the takeoff roll; I was primarily focused on engine instruments and flight instruments. Approaching V1 (probably within 5 kts); I saw some motion out of peripheral vision. I looked up and saw a H-60 Blackhawk with a red medical cross on it crossing what I assessed to be slightly in front of our ground track; at about 200-300 feet AGL perpendicular to runway. I called V1; VR; pointed to traffic and called out traffic to the captain; then V2. The Captain responded that he was delaying rotation slightly to ensure we didn't rotate and fly into the helicopter. Rest of departure was normal. I'm estimating the helicopter flew within 1000 feet between us and departure end of runway; and 200-300 ft agl. Hard to prevent this from our perspective; other than procedural compliance from helicopter. I did not hear anything about a helicopter crossing midfield or we would have helped [the] controller and asked about it. Happened at critical phase of flight for us approaching/right at V1. Were used to clearing down the runway and departure corridor; not necessarily looking at 2 o.clock position for helicopter crossing traffic.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.