A C182 HAS AN NMAC WITH A HELI AT ABE.

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WITH A CFI AS A SAFETY PLT; I WAS FLYING THE SECOND OF 3 PLANNED PRACTICE INST APCHS AT ABE. WE WERE FLYING THE SECOND OF 2 LOC BACK COURSE 24 APCHS. AT THE MISSED APCH; I CONTACTED ALLENTOWN TWR AND ANNOUNCED 'ALLENTOWN TWR; SKYLANE (ACFT IDENT) LOW PASS RWY 24.' ALLENTOWN TWR RESPONDED 'SKYLANE...; RWY HDG; CLB AND MAINTAIN 3000 FT; GO TO DEP....' I REPLIED 'RWY HDG; CLBING 3000 FT; GOING TO DEP SKYLANE....' I RECONFIGURED THE AIRPLANE AND ESTABLISHED A CLB OF APPROX 700 FPM; FOLLOWING THE RWY HDG. THE PLAN WAS FOR ALLENTOWN DEP TO VECTOR US FOR THE ILS 13 APCH. APPROX 1800 FT MSL A LARGE HELI PASSED OVER US FLYING A HDG THAT CROSSED FROM MY R REAR ACROSS THE NOSE OF MY SKYLANE TOWARD THE L. THE HELI WAS CLOSE ENOUGH TO BLOCK THE ENTIRE WINDSCREEN. THE HELI DSNDED AFTER PASSING US. I REDUCED THE RATE OF CLB AND RODE THROUGH THE HELI'S ROTOR WASH. AFTER WE CLRED THE HELI'S ROTOR WASH; I RE-ESTABLISHED OUR RATE OF CLB. SHORTLY THEREAFTER; ALLENTOWN DEP BEGAN TO VECTOR US FOR THE ILS RWY 13 APCH. LATER; THE CFI AND I REVIEWED THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO AND DURING THE NEAR MISS; INCLUDING THE RADIO XMISSIONS. UPON RETURNING TO OUR HOME ARPT; WE DECIDED TO CONTACT ATC AT ALLENTOWN. WE LEARNED FROM OUR CONVERSATION WITH ATC THAT: SHORTLY AFTER MY 'RWY HDG; CLBING 3000 FT; GOING TO DEP; SKYLANE...' REPLY; ALLENTOWN TWR TRIED TO CONTACT US TO INFORM US OF THE PROX OF THE HELI. I HAD ALREADY SWITCHED TO DEP. THE HELI WAS IN TOUCH WITH ALLENTOWN TWR AND STATED THEY HAD US IN SIGHT. I UNDERSTAND THE HELI WAS VFR. VISIBILITY WAS GOOD AND WE WERE VMC. I BELIEVE THE HELI SHOULD HAVE MANEUVERED TO AVOID XING OVER US AT SUCH A CLOSE PROX; PARTICULARLY SINCE WE WERE CLBING.