CE550 FLT CREW IS ADVISED OF CLOSE HELI TFC ON APCH TO YIP.

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WE HAD BEEN CLRED FOR A VISUAL APCH TO RWY 5R AT YIP. UPON CONTACTING THE TWR; WE REQUESTED RWY 9R. WE WERE TOLD THAT IT WAS A LITTLE BUSY; BUT WE SHOULD SQUARE OUR BASE TURN TO FINAL SO THAT YOU ARE KIND OF ON A R BASE. I QUESTIONED THE 'R BASE' STATEMENT AS WE WERE INBOUND FROM THE N; ALREADY ON A L BASE FOR RWY 9R (OR RWY 5R WITH A SLIGHT TURN); BY ASKING IF HE MEANT A 'L' BASE. HE REPEATED THAT WE SHOULD 'SQUARE OUR TURN TO FINAL SO THAT IT WOULD ALMOST BE AS IF WE WERE ON A R BASE.' (AFTER THE FACT; I AM GUESSING THAT HE MEANT FOR US TO DELAY OUR TURN SO LONG WE ACTUALLY WENT THROUGH THE FINAL AND HAD TO TURN BACK TO RE-JOIN.) THE PF AND I STARTED TO DISCUSS THE INSTRUCTION. AS WE CONTINUED; PRIOR TO REACHING A POINT WHERE WE WOULD HAVE TURNED A DELAYED FINAL; THE CTLR CLRED US TO LAND ON RWY 9R. HE ALSO MADE MENTION OF A HELI ON FINAL FOR RWY 5R. WE DID NOT SEE ONE; AND NEVER SAID WE HAD ONE IN SIGHT. THE TURN WE MADE TO FINAL WAS 'SQUARED' BUT NOT TO THE POINT OF NEEDING TO TURN BACK. ON SHORT FINAL; WE FINALLY SAW THE HELI; WHICH PASSED IN FRONT OF AND ABOVE US FOR RWY 5R. I DON'T KNOW IF ANY 'OFFICIAL' LOSS OF SEPARATION OCCURRED; BUT IT WAS CLOSER THAN I HAD EVER BEEN TO ANOTHER ACFT.