DA20 instructor pilot reported an airborne conflict with a helicopter in the pattern at pvu.

Attributes
ACN	1248790
Time
Date	201503
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	PVU.Airport
State Reference	UT
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	DA20-A1 Katana
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Instructor Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Experience	Flight Crew Total 670
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Airborne Conflict Deviation - Procedural Clearance
Miss Distance	Horizontal 0 Vertical 500

Narrative:

I was doing touch and go landings in the traffic pattern. At midfield right downwind for runway 13 I reported to tower and asked for a touch and go short approach. He approved and said that there was a helicopter on a 2 mile final that would be terminating to the east. He did not say I was to follow the helicopter; or that I was #2. I understood this to mean that I would complete my landing ahead of the helicopter. I never had or reported that I had the helicopter in sight. After this instruction I immediately began my base turn for my short approach. On final I got the helicopter in sight as he came from underneath me by approximately 500 feet and began his departure to the east.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: DA20 instructor pilot reported an airborne conflict with a helicopter in the pattern at PVU.

Narrative: I was doing touch and go landings in the traffic pattern. At midfield right downwind for runway 13 I reported to tower and asked for a touch and go short approach. He approved and said that there was a helicopter on a 2 mile final that would be terminating to the east. He did not say I was to follow the helicopter; or that I was #2. I understood this to mean that I would complete my landing ahead of the helicopter. I never had or reported that I had the helicopter in sight. After this instruction I immediately began my base turn for my short approach. On final I got the helicopter in sight as he came from underneath me by approximately 500 feet and began his departure to the east.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.