Narrative:

I was departing ZZZ from the south ramp with a student pilot. We had been held up with our departure while waiting for the current tower controller to finish his personal conversation with a taxiing jet. We were cleared from the south ramp to the southwest; a route that is very frequently taken by our company helicopters to depart westbound and head to ZZZ1 for training. There was not mention of conflicting traffic; only a clearance for a VFR departure to the southwest. My student was in control of the aircraft and climbing for 1;200 ft. MSL about 1SM south of the airport. While I was looking down at the gauges; the student said 'that's an airplane'. I looked up and saw a cessna (not sure if 152 or 172); at our exact altitude; flying head on with us. The aircraft was probably less than 1/2 statute mile in front of us. I immediately took evasive action and lowered our altitude; while at the same time the plane veered hard to its left and our right. I called ZZZ tower to ask if he had any idea about the plane that we had almost collided with. I waited for 10 seconds and got no response. When I called back a second time and asked about the plane; the controller said that he knew about the plane and for us to continue southwest bound VFR. There was no mention of this aircraft on left base for runway 34 to us; and no apology or acceptance of fault issued. The controller seemed distracted after his personal conversation only a minute earlier.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Helicopter instructor reported a traffic conflict on departure that was not mentioned by the tower.

Narrative: I was departing ZZZ from the south ramp with a student pilot. We had been held up with our departure while waiting for the current tower controller to finish his personal conversation with a taxiing jet. We were cleared from the south ramp to the southwest; a route that is very frequently taken by our company helicopters to depart westbound and head to ZZZ1 for training. There was not mention of conflicting traffic; only a clearance for a VFR departure to the southwest. My student was in control of the aircraft and climbing for 1;200 ft. MSL about 1SM south of the airport. While I was looking down at the gauges; the student said 'that's an airplane'. I looked up and saw a Cessna (not sure if 152 or 172); at our exact altitude; flying head on with us. The aircraft was probably less than 1/2 statute mile in front of us. I immediately took evasive action and lowered our altitude; while at the same time the plane veered hard to its left and our right. I called ZZZ tower to ask if he had any idea about the plane that we had almost collided with. I waited for 10 seconds and got no response. When I called back a second time and asked about the plane; the Controller said that he knew about the plane and for us to continue southwest bound VFR. There was no mention of this aircraft on left base for Runway 34 to us; and no apology or acceptance of fault issued. The Controller seemed distracted after his personal conversation only a minute earlier.

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.