Narrative:

During takeoff roll on runway 20R I noticed a helicopter starting to depart from the northern parking apron (our right side) and I noted to the first officer to 'keep an eye out on that guy; it looks like he's taking off'. The first officer agreed that he looked to be taking off. As I rotated; the helicopter also became airborne at roughly the same rate. As our distance closed it appeared that the helicopter was drifting closer to the runway. I continued to pitch up to approximately 18 degree. I was unable to maneuver left because I knew there were small single engine acft landing and departing runway 20L and I could not determine if that area was clear. As I continued to increase pitch our vertical speed increased enough that I felt that we would out climb the helicopter. As we passed by one another it looked as if the helicopter had corrected and was heading away from us. The first officer estimated that the helicopter was as close as 100' or less from our wing tip was we passed. Tower should not have give both acft clearance to takeoff. The difference in time could have been as little as 30 to 60 seconds and the entire event would have been avoided. Sna at that time was incredibly congested with numerous GA training acft in the pattern using both runways. Allowing a regional jet and a helicopter to depart at the same time in close proximity just added fuel to the fire and I feel it was completely unnecessary. One thing I really wished I would have done was increased throttles to max at the point I felt the traffic was a factor. Also in future I might consider rejecting the takeoff off clearance if I hear a helicopter getting a takeoff clearance from that apron at the same time.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: E175 Flight Crew reported a NMAC with a helicopter on take off.

Narrative: During takeoff roll on runway 20R I noticed a helicopter starting to depart from the northern parking apron (our right side) and I noted to the FO to 'keep an eye out on that guy; it looks like he's taking off'. The FO agreed that he looked to be taking off. As I rotated; the helicopter also became airborne at roughly the same rate. As our distance closed it appeared that the helicopter was drifting closer to the runway. I continued to pitch up to approximately 18 degree. I was unable to maneuver left because I knew there were small single engine acft landing and departing runway 20L and I could not determine if that area was clear. As I continued to increase pitch our vertical speed increased enough that I felt that we would out climb the helicopter. As we passed by one another it looked as if the helicopter had corrected and was heading away from us. The FO estimated that the helicopter was as close as 100' or less from our wing tip was we passed. Tower should not have give both acft clearance to takeoff. The difference in time could have been as little as 30 to 60 seconds and the entire event would have been avoided. SNA at that time was incredibly congested with numerous GA training acft in the pattern using both runways. Allowing a regional jet and a helicopter to depart at the same time in close proximity just added fuel to the fire and I feel it was completely unnecessary. One thing I really wished I would have done was increased throttles to max at the point I felt the traffic was a factor. Also in future I might consider rejecting the takeoff off clearance if I hear a helicopter getting a takeoff clearance from that apron at the same time.

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.