Dean
Pattern Altitude
I attended a fly-in Saturday at Aurora MO and Cox Air Care helicopter was landing approximately 100-150' from the edge of the runway on the active end. A Champ was waiting to take off and watched him fly over the runway and start hovering in ground effect. The Champ started his take off roll while the helicopter was still hovering. When the champ got behind the helicopter the wash lifted the left wing and the right wing hit the ground. Everyone thought the Champ was going over. He exited the runway toward the other planes and crowd, but managed to get it turned back toward the runway. He went across the runway and was heading towards a row of trees. He got it airborne, banked hard left and missed the trees by less than 50'. He never came back to check for damage or to clean his pants out.