604 Driver, for the most part, professional helicopter pilots follow the rules and procedures. Regardless of who's watching or otherwise. The departure flown looked to me like the optimum solution for obstacle environment he was operating in. Although it would seem very strange to a fixed wing man or even a SEH pilot, moving upwards and backwards has been a feature of VTOL Helipad Profiles in almost all modern MEHs. I did not know the pilot but friends have posted here and he would seem a very competent careful man. Majority of professional helicopter pilots posting here will agree that when faced with such a departure, an extra level of care is taken to try an fly the profile accurately. Mostly because we are always exposed to these profiles in the FSTD with OEI events. The video certainly supports a very careful, well flown departure until whatever happened in the latter stages of the initial climb.