Taking off from a Heliport
I'm only a lowly PPL(H) with low hours, so I'm just curious, and my apologies in advance if this is a stupid question! I was recently in Vancouver watching the helicopters arriving and departing from Downtown Vancouver Heliport. I thought I heard somewhere that when departing from a platform over water, it was usual practice to climb backwards before transitioning into forward flight, so that if the donkey quit, you had a chance of returning to base, but watching the operations, all aircraft lifted into the hover and then departed straight across the water. Just wondering if I mis-heard what I thought was common practice.
Hopefully I won't get shot down in flames for asking?!