Rotorbike.
The problem of being at the deck edge is that you lose your ground cushion. Assuming you wish to be at max weight for that flight, you will need more power which by definition is not available. Also depending on the deck design, i.e. is there an accomodation block below?, any wind above 10 knots could give you unpleasant turbulence which by being further back and climbing to 20 feet could possibly keep you out of it.
Red Wine.
Enough of the "old" ! There's nothing wrong with my wheel chair!Using 15 degrees when at max weight tends to lose height faster than you are gaining airspeed whilst still over the deck. Once clear or if light, by all means go to 15 if you have sufficient height to play with.
Coyote.
Using the same technique day and night gives greater consistency of performance plus the non flying pilot will know exactly what you are trying to achieve. Level take offs just because you are low is not the best way. The deck height doesn't really matter; you adjust your weight accordingly to get the performance you need. At low level, speed is generally more important than height. Look at HV charts. Losing an engine at 60 kts at 50 feet is not a problem, try doing that in a 50 ft hover.
If you do lose an engine seconds after rotation, then you will need more than 10 degrees, possibly up to 25 degrees height permitting. At this point you are looking for speed, not altitude.
Bit hard to explain without having a helicopter to demonstrate what I'm trying to say!
