After several years on fires of varying sizes, I would use a short line while the fire is hot and therefore not hovering over flames, also I found I could refill significantly faster with a short line, thus putting more water per hour on a hot and growing fire. When its died down I would switch to a longer line for mop up when the ground workers want water on hotspots and the bucket can be positioned in the hover. This enables as much as possible of the load to saturate one spot without fanning the embers.
I tend to fly with the door off and use a mirror. The mirror is useful for filling up on a shorter line and watching the electrical connections, but in my case, accuracy did improve somewhat with my head outside.