A friend of mine was at Palmerston North Hospital the other day and witnessed their AS350fx depart the pad using a Cat A profile i.e. backing up and then flying away. Hard to fathom the rationale of that anywhere, let alone out of a built up urban environment.
Perhaps the pilot considered the engine and transmission would be at it's greatest risk at max power (during take off with no wind) and a Cat A profile gives you somewhere to crash back into if the engine fails. It will also give a 40kts departure speed(assuming no engine failure) from the pad which would be better than a towering take off with little or no airspeed.
In other words he might be trying to keep his max risk to the pad area.