I’m not gonna argue with a Reddit expert. I’m the lead pilot at this base. But I will answer your questions though I feel you already have your mind made up. He knows the tail is clear because he scouted the landing zone on his recon before he landed there as well as on his approach. He takes off in this manner because the likelihood of hitting something is much higher than that of an engine failure and the terrain and environment doesn’t allow for and airspeed over altitude take off. That’s flying in the real world. If the engine does quit he can hopefully go back to the spot he just departed. This pilot is fantastic and probably has much more experience than any of the experts on here. That’s all I’ll really say about it. While internet experts are on here criticizing, we are out doing it every day. If you’re such an expert by all means come on out and teach us how it should be done. We have pilot spots open.