Discussion elsewhere suggests he was lowering to disconnect the lift cable, and the lift cable is what got sucked into the rotors.
From one of the angles you can see he's looking all around, aware of what's around him. Presumably it was his idea.
Until CAA is done and dusted we wont really know though.
Edit: also remember that the camera has a foreshortening effect, so while it looks like he was hemmed in by cables on all sides, he would have had MUCH more clearance than the footage indicates.
Edit2: still not enough clearance, obviously :>