A helicopter was flying around above Seattle yesterday when an
electrical malfunction disabled all of the aircraft’s electronic
navigation and communications equipment.
Due to the clouds and haze, the pilot could not determine the
helicopter’s position and course to steer to the airport.
The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, drew a
handwritten sign, and held it in the helicopter’s window. The pilot’s
sign said “WHERE AM I?” in large letters.
People in the tall building quickly responded to the aircraft, drew a
large sign, and held it in a building window. Their sign said “YOU ARE
IN A HELICOPTER.”
The pilot smiled, waved, looked at his map, determined the course to
steer to SEATAC airport, and landed safely.
After they were on the ground, the co-pilot asked the pilot how the “YOU
ARE IN A HELICOPTER” sign helped determine their position in Seattle.
The pilot responded “I knew that had to be the MICROSOFT building
because, similar to their help-lines, they gave me a technically correct
but completely useless answer.”