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