A helicopter was flying above Seattle 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 up in the helicopter
window. The pilot's sign said, "Where am I?" in large
letters.
The people in the tall building quickly responded to
the aircraft, drew a large sign and held it to the window
of their building. Their sign read, "You are in a helicopter."
The pilot smiled, waved, looked at the map, determined
the course to steer to the SEATAC airport 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 position. 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!"