A helicopter was flying around above Seattle yesterday when an electrical malfunction disabled all of the a/c’s electronic navigation and communications equipment. Due to the clouds and haze, the pilot could not determine the helicopter’s position and course to the airport.

The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, drew a hand-written sign and held it in the helicopter’s window.

The pilot’s sign read: “WHERE AM I?” in large letters. People in the tall building quickly responded to the a/c, drew a large sign and held it to the building window.

Their sign read “YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER.”

The pilot smiled, waved, looked at his map, determined his course to SEATAC and landed safely. After they were on the ground, the copliot 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 give me a technically correct but completely useless answer.”