Flying in cloud
Hidden Agenda, you said the following:
"How do I know when I am ‘clear of cloud’? At what point do I stop flying in low visibility and start flying in cloud? Is it at 600 metres in-flight visibility, less than 100 metres or somewhere in between?"
I would like to put in my two cent's worth...
If you stop flying in low visibility and start flying in cloud, then you are no longer in VMC and should be changing category to IFR and climbing immediately to grid or route LSALT clear of known terrain.
For a helicopter pilot, there should be virtually no excuse for inadvertantly flying into cloud (unless NVGs are involved... but that's another story). Flying into cloud should be a conscious decision either in the planning stage or in-flight when the weather unexpectedly closes in and we decide to start flying under the IFR at a time that WE, as the pilot controlling the aircraft, decide upon. And at that time, we make controlled flight inputs to climb to an appropriate altitude and continue on our journey on instruments or on top of cloud.
We are luckier than our fixed wing colleagues because we can land in the nearest clear area and wait for the weather to get better, or use our smaller turn radius to turn around and go back from whence we came if our flight qualifications, aircraft equipment or flight parameters prevent us from flying IFR.
The photographs posted earlier are good examples of when VMC is marginal at best and dangerous at worst.
Unless you're EMS or military or in another life and death situation, and your aircraft has lots of great little gadgets such as radar altimeter, GPS, AH, autopilot and all the other IFR toys... then I would be reluctant to fly in that sort of situation and prefer to be at the bar or at least on the ground slightly embarrassed... but safe. You owe this conservatism to yourself, your loved ones, the owner of the helicopter and your passengers.
Anyway, like I said, that's my two cent's worth...
I wish you safe flying and clear skies.
Conway