Foggy day....bit of misty wet about....MD-500....scooting along the tops of the trees, big old Douglas Fir Trees, at least a hundred yards vis....looked straight down and realized there was no ground to be seen....just the fog. Hit the end of the timber unit where a huge clearcut began....and discovered a slight flaw in my program. That being how to get down to ground level and find the Viney Maple and other scrub brush in the clear cut. No problems says I...put the trees on my side and hover down as the rotor wash blew the fog away. Found the ground had enough Vis to allow further progress towards our destination using the Hum and Fake It Air "Hover Mosey Technique". Hover a bit...and when you can...go as fast as possible but being able to stop before you run out of clear way.
One can get a Special VFR Clearance out of a control zone without asking....if you know the controller and he recognizes the aircraft as you blunder out of the fog and mist to discover you are a few miles behind where you think you are. The exchange went along this line...I drop off the ridgeline and find some vis....to discover I am looking at Mr. Boeing's field and the rows of shiny new airplanes lined up waiting for customer pickup...and realize I am in exactly the wrong place (the one next to the lake)...mentally think "You have dunnit this time ol' Lad! (or helicopter pilot language to that effect)...quickly change to Tower Freq....to hear...."07Charlie is clearred OUT of the Control Zone Special VFR, maintain....blah...blah..blah." I acknowelged the clearance, read it back like the true professional would have....and ended the transmission with a "THANK YOU! Brian!"
You know you are pushing the limits when you get stuck trying to climb over a 40' wooden poled power line.....and take several tries to get'er dun! I always did worry about the Town Drunk throwing a Boone's Farm or Roma Rocket bottle onto the helicopter as we passed under the bridges in Portland. We reckoned if we could not see the river banks....then who would know!
That was on a single trip mind you.....and I won't talk about flying across an Army helicopter unit at Fort Lewis along the way....all those gallant aviators stood in the fog and mist with their coffee cups in hand waiting for the weather to improve when a Hughes Mad Dog whizzes by at naught feet in the middle of their Reservation.
Griffo has the correct attitude....I am now known as BB Balls.