Originally Posted by
heli7
I suspect that that document is slightly out of date (it uses 'in sight of the surface' and not 'with the surface in sight').
And ref puntosauraus' post, I seem to recall that the definition was changed explicitly to prevent items sticking up through low cloud (ie the O2) being defined as the surface. In other words, you can't just be visual with bits of the surface sticking up through the layer (such as a hill or a tower in the distance) but in order to be VFR, you need to be visual with the surface itself.
But I might just be splitting hairs on this point.
Would I want to be VMC on top in a single engine helicopter? Nope, not if I can't see what I will have to auto down in/onto in the event of everything going quiet.