Hmm. Good point. The article said that he could see the helicopters. I assumed clear weather, but it may have been overall quite overcast.

I wonder what his SPOT or PLB (it's not clear which he really had) was doing at the time?

I guess in low viz, a PLB with it's 121.5 MHz homing signal really beats a SPOT. Alternatively, a HAM radio with a GPS could be pretty handy.

HJ