In a previous article, "Gary Drescher" said:
Actually, there isn't even any requirement to be able to see the centerline.
My instructor once had me take off under the hood, to show that a
zero-visibility departure is possible. (He didn't recommend doing it for
real, of course.)

I had three different instrument instructors, and they all had me do that,
and then said "but you'd never do it for real, of course". Then why make
me do it?

The closest I had was leaving Muskegeon after being weathered in there
leaving Oshkosh. Off the approach end of the runway there was a wall of
fog and low visibility weather, but I could see both ends of the runway
and scattered clouds at a few thousand feet. The ATIS was reporting RVR
instead of visibility, and when I called for my clearance the controller
asked if I was sure I wanted to depart in this. I told him the visibility
situation, and he explained that the tower and the RVR sensors were in
that wall of fog.

If I'd had problems I could have landed downwind through VFR conditions,
or done a tricky approach to the upwind runway. I know which one I would
have taken.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
I assume HR did send out the ad I wanted, not "apply for a cool job if
you're a clueless ****".
-- The Flying Hamster, on the receiving end of too many CVs