OldFag story follows
Years ago (mid/late 80s) as a young charter pilot, I did some ‘Hi-Ball’ ballon chases for the NSBF. They’d launch from Alice Springs in central Australia early morning when it was calm. The payloads were mostly astronomical instruments (gamma ray, x-ray detectors etc, at least that’s what they claimed). They were basically a poor-mans satellite. Back then they were pretty bulky and heavy. Once launched I’d fly the crew to Longreach to the East of Alice (in Queensland) where we’d wait for the balloon to drift into range. They were equipped with a low powered NDB which we could home in on using the aircrafts ADF. When the balloon was sighted and over a suitable location, the crew would remotely release the payload and it would parachute to Earth. There was one time we never saw the balloon and they had to cut it loose anyway. We were at 5,000’ and as the rig was falling, the guys in the back of the C402 were calling out it’s altitude. We were looking and looking but never saw it. Weird! When they called 10,000’ my asshole really started to pucker. They called every 500’ until it was through our level. When they called 5,000’ my bum was so tight you couldn’t have driven a nail up me with a hammer! If I’d farted, even a dog wouldn’t have been able to hear it! When they called 4,500’ we all breathed a massive sigh of relief. We eventually homed in on the payload and directed the ground crew in the 4x4 to collect it. Good times.
Sounds like they put you through hell Anon. Hope you can find some solution. Best of luck to you. Hang in there.