Jan and myself took up the challenge again to go after the ozone probe — knowing that there would be stiff competition. We got up really early and went by car to Grafing as the probe was predicted to land there. On way, the probe was flying for a long time directly above us. Then in started hovering next to the Autobahn A8 while we passed by and made our way further east towards the predicted landing area.
Once the balloon bust, the prediction changed further east to Pfaffing and stayed there for a while before it swang west again. Heading towards the landing area, we met Rolf again and after a short chat, we went on. We lost the signal of the probe in 550 m altitude at 48.05185 N 12.07632 E. We were about 6 km away and hurried towards this position. Nearing the landing zone we reacquired the signal at 48.05181 N 12.07632 E at altitude 514.85. The probe was on the ground.
Driving towards the position the route planner guided us along a small gravel road that turned out to be a dead end. The probe was on the other side of a field and separated from us by the channels of a drainage system. No way to go there by car. We looked for a place to park and continued on foot. In a distant, we saw a person not moving much — Rolf checking his smartphone and leaving everybody else precedence. Suddenly, there was a second person bursting out of a nearby forest and frenetically whizzing around in the high and wet grass of the field apparently looking for the probe. That turned out to be Benedikt who was really happy once he found the probe. Rolf, the dominator, however was the only one, who saw it landing with his superior equipment. After a bit of chatting, we went back to Weilheim.
