The pilot was very good actually.
The problem is a sidewinders is not remotely designed to shoot a balloon (or whatever this was).
Depending on the model of SW, there was probably considerable issue getting it on target.
Agreed. A tiny, almost stationary target at FL 20 and up is a long ways from what these missiles were designed to prosecute.
And for those who keep saying use guns: Not feasible in the case of the big balloon because
Punctures in high altitude balloon envelopes have next to no effect on them (because of very little pressure differential between inside and outside the envelope / gas bag). You’d have to remove a whole “panel” of the envelope to get the balloon to descend rapidly. The missile effectively did that.
The F-22 is the only gun-toting delivery platform capable of attaining that altitude (60,000 feet) but the gun would not be effective anyway.
And not feasible in the case of the small, rigid objects because
A Volkswagen-sized object at hundreds of knots closing airspeed differential doesn’t give time to line up the shot and then veer away without possibly hitting the object or debris cloud.
As someone in the comments mentioned, a WW1 biplane with a machine gun would have been a better attack platform (if it could climb to the altitude).
Probably was an older James W. Van Scyoc signature model. (Aviation history trivia). I knew James, he was a great pilot and skeet shooter.