I was thinking skydivers could have gotten to this thing.
Why don’t we have rocket packs yet?
First: those who were considering helicopters-— NO WAY- FAR too much air disturbance for a chopper to get anywhere near this. It would be blown so violently that it would probably be burst. They would have to be dragging a very very long line and trying to maneuver whatever “capture” or manipulation device at the end of a long line.... I know that is not your suggestion, RG-— just getting this out of the way.
It would be very tricky for skydivers to get this, I think, without knowing more details... here are some of my thoughts, though...
They DO fall down rather rapidly, so the closure speed relative to the balloon would not be zero. Somehow they would have to do something to the balloon to make it less buoyant, or to capture it.
Puncturing it would NOT be a good idea because it is hard to know how to do that without causing a real tear in the mylar that would get worse with time=== UNLESS you knew that there were several very well constructed independent compartments.
Trying to “clip on” something like big clothespins or other weights might work, but would be really tricky given the closure speed, and the need to then have the ‘chute clear the craft. Maybe something like those “sticky balls” could be tossed at the craft hoping they would stick.
Grabbing on to the craft would be really touchy, especially if you thought that might cause the child to “fall out” or the “basket” to separate.
Grabbing the tethers would not be remotely possible, I suspect, since they were not long enough for the parachute to clear the craft, as well as the risk of contact even if unable to grab the tethers.
You would have to work on the idea of “First, do no harm”.
Two parachutists cooperating might be able to do one of the above, but again, you’re talking about very critical control and cooperation and a relatively high closure speed... Very interesting scenario for a rescue team to consider, ,,, but I would be very surprised if any had seriously done so before today!
Of these concepts, personally, I think that the idea of tossing some type of “sticky ball” (with weight, but also with enough “fluff” that it would not plummet at 32ft/sec^2) would be the perfect item for this rescue attempt. Failing that, those standard “sticky balls” would have to serve.
It would take a lot of them since you would probably want to add 5pound increments of weight or so, and there would have to be a lot of skydivers taking a crack at it to have much chance of success.
Perhaps someone will come up with a better rescue plan!