 Returning from the kite balloon to the ship at the end of a long day was a reverse of the boarding procedure with the added risks of darkness and weariness.The only United States naval kite balloon pilot casualty was an unsuccessful attempted return to a destroyer escorting an eastbound convoy through the Irish Sea on the stormy evening of 14 August 1918.The "rubber cow" began alternately plunging port and starboard as the tether was shortened, dipping the pilot's basket into the water on each dive; and the basket was empty when the kite balloon stabilized on a short tether.