[Utah-astronomy] Dropping a ball in the desert

I just heard on Paul Harvey in the radio (570). He gave a story about a man that had gathered rubber bands and made a huge rubber ball. He wanted to know how high it could bounce. So he took it in an airplane a mile or so above the Mojave Desert and dropped it. It hit with a thud, didn't bounce at all, it only left a hole in the desert. Did he have BLM permission? Did he even ask? Maybe we should go there to try the bowling ball experiment?? Siegfried