16
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Young Pilot Vanishes in Flight
The following information is from the front-page article of the Australian, October 23, 1978 (see fig. 16.1 below).
On the twenty-first of October, 1978, twenty-year-old Frederick Valentich was flying a Cessna 182L aircraft. His flight plan was to take him from the Moorabbin Airport to Bass Strait, off King Island in Australia.
Visibility was good, and the prevailing winds were light. He left Moorabbin at 6:19 p.m. Less than an hour later (at 7:06 p.m.), he contacted Melbourne air traffic control and asked if any aircraft was flying in the immediate airspace.
Flight Service Officer Steve Robey replied in the negative. He reported seeing nothing else on his radar. Valentich told Robey that he could see an unknown aircraft that was “long” and had what appeared to be four bright landing lights.
Valentich reported that it was moving too fast for him to make out any greater details. However, he noted that it had passed at high speed about one thousand feet above him.
Robey then asked for an estimate of the craft’s size. Thirty seconds of silence ensued before Valentich came back, stating, “It’s orbiting me.”
Next, he described that it had a shiny metallic surface and a green light. Twenty-eight seconds of silence then followed his radio message before Valentich reported that the craft had vanished. After twenty-five more seconds elapsed, Valentich radioed again, asking Robey if a military inceptor could be what buzzed him.
Fig. 16.1. The Australian, October 23, 1978
Robey requested more information on the craft; Valentich said that it had returned and was heading toward him from the southwest. At 7:12 p.m., he reported that his engine was not running properly and that he was heading for King Island.
There was a brief silence before he returned to say, “It is hovering—and it’s not an aircraft!”
Apparently, Valentich kept holding the radio transmit button in the send position as seventeen seconds of metallic scraping sounds were recorded by the tower. After that, all contact was lost.
A search-and-rescue alert was issued immediately. The air and sea search effort, however, failed to find any trace of Valentich or his aircraft. An official Australian Department of Transport investigation into the disappearance was also launched, but it, too, failed to find the young pilot or any trace of the Cessna.
The Department of Transport’s findings concluded, “The reason for the disappearance of the aircraft has not been determined”; the flight had been “presumed fatal” for Valentich.
After Valentich’s disappearance, twenty people came forward to say they had seen an “erratic” green light in the night sky; a few claimed to have witnessed it buzzing a plane, presumably Valentich’s. Skeptics scoffed at this, claiming that these reports came from publicity hounds.
What the skeptics didn’t seem to have accounted for was the fact that the transcripts of the conversations between Valentich and Robey were not made public until sometime after the event.
The alleged publicity hounds could not have known about Valentich’s “green light” since it had not been made public at the time the UFO sighting reports were given.
An unedited transcript of the radio conversation follows: DSJ is Valentich. FS is Robey in the control tower.
19:06:14 DSJ: Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet. Is there any known traffic below five thousand?
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, no known traffic.
DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet, I am, seems to be a large aircraft below five thousand.
19:06:44 FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, What type of aircraft is it?
DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet, I cannot affirm, it is four bright, and it seems to me like landing lights.
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet.
19:07:31 DSJ: Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet; the aircraft has just passed over me at least a thousand feet above.
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, and it is a large aircraft, confirmed?
DSJ: Er—unknown, due to the speed it’s traveling, is there any air force aircraft in the vicinity?
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, no known aircraft in the vicinity.
19:08:18 DSJ: Melbourne, it’s approaching now from due east towards me.
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet.
19:08:41 DSJ: (open microphone for two seconds.)
19:08:48 DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet, it seems to me that he’s playing some sort of game, he’s flying over me two, three times at speeds I could not identify.
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, what is your actual level?
DSJ: My level is four and a half thousand, four five zero.
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet and you confirm you cannot identify the aircraft?
DSJ: Affirmative.
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, stand by.
19:09:27 DSJ: Melbourne, Delta Sierra Juliet, it’s not an aircraft it is (open microphone for two seconds).
19:09:42 FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, can you describe the—er—aircraft?
DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet, as it’s flying past it’s a long shape (open microphone for three seconds) cannot identify more than it has such speed (open microphone for three seconds). It’s before me right now, Melbourne.
19:10 FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, roger and how large would the—er—object be?
19:10:19 DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet, Melbourne, it seems like it’s stationary. What I’m doing right now is orbiting and the thing is just orbiting on top of me also. It’s got a green light and sort of metallic like; it’s all shiny on the outside.
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet.
19:10:46 DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet (open microphone for three seconds). It’s just vanished.
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet.
19:11:00 DSJ: Melbourne, would you know what kind of aircraft I’ve got? Is it a military aircraft?
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, confirm the—er—aircraft just vanished.
DSJ: Say again.
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, is the aircraft still with you?
DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet; it’s (open microphone for two seconds) now approaching from the southwest.
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet.
19:11:50 DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet, the engine is rough-idling. I’ve got it set at twenty-three twenty-four and the thing is (coughing).
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, what are your intentions?
DSJ: My intentions are—ah—to go to King Island—ah—Melbourne. That strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again (open microphone for two seconds). It is hovering, and it’s not an aircraft.
FS: Delta Sierra Juliet.
19:12:28 DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet. Melbourne (open microphone for seventeen seconds).
[An unexplained metallic sound abruptly terminated the voice communications.]
CONCLUSION
This thoroughly documented case was probed by government authorities. This is only one of a few cases where a close encounter resulted in the disappearance of the witness.