The Disappearance
of Frederick Valentich
Date: October 21, 1978
Location: Bass Strait, Australia
Frederick Valentich was a twenty-year-old Australian pilot who, at the time, had just about one hundred fifty hours of flying time. Valentich had obtained a class four instrument rating, which allowed him to fly at night as long as the weather conditions were favorable for him to maintain visual separation from other aircraft and the terrain. Valentich was also a member of the Royal Australian Air Force Air Training Corps, and he was planning to pursue a career in aviation. Previously, Valentich had failed to pass commercial license examinations, and had failed to enlist into the Royal Australian Air Force due to his poor academic qualifications.
Regardless of his academic performances, we must keep in mind that Valentich was not incapable of operating an aircraft. The 150 flying hours prove that he most certainly knew how to operate an aircraft.
On October 21, 1978, Frederick Valentich was planning to fly from Moorabbin to King Island and then return. He had arranged to pick up some of his friends from King Island, and thus he took four life jackets on board the aircraft as a precaution. Prior to his departure, Valentich attended a meteorological debriefing and also submitted a flight plan, as was required.
At 18:10, the Cessna 182L Valentich would fly was refueled and departed at 18:19. Shortly after the departure, Valentich established a two-way radio communication with the Melbourne Flight Service Unit, and things were going smoothly until 19:06. There was no air traffic in the vicinity, and flying at an altitude of 4,500 feet, weather conditions were optimal.
As Valentich was flying over Bass Strait, he noticed there was another aircraft in the sky, which started approaching his aircraft. No aircraft were registered on his radar, and thus he contacted the Melbourne Air Traffic Control for clarification. Once he got a better look at the object, which was just one thousand feet above his aircraft, he noticed that it had unusual characteristics and it did not resemble any conventional aircraft he knew of. The object was disk-shaped, had four bright lights that were as bright as landing lights, and it was significantly large.
At 19:10, Valentich reported to the air traffic control operator that the object was hovering above his aircraft. He noticed that it had a green light and appeared to have a metallic surface. Within a couple of seconds, the object started approaching Valentich from the southwest, and, simultaneously, his engine began to idle roughly. Shortly after 19:12, the radio control operator lost contact with Valentich. Search and rescue operation procedures were initiated at 19:33, when Valentich failed to land at King Island.
For four days an extensive air, sea, and land search was carried out, but no traces were found to indicate that the aircraft had crashed. The investigation was terminated on October 25, 1978, and Valentich is still missing to this day, presumably dead.
Communication with Air Traffic Control
The following is the transcript of the entire conversation between Valentich (listed by his registration code VH-DSJ) and the Melbourne Flight Service Unit, as recorded in the Department of Transportation’s Aircraft Investigation Summary Report.
19:06:14—VH-DSJ: Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet. Is there any known traffic below five thousand?
19:06:23—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet, no known traffic.
19:06:26—VH-DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet. I am—seems to be a large aircraft below five thousand.
19:06:46—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet. What type of aircraft is it?
19:06:50—VH-DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet. I cannot affirm. It is four bright, it seems to me, like landing lights.
19:07:04—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet.
19:07:32—VH-DSJ: Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet. The aircraft has just passed over me at least a thousand feet above.
19:07:43—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet. Roger and it is a large aircraft confirm.
19:07:47—VH-DSJ: Er, unknown due to the speed it’s traveling. Is there any air force air craft in the vicinity?
19:07:57—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet. No known aircraft in the vicinity.
19:08:18—VH-DSJ: Melbourne. It’s approaching now from due east toward me.
19:08:28—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet.
19:08:49—VH-DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet. It seems to me that he’s playing some sort of game. He’s flying over me two to three times at a time at speeds I could not identify.
19:09:02—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet. Roger. What is your actual level?
19:09:06—VH-DSJ: My level is four and a half thousand four five zero zero.
19:09:11—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet and confirm that you cannot identify the aircraft.
19:09:14—VH-DSJ: Affirmative.
19:09:18—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet. Roger. Standby.
19:09:28—VH-DSJ: Melbourne Delta Sierra Juliet. It’s not an aircraft. It is … (open microphone for two seconds)
19:09:46—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet. Can you describe the, er, aircraft?
19:09:52—VH-DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet as it’s flying past it’s a long shape. Cannot identify more than … (open microphone for three seconds) before me right now Melbourne.
19:10:07—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet. Roger and how large would the, er, object be?
19:10:20—VH-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.
19:10:43—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet.
19:10:48—VH-DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet (open microphone for five seconds). It’s just vanished.
19:10:57—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet.
19:11:03—VH-DSJ: Melbourne would you know what kind of aircraft I’ve got? Is it military aircraft?
19:11:08—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet confirm the er aircraft just vanished.
19:11:14—VH-DSJ: Say again.
19:11:17—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet is the aircraft still with you?
19:11:23—VH-DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet approaching from the southwest.
19:11:37—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet.
19:11:52—VH-DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet the engine is rough idling. I’ve got it set at twenty-three, twenty-four. and the thing is (coughing).
19:12:04—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet. Roger what are your intentions?
19:12:09—VH-DSJ: My intentions are, ah, to go to King Island, ah, Melbourne that strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again. It’s hovering and it’s not an aircraft.
19:12:22—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet.
19:12:28—VH-DSJ: (Seventeen seconds of open microphone.)
19:12:49—MFSU: Delta Sierra Juliet, Melbourne.
After seventeen seconds of silence, an unidentified metallic scratching noise was heard. All contact was then lost.
Did the Cessna Crash?
One of the possibilities to consider is the fact that Valentich could have crashed the aircraft, leading to his death. When the radar control operator lost contact with Valentich, he was flying over Bass Strait, which is a body of water that separates Tasmania from Australia.
Bass Strait is a relatively shallow sea, with an average depth of fifty to seventy meters. If it was the case that the Cessna had crashed into the water, the wreckage would have probably been carried a long distance due to the ocean’s current. However, the Cessna aircraft has a relatively low mass aluminum structure, which would have prevented it from sinking quickly.
When we also take into consideration the depth of the water, this would have made it even more likely that the search and rescue team would have located the wreckage. Although we cannot rule out this hypothesis, the lack of wreckage located by the search and rescue team makes this theory an unlikely one.
Was the UFO Extraterrestrial?
Because the object that was hovering above Valentich’s aircraft was not tracked on radar and was unidentified, we must explore the possibility that it could have been extraterrestrial.
Valentich described the UFO as having a long shape, four bright lights (as bright as a landing strip) and one green light. The object was also somehow manipulating the function of the Cessna, as the aircraft started idling roughly as the object hovered above. Interestingly enough, on the night of Valentich’s disappearance, several eyewitnesses in the surrounding areas reported seeing a green colored light moving erratically in the sky. UFO researcher Paul Norman was able to identify several eyewitnesses and their testimonies are crucial to this case.
One witness, who went by the pseudonym Ken Hansen, stated that as he, his wife, and two nieces traveled to Hansen’s house, all four of them saw a small light in the sky and a large green light traveling at a slightly higher altitude. Hansen stated that during the drive, their niece was the first to spot the green light in the sky. As he slowed down to get a better look, he was also able to locate the lights of Valentich’s Cessna. The sighting lasted for a minute before both sets of lights disappeared. However, Hansen did not think much of it and continued on the drive back home.
Although there is no way we can verify the authenticity of this report, twenty other individuals did report seeing a strange green light in the sky in the vicinity of Bass Strait. Was this green light the same light that was described by Valentich? Did this green light play a part in his disappearance?
The investigation report states that “the reason for the disappearance of the aircraft has not been determined.” 141 If we do consider the characteristics of the object, as described by Valentich and the other witnesses who reported seeing the green light, the extraterrestrial hypothesis becomes the most plausible one. If the Cessna had truly crashed, then the search and rescue team would certainly have found the wreckage when considering how shallow the sea is.
Although to this day we do not know what happened to Valentich or his Cessna, it is a fact that something bizarre happened in the Australian sky on October 21, 1978. It is also evident that the reported unidentified flying object did play a part in Valentich’s disappearance. When we have cases such as this one and the disappearance of Moncla and Wilson, the reality starts setting in; the reality being that sometimes a UFO sighting is not simply seeing strange lights in the sky. As we have seen, several individuals have lost their lives as they were chasing the unknown.
141. Commonwealth of Austrailia Department of Transport, “Aircraft Accident Investigation Summary Report: VH-DSJ Cape Otway to King Island 21 October 1978 – Aircraft Missing [Valentich],” reference number V116/783/1047, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=10491375.