The Disappearance of Frederick Valentich 

On the night of Saturday, October 21, 1978, Frederick Valentich was on a 125-mile training flight going over the Bass Strait in Australia headed toward King’s Island in Tasmania. 

Valentich was piloting a Cessna 182L light aircraft. Around halfway through his flight at 7:12 pm, Valentich contacted the Melbourne Air Traffic Control with a series of strange transmissions that would baffle aviation investigators for decades.  He reported that something was up in the sky with him, something that Valentich said wasn’t an aircraft. After the transmission ended, Valentich was never seen or heard from again. 

In this post, we will examine the strange disappearance of Frederick Valentich, and theories regarding what happened to him. 

To understand the mysteriousness of this case, we must first discuss in more detail the conversation between air traffic control and Valentich in more detail on the night of Oct 21, 1978. 

At 7:12 pm, Valentich notified the control tower that he was being accompanied by some type of craft about 1,000 feet above him. The craft he described had four bright lights in a diamond formation. Valentich also told the air traffic control that his engine was running roughly. 

The tower notified Valentich that they couldn’t see anything on their radar and that no ither aircraft was in the vicinity. Air traffic control asked for more details surrounding the situation. 

3 minutes later, at 7:15 pm, Valentich replied the aircraft was now hovering above him. It was huge, 300 feet in length, metallic with a green light and made a strange humming sound.

At 7:18 pm, Valentich switched from a curious state to a frustrated state. The craft was chasing him, and Valentich was attempting to shake it and also stated he was losing control of his aircraft.

At 7:21 pm, Valentich’s voice started breaking up, strange metallic clicking noises could be heard on the transmission and Valentich indicated the craft was right on top of him and that he was going into the light. 

It should be stated that before the conversation began at 7:12 pm, all transmissions from Valentich indicate he was perfectly fine and under no duress. 

Before discussing the theories and questions surrounding this event, it’s important to discuss the background of Valentich. Frederick Valentich was considered by some to be a poor pilot. He had logged 150 hours of flight time, and he had a class-four instrument rating, which allowed him to fly at night, but only when the skies were clear. He had twice applied to the Royal Australia Air Force but was rejected twice due to his lack of education. Despite this, Valentich aspired to be a pilot. 

It should also be said Valentich was a flying saucer enthusiast. Many skeptics believe that this influenced his transmissions as he was looking for a flying saucer that wasn’t there. For years, many speculated he disappeared, and it was all a hoax.

This would prove to not be the case when one researcher discovered a key government file in the case. 

In 2012, Adelaide researcher, Keith Basterfield stumbled upon a 315-page report from the government in the National archives index. He had been told in 2004, that the file was lost. This file has been considered by many to be the “Holy Grail” in the mystery, containing much information from the initial investigation. In the file it contains several important findings: 

1. It showed that parts of the aircraft with partial serial numbers were found in the Bass Strait five years after Valentich vanished
2. The second finding, perhaps more important, investigators left open the possibility of a UFO encounter open, not something they said publicly. Investigators labelled it an Unidentified Flying Object, not the media. 
3. In the file, the defense minister was asked to look into the matter surrounding a UFO. 

There have been many theories put forth over the years. 

The first is that Valentich and his craft were taken by a UFO. It seems that the government report eliminates the possibility that the plane was taken, but the question of whether Valentich was abducted is still unanswered. Still, it’s interesting that the government didn’t choose to release that part of the plane had been found. 

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There could be multiple reasons for this, but it’s reasonable to assume that the UFO talk in the media would have died out. Some speculate that the government didn’t actually find the partial part of the plane and they planted the report in the archives knowing someone would find it. 

The transmission itself speaks volumes about what the young pilot was seeing and what was happening to his craft. It’s almost certainly not the case that he lied or exaggerated about seeing it but could Valentich have been mistaken?

Some believe so. 

Skeptics typically point out that Valentich was an inexperienced and often reckless pilot who was obsessed with UFOs. They discuss several things that could have happened to Valentich. 

One he could have seen Venus, which was shown to be at its very brightest, or seen Mars, Mercury, and the bright star Antares. Some believe the pilot got confused seeing the lights and began to panic. Suggestions include he fell into a “graveyard spiral”, which is when pilots experience sensory illusions. 

Others suggest that perhaps the pilot was experiencing some type of medical condition, like a seizure or heart attack, that caused him to see lights. 

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One interesting story concerns a farmer who alleged to see a Cessna airplane. The morning after Valentich went missing, a story emerged about a farmer who witnessed a Cessna airplane attached to a craft. The farmer supposedly wrote the airplane registration number down and kept the info as a secret due to fear of ridicule. While this is an interesting story, it seems like more of an urban legend as the farmer was never identified.

We will probably never know what happened to Frederick Valentich that night, but regardless, this case remains one of the most controversial and mysterious events in Aviation history.