Beyond the Veil Magazine

The Valentich Disappearance

Issue #40: April 1982

On October 21, 1978, twenty-year-old Frederick Valentich took off from Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne for a routine training flight to King Island. He never arrived. His last radio transmission described an unidentified craft hovering above him.

Then silence.

Frederick Valentich was never seen again.

The Flight

Valentich was an inexperienced pilot with approximately 150 hours of flight time. He flew a single-engine Cessna 182, registration number VH-DSJ. His planned route took him south across Bass Strait, the body of water separating mainland Australia from Tasmania.

The flight was routine until 7:06 PM, when Valentich contacted Melbourne air traffic control.

The Transmission

The following is an excerpt from the official transcript:

Valentich: Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet. Is there any known traffic below five thousand?

Melbourne: Delta Sierra Juliet, no known traffic.

Valentich: Delta Sierra Juliet. I am, seems to be a large aircraft below five thousand.

Melbourne: Delta Sierra Juliet, what type of aircraft is it?

Valentich: Delta Sierra Juliet, I cannot affirm. It is four bright, it seems to me like landing lights… The aircraft has just passed over me at least a thousand feet above.

Melbourne: Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, and it is a large aircraft? Confirm.

Valentich: Er, unknown, due to the speed it’s travelling. Is there any Air Force aircraft in the vicinity?

Melbourne: Delta Sierra Juliet, no known aircraft in the vicinity.

Valentich: Melbourne, it’s approaching now from due east towards me… 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.

The exchange continued for several minutes. Valentich described the object as having a “green light and sort of metallic” appearance. He reported that his engine was “rough idling” and “coughing.”

His final transmission:

Valentich: Melbourne, that strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again. It is hovering and it’s not an aircraft.

A seventeen-second burst of metallic, scraping sound followed. Then silence. Melbourne’s repeated calls received no response.

The Search

An immediate search was launched. Aircraft and boats scoured Bass Strait for any sign of Valentich or his Cessna. The search continued for four days.

Nothing was found. No wreckage, no oil slick, no body, no debris of any kind. The aircraft and its pilot had simply vanished.

The Investigation

The Australian Department of Transport investigated the disappearance but reached no conclusion. Their report noted that “the reason for the disappearance of the aircraft has not been determined.”

Valentich was described as a flying enthusiast, deeply interested in UFOs. Some investigators suggested he might have staged his own disappearance, though no evidence supported this theory. Others proposed that he had become disoriented and crashed into the sea.

But neither theory explained the radio transmission. Valentich clearly saw something. He described it in detail over several minutes. He was a pilot, trained to identify aircraft. Whatever he saw, he was certain it was “not an aircraft.”

UFO Activity

The Bass Strait region had experienced numerous UFO sightings in the weeks before Valentich’s disappearance. Multiple witnesses reported unusual lights in the sky on the night of October 21.

One witness, Roy Manifold, was photographing the sunset from Cape Otway that evening. When his photographs were developed, one showed an unexplained object in the sky. The timing corresponded to Valentich’s flight.

The photograph is inconclusive. It shows a dark shape that might be an object, a blemish, or an artifact of the photographic process.

Theories

Disorientation: Valentich might have become disoriented and flown inverted, mistaking his own landing lights reflected in the water for an approaching aircraft. This could explain the sighting but not the metallic sounds or the complete absence of wreckage.

Suicide or Staged Disappearance: Valentich might have deliberately crashed or landed in a remote location. But his family and friends reported no signs of suicidal ideation, and no evidence of a planned disappearance emerged.

UFO Abduction: The most extraordinary theory proposes that Valentich was taken by the craft he described. The complete absence of wreckage and the unusual radio transmission support this interpretation.

The Mystery Endures

Three years after Frederick Valentich vanished, no trace of him or his aircraft has been found. The official investigation remains open but inactive.

His father continues to search for answers. He has stated publicly that he believes his son encountered something extraordinary over Bass Strait, something that took him from this world.

The final transmission echoes still: “It is not an aircraft.”

Whatever it was, Frederick Valentich is gone. The waters of Bass Strait keep their secrets.

Readers with information about the Valentich case or similar aerial disappearances are invited to contact our research department.