Frederick Valentich: Is This the Best Evidence We Have for an Abduction?

Beloved author, Douglas Adams, once made a deeply profound observation: Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.

Considering the vastness of space, the idea that we aren’t the only intelligent form of life in this great universe is really not that absurd. Admittedly, the ‘intelligent’ part might be debatable from the point of view of an intergalactic species, like dolphins, but humankind has been to the moon. We’ve sent robots into space and, at any given time, at least seven people are not living on planet earth. So, if we can do all that with our limited technology, why wouldn’t beings from another world be capable of doing the same, and more?

Of course, back when young Frederick Valentich and his close friend were knocking around ideas about space travel and UFOs, probably over a cool beer on a warm Australian summer’s evening, it had only been about 10 years since Neil Armstrong made history by walking on the moon and it would be another 20 years before the first Rover landed on Mars. However, it was the 70s, the love and peace movement was in full swing, and young Frederick’s life lay ahead of him, full of promise. He had a dream, and he had every intention of making it a reality.

Sadly, Frederick Valentich wouldn’t see the 80s, and he never got to fulfill that dream. Instead, he disappeared into thin air over the dark waters of the Bass Strait, his name forever associated with UFOs.

Frederick Valentich

In October of 1978, Frederick Valentich was a young man of 20 with a passion for flying. Born in Australia to Italian parents, Fred was by all accounts a stand-up guy, well-liked by his family, peers and superiors. He had only one dream: he wanted to be a pilot.

Valentich applied to the Royal Australian Air Force, twice, but was rejected both times due to his lack of education. Fred was a hard worker, and very dedicated to his chosen career, but he wasn’t a very strong student. He failed math, and barely passed science and geography on his Leaving Exam, his final exams in school. The RAAF also claimed that he failed all the application exams, suggesting he had a low IQ.

However, Fred was undeterred. He wanted to fly, and if the Air Force wouldn’t have him, he would do it on his own.

In September 1977, Valentich obtained his Private Pilot’s License on his first step to pursue a career in flying. Studying part-time, he started working towards his Commercial Pilot’s License. According to his father, Fred really wanted to show everyone, especially the RAAF, that he could do it.

By May 1978, he obtained his class-four instrument rating, basically meaning that he could fly in conditions clear enough for him to see potential hazards, like mountains and other planes, with the naked eye instead of relying on instrumentation. He poured all his time and energy into realizing his dream, but, sadly, it wasn’t going too well.

Despite working hard, Fred failed all five of his CPL subjects in October 1977 and again in April 1978. In July of 1978, he sat for three exams, but, once again, failed all three. To make matters worse, he already had some black marks against his name. One incident involved receiving a warning after straying into restricted airspace in Sydney in July 1978.

He was also cited twice for flying blindly into clouds, something even experienced pilots will avoid if they can, and authorities were considering prosecution — not really something you want on your resume if your goal is flying for a commercial airline.

As a boy, Fred had been an Air Training Corps cadet, and when he got knocked back by the RAAF and started working towards his CPL, he returned to the Corps in 1977 as an unpaid civilian helper and was later taken on with the rank of Airman. Fred’s superiors at the ATC, his colleagues and instructors only had good things to say about him. He respected authority, was a man of sober habits who never drank excessively, and he was an average pilot with a healthy approach to flying, never taking unnecessary shortcuts or risks.

He never mentioned UFOs – this will become important later. His instructors also considered his academic ability reasonable, though one tutor mentioned that Fred’s spelling was very poor and he made frequent mistakes when working through navigation problems. His tutor thought this was simply because the young man was impatient about getting the exams over with so he could get his CPL.

However, reading through the interviews with those who knew him, it seems that there was another side to young Frederick. He really wanted to be accepted and gain the respect of his superiors and peers at the Air Training Corps, so he lied to his ATC officers and his girlfriend about passing some subjects for his CPL when, in fact, he had failed all his exams multiple times. He came clean to his girlfriend four months later, but his tutor was shocked to learn that Fred had in fact failed, and insisted that he found that level of dishonesty to be completely out of character for Fred, a sentiment that was echoed by many who knew him. However, this wasn’t the only instance of Fred not telling the whole truth.

Before the scheduled flight to King Island that would be his last, Valentich had run up a bill of around $500 with Southern Air Services, the company from which Valentich would rent his aircraft since he didn’t own one. When SAS first asked about the bill, Fred already owed them $360 and he claimed that he was waiting for his passengers to Sydney to pay up. However, he had no passengers on the flight to Sydney. The passengers never showed up at the airport, so after waiting for two hours, Valentich and his girlfriend made the trip to Sydney alone.

In all fairness, we’ve all told the occasional white lie that never saw the light of day because we weren’t unfortunate enough to disappear in strange circumstances, and it’s entirely plausible that Valentich simply lied about passing his exams because he was feeling self-conscious or didn’t want to disappoint his family and friends. However, it appears that on the day he went missing, Fred wasn’t telling the whole truth either, so what exactly happened that fateful day in October 1978?

A Mysterious Disappearance

On the afternoon of Saturday, October 21, 1978, Valentich rented a single-engine Cessna 182L and visited the Moorabbin Airport Briefing Office where he obtained a meteorological briefing. At 5h23 pm, he submitted a flight plan for a night flight from Moorabbin airport to King Island and return at a cruising altitude of under 5000 feet. He had flown to King Island before, but this would be his first time flying at night.

Fred also wasn’t a strong swimmer and didn’t like flying over water, so it’s fair to assume that he was probably a little nervous. He told the briefing officer that he was going to King Island to pick up friends and took four life jackets in the aircraft. The aircraft was refueled to capacity at 6h10 pm and Valentich took off at 6h19 pm.

King Island is about halfway between the main island of Tasmania and mainland Australia. Flying directly from Moorabbin to King Island would take you over the water of the Bass Strait nearly all the way. Flying over water is a dangerous business, especially for an inexperienced pilot, so the standard route is to fly southwest along the coast to Cape Otway, which takes around 41 minutes, and from Cape Otway across the water to King Island, which takes around 28 minutes. Valentich had enough fuel for 300 minutes of flying time, more than enough to get to King Island and back.

After successfully taking off, two-way radio communications were established with the Melbourne Flight Services Unit (FSU). Valentich reached Cape Otway right on schedule, radioing his position to the Air Controller at exactly 7 pm. The weather in Cape Otway was clear, with excellent visibility and light winds. The sun had already set, but end of daylight at Cape Otway was only at 7h18 pm.

According to experts, it was ideal conditions for flying. Valentich planned to climb to at least 4500 feet when crossing the water for safety reasons. By the time he called air traffic control, he claimed to be at 4500 feet, so it seems that everything had been going according to plan.

At exactly 7h06 pm, Valentich radioed Air Flight Services Melbourne again, speaking with controller Steve Robey, asking if there were any known aircraft in the area. There are plenty of transcripts and re-enactments of the entire discussion online for those who are interested, but here’s the general gist of it.

Valentich asked if there were any known air traffic below five thousand feet after he observed a large aircraft he couldn’t identify. He described the craft as having four bright landing lights and passing over him at least a thousand feet above. He couldn’t quite describe the size since it was moving so fast.

He asked if there were any Air Force aircraft in the area, perhaps suspecting some kind of experimental aircraft. Robey assured him that there were no aircraft in the vicinity. Valentich claimed that the craft seemed to be playing some sort of game with him, flying over him two or three times at incredible speeds.

He then described the craft as having a long shape and being sort of metallic, all shiny on the outside, with a green light. At one point, he claimed that he was orbiting and the craft was orbiting on top of him. For a moment, the craft seemed to vanish, but then it returned, approaching from the southwest.

At this stage, Valentich started experiencing engine trouble, claiming the engine was rough idling and coughing. He told Robey that he intended to continue to King Island before mentioning that the craft was hovering on top of him again. The exchange finally ended with the chilling words: ‘It is hovering, and it’s not an aircraft’.

This is followed by 17 seconds of open microphone with a metallic sound, like scraping or scratching.

The communication ended at 7h12 pm. The conversation only lasted about five minutes, but it was the last time anyone would hear the voice of Fred Valentich.

The Search for Frederick

Valentich’s final transmission was concerning, so the Alert Phase, the second emergency phase imposed by the Convention of International Civil Aviation, was declared at 7h12 pm when Air Traffic Control lost contact with Valentich and his aircraft. When the plane hadn’t arrived at King Island at 7h33 pm, the Distress Phase was declared and search and rescue efforts started immediately.

According to the Officer in Charge of the King Island Airfield, Brian Jones, no flights were expected and no request was made for lights, an important detail we’ll get back to later. He had closed down the airfield and left by 3 pm. He returned to the airfield at 7h35 pm to turn the lights on when he received word that an aircraft might’ve been lost at sea. Two aircraft were available at the time and both were in the air by 8 pm to start looking for the missing Cessna.

The weather was clear with unlimited visibility; the Otway Lighthouse on the mainland could clearly be seen and the lights on King Island, and the fishing boats just off-shore, could be seen for miles. However, the search was fruitless.

On October 22, 18 miles (28 km) north of King Island, rescuers spotted an oil slick, raising hopes that the aircraft and pilot, or at the very least some wreckage, would finally be found. A sample of the oil was taken and tested but the lab report concluded that the oil was most likely bunkering fuel oil, used by ships, not gasoline or lubricating oil you would normally find in an aircraft. An intensive air, land and sea search continued until October 25, 1978, but Valentich, and the little Cessna, had vanished.

After the search efforts were halted, on October 31, Rhonda Rushton, Fred’s 17 year old girlfriend, chartered a two hour flight to search for her boyfriend, firmly believing he was still alive. She believed that Valentich had turned around after experiencing engine trouble, as that is what he always told her he would do in a situation like that, and finally crashed near Cape Otway, in Apollo Bay, around 100 miles from Melbourne. A group of Valentich’s friends also searched the mountains and bush tracks on foot for some trace of their friend and his missing plane. The official search focused on the sea, not the land, and some of his friends believed Fred was still alive but had made an emergency landing and had been missed by search and rescue teams as they weren’t looking in the bush.

Around November 21, 1978, a pilot en-route to King Island claimed to have seen the shape of an airplane fuselage in the water. He orbited the area but couldn’t find the fuselage a second time. However, the area where he claimed to have seen this shape is around 30 fathoms (around 60m) deep, so the water would’ve had to be very still and clear for the pilot to see anything. At the time, a gale warning was in effect and the water was very rough, so whether he saw the outline of a plane, or simply shadows in the wild water that resembled a plane, we’ll never know.

On 15 May, 1983, an engine cowl flap was found on the west coast of Flinders Island, Tasmania. The part was found on a beach at Parry’s Bay, opposite the northern end of Flinders Island Aerodrome. The engine cowl flap was from a Cessna 182L aircraft and fell within the range of serial numbers that included Fred Valentich’s missing aircraft.

The operating bolt, made of steel, was heavily eroded but appeared to have failed either in flight or on impact. Flinders Island is quite far away from Cape Otway, around 250 miles (400km) according to Google Maps, so that’s a long way for a piece of debris to travel, even in five years. At the time, in 1983, investigators weren’t aware of any other missing aircraft or wreckage that had been dumped in the area with a similar serial number.

According to marine experts consulted by the Department of Transport who were conducting the investigation, there had been unusually large and strong currents in the area due to storms. While it would be unlikely for a piece of debris to travel that distance in normal conditions, these unusual currents would actually make it possible for the cowl flap to travel from the area where the plane probably went down, somewhere between Cape Otway and King Island, all the way to Flinders Island.

However, the piece of debris washed up opposite the northern runway of Flinders Airport and, according to the then airport manager, two other Cessnas of a similar type had lost similar parts during takeoff prior to 1983. Apparently, this particular part has a bit of a tendency to come off during take-off which is a bit concerning. So, while the debris could’ve made its way all the way to Flinders Island, it’s far more likely that the origin of the debris was much closer to home. Apparently, modern tests on the part might determine whether it had been in the Bass Strait for five years, but when Valentich’s brother asked authorities to look into that possibility, they found that the part had been lost or possibly scrapped.

The Bureau of Air Safety Investigation released its findings in May 1982. Officially, the reason for the disappearance of Frederick Valentich and his small Cessna over the Bass Strait, between Cape Otway and King Island, was never determined, but whatever happened, it was presumed to have been fatal.

What Happened to Frederick?

Valentich was only twenty years old with little over 150 hours of flying time, so he wasn’t particularly experienced. He was also described as an average pilot, and his tutor mentioned that he struggled with solving navigation problems. A whole lot of things that can go wrong up in the skies, and even experienced pilots who are excellent navigators can crash, but not all of them report unidentified flying aircraft. Technically, Valentich did see a UFO – he saw a flying object he couldn’t identify – but was it real, and did it have anything to do with his disappearance?

A Suicide or Staged Disappearance

Everyone agreed that Valentich was an honest and stand-up guy, except perhaps for his bad habit of lying about passing exams. However, in the days leading up to his disappearance, quite a few rather odd things happened, and Fred’s behavior is described to be out of character. While his family and friends refuse to consider suicide, it appears that Fred was definitely up to something.

Firstly, and in my opinion, most concerning, is the lights at King Island Airfield. The airfield at King Island is very small, since the island isn’t exactly an important trade hub or tourist destination, so if an airplane was planning on arriving after dark, the pilot would have to call ahead and inform King Island of their arrival time and request someone to go turn on the airfield lights. Fred knew that he was only going to arrive after dark.

It seems strange that an inexperienced pilot would decide to land at night without runway lights. Valentich’s father told investigators that Fred’s memory was good when it came to important things but he sometimes forgot less important things, and his friend and girlfriend both claimed that Fred was the kind of person who really thought things through. Calling the airfield to make sure the lights were on is a pretty important detail, so it seems odd that Fred never called to arrange it.

Secondly, we actually have no idea why Fred was flying to King Island that night. He told the briefing officer at Moorabbin that he was planning to pick up passengers and even loaded extra life-jackets into the plane. However, he told his family and friends that he was going to King Island to pick up crayfish. When investigators looked into this, they found neither passengers nor crayfish.

Southern Air Services doesn’t allow the transport of crayfish on their aircraft; I’m guessing that’s because no-one wants to rent an airplane that smells like crayfish. This might explain why Fred lied to the airport officials and loaded the life jackets – very useful for hiding crayfish. However, there were no crayfish available on King Island.

The fishermen had sold all their stock that afternoon, and one fisherman told authorities that it would be very unlikely for crayfish to be available that time of night without an order. Since none of the fishermen had ever heard of Frederick Valentich, it’s clear he didn’t place an order. I’d imagine that someone who is known for planning carefully would think to phone ahead and place an order instead of just flying to an island on a whim hoping to buy some crayfish at night.

With no obvious reason to fly all the way to King Island, and no landing lights waiting for him, despite Fred knowing full well that the King Island Flight Service Unit had closed for the night, it seems to me that, wherever Fred was heading, King Island was not his final destination.

Not only did Fred not give a clear reason for why he was going all the way to King Island at night, he also made conflicting arrangements for after his return. He was supposed to pick up his girlfriend for a date at 7h30 pm. However, considering that he only took off at 6h19pm, and the flight was a three hour round trip, it’s obvious that he wouldn’t have been able to keep that appointment. His father later claimed that Fred had been running late and initially intended to leave at least 40 minutes earlier.

However, even if he left at 5h30, he still wouldn’t be back in time for a date at 7h30. According to his close friend, it was very unlike Fred not to call and explain that he was going to be late. Fred also told his father that he would be coming home after his trip to King Island and to expect him around 10pm. Once again, making dual arrangements was very uncharacteristic of Fred.

According to Rhonda, something strange also happened a week before the flight. The couple celebrated monthly anniversaries, as you do when you’re young and innocent and in the first months of a brand new relationship. Their fifth anniversary would’ve been on October 20th, which is probably why they intended to go out on Saturday October 21st. However, Fred gave her an anniversary gift, a friendship ring, on the 13th, a week before their anniversary.

When she protested, since it was still a week and they were planning on going out and all, he insisted on giving it to her a week early. Rhonda also mentioned that the last time she saw him, the Friday night before the trip, he wasn’t quite himself. He was usually cheerful and outwardly happy, but underneath, on Friday night, he wasn’t quite in the spirit of things.

Friends and family of Valentich insisted that he would never have taken his own life. He was a well-adjusted young man who was close to his family and friends. He was excited about his future, showed no signs of depression despite multiple setbacks and, according to his girlfriend, they had even been talking about getting married suggesting that Fred was planning for his future. However, one of the first things many people say after a loved one commits suicide is: I never saw it coming.

Fred was desperate to fly. That was all he ever wanted to do and it didn’t seem like he had any backup plans in case the flying thing didn’t work out for him. He was determined to show the world that he could do it, but what if he began to doubt himself, even wondering if the RAAF was right all along?

Despite working really hard, he had failed his exams multiple times. Friends claimed that he was disappointed but not discouraged by the setbacks, however, the fact that he lied about passing exams makes me think it affected him more than he let on. He was also facing possible prosecution for flying into clouds and had a warning for flying into restricted airspace.

The truth is that his dream of becoming an airline pilot was slowly slipping away. His friend also mentioned that there was a family argument shortly before the disappearance. Valentich’s father never mentioned an argument, but from interviews it seemed to me that he didn’t really approve of Fred’s relationship with Rhonda saying that it was of no consequence while she was talking about marriage.

The Valentich family was Catholic, though Fred only attended on Easter, Christmas and special occasions, something that was a bit disappointing to his father, and Fred’s girlfriend was Methodist. Fred’s father was also supporting him financially while he was working towards his CPL, and while there was no mention of a timeline, it’s reasonable to assume that the support couldn’t go on indefinitely and some progress had to be made. If Fred had lied to his family about passing exams, and his father had learned the truth, it would certainly be a good reason for an argument right there.

While friends and family resist the idea, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that Frederick Valentich set off that night with the intention of crashing into the ocean, dying while doing what he loved. However, that doesn’t explain the odd radio transmission to Air Control. Some suggest that Valentich had a psychotic break and was seeing something that wasn’t there, but he had no history of mental illness or suffering from fits or hallucinations, so that seems unlikely. Some believe that it was far more likely that the whole thing was a setup and, while the world was looking for UFOs, Fred quietly exited stage left.

Apparently, on the night that Valentich disappeared, police received several reports of an unidentified craft landing in Cape Otway. It appears these reports never made it into the official Department of Transport investigation report, but perhaps the reports weren’t considered relevant at the time. Valentich’s fuel tank had been filled to capacity before take-off, not unusual for pilots, especially if they’ll be flying over water, so there was any number of places he could safely reach if that was his intention. Whether he knew this or made any efforts to research a list of possible places he could go is unknown – unfortunately, there’s no convenient Google search history to help us out with that.

Everyone Fred spoke to or interacted with on the day he disappeared agreed that he seemed to be in a normal state of mind, he followed his usual routines, and Steve Robey, the last person to ever speak to Fred, is convinced that Fred didn’t sound like a man about to ditch himself into the ocean or run away to the hills. However, the only person who can really speak to Fred’s frame of mind on that day is, well, Fred and he’s not around to ask. Did Fred’s struggles to make any headway in his chosen career finally become too much for him? Fred’s father never thought so, he hoped for a different scenario: aliens.

Fred, UFOs and the Bass Strait Triangle

Like many young people in the 70s, Fred was very interested in UFOs. He watched movies on the topic, read and collected newspaper clippings and owned a copy of Chariots of the Gods by Erich von Daniken, the book that quite possibly started the whole Ancient Alien theory. For both believers and non-believers, this proved that Valentich was obsessed with UFOs and aliens.

Now, in fairness, Chariots of the Gods sold over 60 million copies, alien movies had always been popular, and in my honest opinion, collecting newspaper articles on aliens is probably a lot healthier than collecting newspaper articles on, say, chainsaw massacres. Reading through interviews with his father, girlfriend and best friend, it seems that Fred was interested in UFOs but he wasn’t obsessed with them. Six days before he disappeared, he even told his girlfriend that if a UFO should ever appear, he would go with it, but not without her of course – good save there Freddie.

It was a light-hearted comment that has been blown out of proportion. Honestly, who wouldn’t take a trip to the stars if they could?

Fred’s father seemed far more obsessed with aliens than Fred, telling newspapers that he believed his son had been kidnapped by people from another world, and Fred would be returned once the aliens were done with him. He believed the lack of a wreck was proof that UFOs could be involved. In fairness, imagining your child alive and well travelling with UFOs was probably better than the alternative.

Fred’s father also told the media that Fred had seen a UFO earlier that year; apparently, Fred’s mother saw a UFO about eight months before her son vanished. She called Fred to come see the UFO, and he described it to be a large light, ten times larger than a star, which was stationary for a while and then moved away at great speed. Apparently, after this, Fred became very worried about what would happen if a UFO ever attacked.

However, if this was a real concern for Fred, he never mentioned it to his girlfriend, best friend or instructors and colleagues. In fact, telling his girlfriend that he would go with the UFO suggests to me that he wasn’t afraid of UFOs attacking at all.

According to Fred’s dad, his son had also been given access to some confidential RAAF files on UFOs, which I wasn’t able to confirm. Since the files were confidential, Fred never discussed the contents with anyone. However, the idea that Valentich was studying confidential files on UFOs months before he vanished must be proof that he knew too much and the aliens, or perhaps the government, decided to silence him. Why the government would do that after giving him the files in the first place has not been explained.

However, confidential UFO files and strange transmissions – of course Fred had a UFO encounter! And he wasn’t the only one running into UFOs.

The 1970s, and particularly 1978, was a great time to find UFOs in Australian, and Tasmanian, skies. Apparently some aliens had taken a particular interest in our friends down under. For two months prior to October, when Fred disappeared, cigar-shaped objects and lights in the sky were seen from King Island. Other witnesses described strange bright and trailing lights at least six weeks prior to Valentich’s disappearance.

Witnesses in Tasmania have claimed to see a craft 15 minutes before Valentich went missing. UFO sightings were reported from Tasmania, all the way to South Australia, the coast of Western Australia and up the coast of New South Wales.

The radio transcript of the last communication between Fred and Air Traffic Control was released and printed in newspapers within days of Valentich’s disappearance. UFO sightings poured in, some were incoherent ramblings and others were almost identical to what Valentich described, almost like those who made them had a radio transcript to use as a handy guideline. This doesn’t mean all the sightings were made up – personally I have no doubt that UFOs swing by on the odd occasion – but confirmation bias is very real and if you’re outside in your garden looking for a UFO with green lights, odds are, you’re going to find one.

Around 20 eyewitnesses, all travelling or living in the region along Great Ocean road, which runs through Apollo Bay, came forward in the years following the event, describing an erratically moving green light in the sky around the time of Valentich’s doomed flight. One eyewitness had a very detailed story to tell, and two convenient nieces to back it up. In the late afternoon of October 21, 1978, the witness and his nieces were on their way home when one of the girls spotted coloured lights in the sky.

At first inspection, the witness thought it was a plane, but then spotted the large green light above what was possibly a plane. Since they lived near a small airstrip just south of Apollo Bay, he’d seen his fair share of small aircraft lights and insisted that some of the lights definitely belonged to a small aircraft – a white navigation light and a red wingtip light. However, the large green light was unusual.

He also saw a second large, greenish circular light that almost looked like it was riding on top of the airplane. The colour was similar to an aircraft’s navigation lights, which are green, and kept a constant distance above and slightly behind the aircraft lights. After around 20 seconds, the lights disappeared from view.

One of the most famous pieces of UFO evidence regarding the disappearance of Fred Valentich is the Manifold photograph. Roy Manifold, a vacationing plumber, was taking photos of the sunset over the Bass Strait, 20 minutes before Valentich’s radio call to Air Traffic Control. Setting his camera on automatic exposure, he took six photos of the sun disappearing into the sea from a spot called Crayfish Bay.

At the time, he didn’t notice anything unusual. It was only after the photos were developed that things started getting weird. Photo number four showed what seemed to be a stirring in the sea, giving the impression of an object rising from the water.

Photo number six showed a strange mass in the sky directly above where the disturbance was in photo four. This strange object seems to be pulling away from a cloud of something trailing this mysterious object. Photo four is nowhere to be found, but photo six is all over the internet.

A leading Australian photo lab, which true to form apparently chose to remain anonymous, found no dirt or damage on the negative suggesting that the blob, whatever it is, was actually in the picture. The negatives were then sent to UFO researchers in the States who claimed that the blob was actually a solid metallic object and it seemed to them that the object was enveloped in a cloud of exhaust, about a mile away from the camera. A second analysis concluded that the mark could be a developing error while others have suggested that it was a bug flying in front of the camera – alien craft or the most famous bug in UFO history, you decide.

Roy Manifold’s son, Jason, later added another interesting twist to the tale. He claimed that he was still outside shortly after the photos were taken. After his father had gone back inside, he heard the sound of an engine, possibly a Cessna engine, but saw nothing in the clear sky. The sound abruptly stopped, like a radio being turned off. This is similar to the claims of the pilots in the Miss Hobart who mentioned a buzzing sound suddenly stopping, but we’ll get to her in a bit.

One eyewitness account claims that a farmer, near Adelaide, though other reports place the farmer in Cape Otway, witnessed a craft, around 30m across, hovering over his property the morning after Valentich disappeared. A Cessna was stuck to the side of the mysterious craft, leaking oil. The farmer, understandably awed by what he was seeing, scratched the plane’s registration number into his tractor, which of course matched Valentich’s missing Cessna, and told some friends about the incident who mocked him for it.

So, he decided to keep the story quiet and never tell another soul. However, he must’ve told someone who told someone until the story eventually made its way to some UFO investigators who asked for the farmer to come forward because, as with all wonderful UFO tales, the source is always anonymous. To my knowledge, no farmer ever did.

In a strange coincidence, five days after Valentich’s disappearance, Steve Robey was back at work when another light aircraft radioed Traffic Control claiming that he had been passed three times by an intensely bright light travelling at jet speed above East Sale. The light came so close to him that he was forced to land.

As if the sightings weren’t enough, the fact that Valentich disappeared over the Bass Strait just adds fuel to the UFO fire. The Bass Strait Triangle is basically Australia’s version of the Bermuda triangle. It’s a channel, so it’s more a rectangle but the Bass Strait Rectangle just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

The Bass Strait runs between the state of Victoria, Australia, and the island of Tasmania. It’s about 300 km (190miles) wide and 200km (120miles) long, from north to south, dotted with around 50 islands, many of them little more than submerged reefs and rocks. Today, it’s a major shipping lane that sees a lot of traffic, but it’s well known for rough currents and winds.

One of the first disappearances occurred in 1797 when the Sidney Cove, one of the first ships to visit the east coast of Australia, wrecked on Preservation Island while delivering goods from Calcutta to Port Jackson. During the salvage operation, one of the rescue ships, Eliza, vanished never to be seen again. I’m going to chalk this up to unchartered waters rather than UFOs, but every legend has to start somewhere. Since then, many ships and airplanes have gone missing in the Bass Strait Triangle.

In 1920, during the search and rescue operations for the missing schooner SS Amelia J, another ship as well as a military aircraft, Airco DH.9, would also vanish. Some crewmen aboard the HMAS Swordsman, who was also taking part in the search operation, reported seeing strange lights in the sky.

In 1934, the airliner Miss Hobart also disappeared off the face of the earth carrying 11 passengers and crew into oblivion with her. Conditions were perfect for flying, much as they were for Valentich, and the aircraft was a brand new, state-of-the-art Havilland DH86. During its last transmission, the pilots claimed that they were surrounded by an unusual buzzing sound.

Some articles claim someone mentioned an unknown aircraft close to them and there was even talk of an aerial machine coming their way. Then the humming sound suddenly stopped. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be an existing transcript of this conversation available.

The Miss Hobart had four engines, and experts insisted that it would be highly unlikely for all four engines to stop working at the same time. Even if they did all stall simultaneously, the plane should have been able to maintain altitude long enough to make an emergency landing. We have no idea if young Jason Manifold had read about the Miss Hobart before telling reporters about hearing what sounded like an engine that suddenly stopped on the night his father took the photos and Fred Valentich went missing.

Throughout WW II, at least 17 military aircraft went missing over the Bass Strait, despite there being no fighting in the area, and some of the pilots reported encountering UFOs. One pilot claimed that he had been followed by a large bronze disc while another had been followed by a large dark shadow. All 17 aircraft went missing while out on training flights, and in many cases, no wreckage was ever found.

Many articles supporting the UFO theory is also quick to point out that the Department of Transport report looking into the disappearance actually includes quite a few reports of UFO sightings. The Department of Transport investigators even suggested that the Minister of Defense look into the UFO reports and also stated that the appropriate officers at the RAAF had already been informed. Now, most people seemed to think this proves the government was taking the UFO stories seriously and was even looking into the possibility of a UFO somehow being involved in Valentich’s disappearance.

However, it makes perfect sense for the Defense forces to look into reports of unexplained lights and flying objects – criminals, spies, and terrorists are well known to use things like airplanes and spy satellites. Even if the majority of UFO sightings don’t turn up anything, Murphy’s Law dictates that the UFO sighting you ignore will be the spy satellite that was hijacked by terrorists and will be used to topple your government and turn your country into a Mad Max Movie.

The night of Valentich’s disappearance, according to Mount Stromlo Observatory near Canberra, happened to coincide with a peak meteorite stream with around 10 – 15 sightings per hour. Valentich’s brother, father and girlfriend all insisted that Fred didn’t make up stories; if he said he saw bright lights, then that’s probably what he saw. It’s unlikely that he was kidnapped by aliens, but whether it was a meteorite storm or a craft from another world, it’s plausible that Fred saw something that distracted him which led to a fatal crash.

Fred became disoriented and crashed

We know that Fred was an inexperienced pilot, on his first night flight, and had trouble with navigation. If he got distracted by something, it’s very possible that he simply crashed. Search and rescue efforts started immediately and didn’t turn up anything, but by then it was already dark, and a Cessna isn’t a particular large aircraft, while the ocean is a very large expanse of water, so it’s very possible that the first rescuers missed the wreckage in the dark and it sank before it could be found. So, did Fred become disoriented and crashed into sea?

Many years after the disappearance, James McGaha, an astronomer and pilot himself, believes he knows what happened that night. Some people have suggested that it’s possible that Valentich went looking for UFOs which put him in a very suggestible state of mind. If he encountered anything out of the ordinary, which he apparently did, his own belief in UFOs and confirmation bias would probably have led him to identify whatever he was seeing as a UFO.

Now, in fairness, anything can be a UFO if you can’t identify it – it’s in the name: Unidentified Flying Object. So if Fred came across an aircraft he couldn’t immediately identify in the dark, it probably qualifies as a UFO, whether aliens were involved or not.

Visibility was good that night, with clear skies. In the radio transcript, Fred first describes four bright lights which he initially thought were landing lights. They were above him and seemed to be just hovering. On the night Valentich disappeared, there were four very bright celestial bodies in the sky: Venus, which was at its very brightest, Mars, Mercury and the star Antares.

These four bodies would’ve created a diamond shape. Our brains like to connect dots and see patterns, so the four lights in an elongated diamond shape could’ve looked like an aircraft or UFO which is why Valentich described the craft as having a long shape.

The description of the metallic or shiny appearance could simply have been due to the power of suggestion. In order to make sense of what he was seeing, his mind filled in the diamond-shaped area formed by the stars, as a solid, even metallic, body. Initially, he only mentions four bright lights. The green light he mentions later could also be the power of suggestion or the Cessna’s navigation light on the right wing tip. The green light, or its reflection on the windshield, became part of the UFO sighting.

Apparently, a witness on the ground who claimed to have seen the events unfold never mentioned a green light – he only added this detail many years later when the green light was made public. However, he described the light as being similar to the navigation lights on an airplane. He claimed the green light was on top of the aircraft.

If all of this happened close enough to land for the witness to see it, it’s very possible that the airplane was banking at a steep angle in which case the wing tip would be up and it would seem like the light is hovering above the plane. However, one problem with the witness’s description is that his recollection of the size of the airplane’s lights is too large. I also think that if this happened close enough to land for a witness to see, some wreckage would’ve been found.

Valentich also described the lights as moving at incredible speeds. McGaha believes that the stars weren’t the ones moving – the plane was moving in relation to the stationary lights. At one point, Valentich says that he was just orbiting and the craft was orbiting on top of him. So, were the lights standing still but seemed to be orbiting because Valentich was orbiting?

Regardless of what he was seeing, it’s possible that Valentich, already an inexperienced pilot, was now distracted by what he perceived to be a UFO. Many a pilot has fallen victim to what is called the illusion of a tilted horizon. This can happen when the sun has gone down but still brightens a part of the sky.

This imbalance of light can make the horizon appear tilted. The pilot, attempting to level the wings, often ends up with the nose of the aircraft pointing downwards and then starts to pick up speed and goes into what is referred to as a graveyard spiral. At a moment when he should’ve been paying attention to his instruments, Fred was focusing on what he might’ve thought was a UFO.

Valentich reported that his engine was rough idling before losing contact with Air Traffic Control. The tightening circle of a graveyard spiral would increase the G-forces and decrease the fuel flow which would explain the rough running of the engine. It’s also possible that the plane was already inverted by that point which would produce the same effect since the Cessna 182 has a gravity-fed fuel system.

Thus, disorientated and distracted, Valentich went into a spiral and crashed into the ocean.

This sounds very reasonable, and usually I would be the first person to accept the most reasonable explanation. However, to me it feels like much of this explanation hinges on Fred being obsessed with UFOs, possibly even looking for UFOs, and, in his excitement, was incapable of telling the difference between a stationary star and a moving light. Filling in the space formed by the stars as solid and metallic and seeing his navigation light’s reflection and assuming it was from a different craft all relies on Fred being obsessed with UFOs. However, in Fred’s defense, while he said twice that what he was seeing wasn’t an aircraft, he at no point in the conversation, and I read the original transcript, claimed that what he was seeing was a UFO.

Another suggestion was that Valentich was flying upside down and saw his own lights reflected in the water before he crashed. This is unlikely. The Cessna 182L is a very stable aircraft. It’s not designed to fly upside down and will do it’s very best to stay upright.

It’s unlikely that an inexperienced pilot would be able to flip it upside down without realizing it. You also won’t be flying it upside down for very long – it will crash. An experienced pilot also said that in the half-light, as it wasn’t fully dark yet, the pilot would see that he was upside down. In the Cessna 182L, cigarette butts would fall out of the ashtray and the carpet comes out of the floor, so it’s highly unlikely that Valentich was upside down and, if he was, he definitely would’ve known it.

The official investigation into the incident also concludes, or at least ponders, the possibility that the aircraft didn’t crash into the sea between Cape Otway and King Island. There could be two reasons for this. Firstly, Fred struggled with navigation problems, as mentioned by his tutor, so perhaps he got lost and wasn’t where he thought he was.

This would certainly explain why Air Traffic Control didn’t have any aircraft in Fred’s immediate vicinity – they were looking for low flying traffic in the wrong place. A second alternative is that Fred lied about where he was going that night and wasn’t where he said he was when he encountered the strange craft. In this case, it becomes more probable that Fred simply encountered another aircraft – perhaps a military aircraft that he wasn’t familiar with.

Getting disorientated and lost and crashing into the ocean or even crash landing on one of the islands in the Bass Strait is a very reasonable but, admittedly, far less exciting version of events. It seems likely that Valentich crashed between Cape Otway and King Island, but without wreckage, it’s impossible to know for sure. If Fred had gone off course, whether intentionally or accidentally, it certainly would explain why no wreckage was ever found. The ocean is very big and rescuers were looking in the wrong place.

A Hoax Gone Terribly Wrong

Without the UFO angle, the disappearance of Fred Valentich would’ve been chalked up to an inexperienced pilot running into engine problems and going down over the Bass Strait. There have been hundreds of similar cases, and most of them never even make the evening news. However, Frederick Valentich is a well-known name in Australia and in UFO circles because of that mysterious radio transmission, so, we have to ask – was that what Fred intended all along?

As we’ve seen, Fred didn’t tell anyone why he was flying to King Island, he didn’t ask for lights to be turned on at the airfield and he made arrangements with his girlfriend that he couldn’t possibly keep if his intention was to fly all the way to King Island, but what if that was never the actual plan? Fred was trying to get his CPL, so just taking out a plane to get some practice and flight hours would’ve been a perfectly good reason to hire a plane and take off, he had no reason to lie, yet, he clearly chose to.

Fred’s brother, friend and girlfriend all insisted that Fred wasn’t obsessed with UFOs and aliens, but his father made a comment that sort of stuck with me as I read through the many interviews. He said that Fred was worried, even paranoid, about what would happen if he came across a UFO or if UFOs attacked earth. His father also mentioned that Fred didn’t actually share his flying goals and plans with everyone because he believed that there were people out to stop him – he wasn’t clear about what exactly they were stopping him from, but it seems to me that Fred might’ve had a bit of a paranoid side.

How much of this is an accurate reflection of Fred, and how much of is a projection of his father’s own beliefs onto his son is unclear. However, considering how well Fred lied about passing his exams, he could clearly be deceptive if he wanted to be.

Considering all of this, it has been suggested that Fred set out that night to find UFOs and, failing that, invented an encounter. If he had no plans to fly all the way to King Island, but only fly out just past the lighthouse, over water where there wouldn’t be too many eyewitnesses, encounter the UFO and then return to Moorabbin, he wouldn’t need lights at the airfield. Returning without crayfish or passengers wouldn’t be questioned if he returned to Moorabbin after experiencing engine trouble while encountering a UFO.

He only left at 6h19 pm, and contacted Air Control at 7h06 pm, so he still would’ve been late for his date, but if he had managed to leave 40 minutes earlier as his father claimed was the plan initially, he would’ve been back with time to spare. He could’ve gone on his date at 7h30, possibly even been home by 10pm like he told his dad, and his name would be remembered for eternity.

In interviews with those who knew him, Fred didn’t come across as the kind of person who would seek out the lime-light intentionally, but if he genuinely believed that UFOs posed a threat, perhaps his goal was to make the world more aware of what he thought was a real danger to pilots or humankind as a whole. There’s even been a suggestion that Valentich might’ve been inspired by Steven Spielberg’s alien classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind, released less than a year before Valentich vanished. The movie portrays a very similar incident with a pilot coming across a UFO, complete with bright landing lights hovering, descending towards the pilot, and a pilot unable to properly identify or describe the aircraft. If it was just a hoax, perhaps Valentich fully intended to return home from his flight with an important story to share.

As one commentator pointed out, it’s possible for more than one thing to be true at the same time. So, perhaps the hoax went fatally wrong. After calling in his encounter, real or invented, Valentich got disorientated, went into a graveyard spiral, and crashed.

If he had turned around, he probably crashed closer to Cape Otway than King Island and since the first searches were launched from King Island, is plausible that the Cessna wreckage had sunk before anyone could spot it. Alternatively, after setting up his hoax, perhaps Fred crashed into the ocean intentionally or disappeared voluntarily into the mists of the Tasmanian bush.

Valentich’s father always strongly denied any implication that the sighting was a hoax, and Stephen Robey, the Air Traffic Controller talking to Fred, also insisted that the man he spoke to was clearly stressed by what he was seeing. The tape has been analyzed by the Department of Transport, who claims that Valentich’s voice is very matter-of-fact which seems odd considering what he was describing. However, an analysis by NASA disagrees, stating that the pilot seemed to be under genuine stress. It’s not clear if Robey believed Fred encountered a UFO as such, but he firmly believed that Fred experienced something – in his opinion, whatever was happening up there, Valentich was genuinely confused and stressed, he wasn’t faking anything.

Much like the theory about Fred seeing four bright stars and assuming they were landing lights, this theory relies solely on the idea that Valentich was obsessed with UFOs, something we have no proof for, except for the comments of a grieving father.

Conspiracy!

As with any good UFO story, there is, of course, a conspiracy afoot. One news story claimed that the radio transcript released to the public, and apparently the one in the official report as well since that’s the one I read, had been edited and a vivid description of the UFO had been cut. The story goes that the break in transmission, and seventeen seconds of open mike and static, was actually Valentich giving the Air Traffic Controller a detailed description of the craft he was seeing.

The source for this story was only stated to be an anonymous source at the Department of Transport. Of course, none of this has ever been proven, but if that anonymous source could give up their anonymity and give us the original tape, that would be much appreciated.

Conclusion

In 1998, the Valentich family erected a memorial plaque to Frederick on Cape Otway, the place where the family gathered once a year on the day of his disappearance to hold a vigil and remember their son, brother and friend. The plaque was unveiled by Steve Robey, the air traffic controller who took Fred’s call and the last man to ever speak to the young pilot. It’s been almost 50 years since Fred vanished and the family is no closer to getting any answers as to what happened that night.

The stories of UFO sightings and Fred’s final transmission cemented his story in the minds of UFO researchers around the world, but I think the truth of what happened to Fred that night doesn’t lie in the realm of UFOs or the supernatural, but rather in the mysterious trip – why was Fred flying to King Island, if that was his final destination at all, and why was he behaving so out of character? Sadly, the only person who has the answers to those questions is no longer around to tell us.

Regardless of his intentions that night, Frederick Valentich was still a person who left behind family and friends who loved him and still miss him, and we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that, what might be an exciting story of UFOs to the rest of the world, is also a story of tragedy and loss. I think Frederick Valentich should be remembered, not for his encounter with a UFO, but rather as a passionate young pilot working hard to follow his dream no matter the obstacles life put in his way.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Frederick Valentich?

Frederick Valentich was a 20-year-old Australian pilot who disappeared over the Bass Strait in October 1978. He was known for his passion for flying and his dream to become a pilot, despite facing multiple setbacks and rejections.

What was Frederick Valentich’s final flight plan?

Valentich’s final flight plan was to fly from Moorabbin airport to King Island and return. He took off at 6:19 pm on October 21, 1978, and was expected to arrive at King Island around 7:33 pm.

What did Frederick Valentich report seeing during his final flight?

During his final flight, Valentich reported seeing a large aircraft with four bright landing lights and a green light. He described the craft as metallic and shiny, moving at incredible speeds and orbiting above him.

What was the official investigation’s conclusion regarding Valentich’s disappearance?

The official investigation by the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation concluded that the reason for Valentich’s disappearance was never determined, but it was presumed to have been fatal.

What was the significance of the Manifold photograph in relation to Valentich’s disappearance?

The Manifold photograph, taken by Roy Manifold, showed a strange mass in the sky above the Bass Strait around the time of Valentich’s disappearance. Some UFO researchers interpreted this as evidence of an alien craft, while others suggested it could be a developing error or a bug.

What was the Bass Strait Triangle, and how is it related to Valentich’s disappearance?

The Bass Strait Triangle is an area known for the mysterious disappearances of ships and aircraft. Valentich’s disappearance over the Bass Strait added to the legend of this area, with some suggesting that UFOs or other supernatural phenomena were involved.

What were some of the theories about Valentich’s disappearance?

Theories about Valentich’s disappearance ranged from a tragic crash due to disorientation or engine failure, to a UFO abduction, a hoax gone wrong, or even a staged disappearance. Some suggested he might have been looking for UFOs or had a psychotic break.

What was the significance of the oil slick found during the search for Valentich?

An oil slick was spotted 18 miles north of King Island during the search for Valentich. However, tests concluded that the oil was most likely bunkering fuel oil used by ships, not the type of oil found in aircraft, making it an inconclusive lead.

What was the role of Steve Robey in Valentich’s disappearance?

Steve Robey was the air traffic controller who had the final communication with Valentich. He described Valentich as stressed and confused during the call, but insisted that Valentich was not faking his encounter with the unknown craft.

What was the significance of the engine cowl flap found on Flinders Island?

An engine cowl flap from a Cessna 182L aircraft was found on Flinders Island in 1983. While it matched the type of aircraft Valentich was flying, it was later determined that similar parts had been lost by other aircraft in the area, making it an inconclusive piece of evidence.

Sources

• Original Decoding the Unknown video: Frederick Valentich: Is This the Best Evidence We Have for an Abduction?
• Hero image source by Horace57 / openverse, by.