Frederick Valentich was an Australian pilot who disappeared while on a 125-nautical-mile training flight in a Cessna 182L light aircraft, registered VH-DSJ. Valentich radioed Melbourne air traffic control at 7: 06 pm to report that an unidentified aircraft was following him at 4,500 feet. His transmission was then interrupted by unidentified noise described as being’metallic, scraping sounds’ before all contact was lost.
About Disappearance of Frederick Valentich in brief
Frederick Valentich was an Australian pilot who disappeared while on a 125-nautical-mile training flight in a Cessna 182L light aircraft, registered VH-DSJ, over Bass Strait on the evening of Saturday 21 October 1978. Valentich radioed Melbourne air traffic control at 7: 06 pm to report that an unidentified aircraft was following him at 4,500 feet. His transmission was then interrupted by unidentified noise described as being’metallic, scraping sounds’ before all contact was lost. A sea and air search was undertaken that included oceangoing ship traffic, an RAAF Lockheed P-3 Orion aircraft, plus eight civilian aircraft. The search encompassed over 1,000 square miles. Search efforts ceased on 25 October 1978 without result.
An investigation into Valentich’s disappearance by the Australian Department of Transport was unable to determine the cause but it was assumed fatal for Valentich. Five years later, an engine cowl flap was found washed ashore on Flinders Island. It has been proposed that Valentich staged his own disappearance even taking into account a trip of between 30 and 45 minutes to Cape Otway, the same time as his disappearance. If this was the case, the lights he thought he saw were his own lights reflected in the water, or lights from a nearby island, while flying upside down. If the lights were the same, the aircraft was plotted on radar, casting doubts as to whether it was ever near Cape Otways.
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