Plane vanishes after pilot reports U.F.O.

Press, 24 October 1978, Page 8

Plane vanishes after pilot reports U.F.O.

NZPA Melbourne Was a Melbourne pilot, Frederick Valentich, the victim of an unidentified flying object shortly before his mystery disappearance over Bass Strait at the week-end? Or was the 20-year-old flier so disorientated that he was flying upside down and mistook his own night light or lighthouse beams for a mystery craft he reported was hovering above him just before he vanished without trace?

The air-sea search for the young pilot resumed yesterday amid confused speculation about the cause of his disappearance. The official theory remained that Valentich had become disorientated and has seen his own light or the lights of Cape Otway or King Island lighthouses while flying upside down. But his father, Guido Valentich, has saia he believes his son might have been taken by a U.F.O. Frederick Valentich was on a lone flight to King Island, via Cape Otway from Moorabbin Airport, South of Melbourne, when he and his Cessna 182 light plane vanished shortly after 7 p.m. on Saturday. Late Sunday a searching Royal Australian Air Force Orion spotted an oil slick about 2km north of King Island, but some searchers said they believed it was too big to have come from the plane. It was the second singleengined plane to vanish without trace in Bass Strait, between the mainland of Australia and Tasmania. On December 24, 1969, a Fuji aircraft was on a flight to King Island when it apparently crashed into the sea about Bkm off Cape Otway. No trace of the pilot or the plane was ever found. The big sea and air search on Sunday failed to find any trace of Valentich’s missing Cessna and the only possible clue remains the oil slick spotted by the Orion. A transcript of Valentich’s final conversation with air controllers in Melbourne said that at 7.06 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time the aircraft asked the Melbourne Flight Service if there was any known traffic in the area below 5000 ft. The Flight service replied: “No known traffic in your area.” The pilot then called up and said there seemed to be a large aircraft below 5000 ft.

The Flight Service requested the type of aircraft and the pilot replied: “I cannot confirm. It has four bright lights that appear to be landing lights. The aircraft has passed over me about 1000 ft above. “The Flight Service then queried him: “Is it a large aircraft?” The pilot responded in the affirmative — “and at the speed it’s travelling are there any R.A.A.F. aircraft in the vicinity?” The Flight Sendee said: “Negative.” Two minutes later, at 7.08 p.m. the pilot again called up and said: “It’s approaching from due east towards me. It seems to me to be playing some sort of game. It’s flying at a speed I cannot estimate.” The Flight Service then queried his altitude and the pilot replied 4500 ft. The Flight Service then asked him: “Can you

jeonfirm you can’t identify aircraft?” The pilot replied, “Affirmative”. At 7T9 pan. the aircraft again called up and said “it’s not an aircraft it’s . “and there was a temporary break in transmission. The Flight Service again called him up and said: “Can vou describe the aircraft?” The pilot replied: “It is flying past, it is a long shape. 1 cannot identify more than that. It’s coming for me right now.” At ".10 p.m. the Flight Service asked him how large it was and the pilot replied: “It seems to be stationary. I’m orbiting and the thing is orbiting on top of me also It has a green light and a sort of metallic light on the outside.” A few seconds later the pilot told the Flight Service that the object had vanished The Flight Service then asked him to confirm that the object had vanished. The pilot confirmed that And then asked: “Do you know what type of aircraft I’ve got. Is it military?” The Flight Service replied that there was no known military traffic in the area. At 7.12 p.m., six minutes after his first call, the pilot told the Flight Service that his engine was rough idling and was coughing. The Flight Service then askeci him his intentions. The pilot replied that he was proceed ing to King Island and added: “Unknown aircraft holering on top of me.” The Flight Service then acknowledged that call and then there came a long metallic noise over the radio and communication with the aircraft was lost.

A Melbourne transport authority spokesman said yesterday: “He wasn’t very experienced and could easily have accidentally turned the plane upside and seen his own light.” However, a commercial pilot said it was unlikely for Valentich to have mistaken his lights for a U.F.O. “I can’t understand him describing it clearly if he was upside down,” the pilot, Mr Arthur Schutt, of Schutt Aircraft, said. “If he was disorientated there would have been more panic.” “I could understand him mistaking the lights if there was cloud around. But jt was clear and not too dark. “There would have been nc way he would have mis taken his big strobe light or flashing beacon with another object?’ Mr Guido Valentich, the father of the missing pilot, said earlier he believed that U.F.O. may have taken his son. Frederick d spent three years as a cadet with the R.A.A.F. Air Training Corps, and was an instructor. Hr had been flying for about two years and had held hi: unrestricted private pilot’s licence since last February. Saturday night’s flight wa: planned to build up hi' night-flying hours as he worked towards obtaining : commercial pilot’s licence. Frederick was “very pos‘ five and doesn’t talk nor sense,” Mr Valentich said. “He believes in U.F.O.’: and he told me he had seer classified material at the sale R.A.A.F. base which confirmed his beliefs.” Frederick had intended to bring crayfish back from King Island.