CASE FILE #001: THE VALENTICH TRANSMISSION

Status: Missing Person – Unrecovered Aircraft – Unexplained Aerial Contact
Date Filed: October 21, 1978
Location: Bass Strait, South-Eastern Australia
Subject: Frederick Valentich
Age: 20
Aircraft: Cessna 182L, Tail Number VH-DSJ
Filed Under: Civil Aviation Occurrence Report 78/884
Access Level: Partial – Australian DoD Redaction Active

INCIDENT SUMMARY

On October 21, 1978, at approximately 6:19 p.m., a private pilot named Frederick Valentich departed Moorabbin Airport, Victoria, in a rented Cessna 182L. The registered flight plan indicated a standard Visual Flight Rules (VFR) route to King Island. Weather was reported calm, visibility fair.

At 7:06 p.m., Valentich initiated contact with Melbourne Flight Service reporting "an unidentified aircraft" in his vicinity. Over the next six minutes, the pilot described erratic movements, non-conventional speed, and “a shiny metal surface with a green light”.

At 7:12 p.m., he transmitted:

“It’s not an aircraft.”

Immediately afterward, 17 seconds of unidentified metallic scraping sounds were recorded, followed by total radio silence.

No trace of Valentich or his aircraft has ever been recovered.

TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT (AUSTRALIAN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT – PUBLIC RELEASE 1982)

Valentich: Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet. Is there any known traffic below five thousand?
Melbourne FSS: Delta Sierra Juliet, no known traffic.
Valentich: I am… seems to be a large aircraft below five thousand.
Melbourne FSS: What type of aircraft is it?
Valentich: I cannot affirm. It is four bright… it seems to me like landing lights…
(static)
Valentich: The aircraft has just passed over me. It’s at least a thousand feet above.
(pause)
Valentich: It’s not an aircraft.

Seventeen seconds of open-channel transmission follows: rhythmic metallic scraping, radio warble, distortion. No speech.

INVESTIGATION OVERVIEW

• Aircraft was never located.
• No wreckage or debris found in Bass Strait or surrounding waters.
• Radar tracking confirmed Valentich's presence in the area but showed no other aircraft in proximity.
• Australian Department of Transport listed the incident as “missing presumed fatal” but included no theory of cause.

Noteworthy Points:

• Valentich had filed a flight plan to King Island but never notified the airport or scheduled cargo.
• He was known to be deeply interested in UFOs and had expressed concerns about military cover-ups.
• Eyewitness reports (6) from the southern coast of Victoria described “a green light moving erratically in the sky” around the time of the incident.

OFFICIAL RESPONSE & REDACTIONS

• The tape and transcript were withheld until 1982.
• An original FOIA request was denied in 1980 and again in 1981.
• A partial report was released with sections blocked under “national airspace monitoring policy.”

Australian Department of Defence issued no official statement.

ARCHIVE OBSERVATION

The Valentich case is often referenced alongside other pilot disappearances with final transmissions referencing unidentified aerial craft, including:

• Captain Thomas Mantell, 1948 (USAF – Fatal crash after UFO pursuit)
• Emilio González, 1975 (Mexico – aircraft vanished from radar)
• Flight N3808H, 1953 (Royal Air Force – aircraft and crew never recovered)

In all three, pilot contact ceased immediately after reporting aerial anomalies.

FILE STATUS: OPEN

• Valentich is still officially classified as a missing person.
• No remains, fuselage, or material evidence recovered.
• Transmission audio is publicly available but remains classified in origin.
• Civilian theories range from mechanical failure to psychological delusion.
• Military silence remains consistent for over four decades.

This file remains active in the Grim Evidence archive.
Further testimony, data, or document recovery requests may be submitted to:
[email protected]

“Some disappearances can be explained.
This is not one of them.”

🔎 References

All sources used in this case are listed in the References Archive. Each link corresponds to verified data, public records, or expert documentation.