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At 6.19pm on October 21st, twenty-year old Frederich Valentich, light aircraft pilot, embarked from Melbourne Australia to King Island. This was his second night-time solo flight, and his first over water.
At 7.06pm Valentich called Tullermarine Airport to ask if there was any other traffic in the area. Duty air traffic controller Steve Robey checked the flight log and replied that there was not. Valentich told him that some sort of aircraft had passed over him, carrying four bright lights. The object then commenced to play games with Valentich's Cessna, accelerating, hovering, and flying over and under the aircraft.
Then Valentich got a closer look at the craft, and observed that it was shaped like a cigar and was coated with what looked like shiny metal on the outside. At 7.12pm Valentich reported that his engine was rough idling - six seconds later he spoke to Steve Robey for the very last time. Valentich began to talk, but weird metallic scraping sounds cut in over the airwaves, followed by silence.
No traces of the Cessna nor its pilot have ever been recovered. Was Valentich a victim of a UFO, was it a joke which backfired, or did Valentich engineer his own bizarre suicide?
Valentich had taken some money on his flight in order to buy and bring back some crayfish for his friends, yet he did not file a return flight plan, and took more fuel than was required for the journey. Was he planning to disappear and fly on to Tasmania? None of the rational explanations make any real sense.
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