On October 21, 1978, an Australian pilot reported spotting a UFO mid-flight.
17 minutes later, he vanished.
125 ships searched for weeks.
Plane - never found.
Body - missing till now
But, the last sound recorded will make you question everything: 🧵
The pilot was Frederick Valentich, a 20-year-old flying enthusiast.
He rented a Cessna 182L for a routine flight from Melbourne to King Island, Australia.
It was a calm evening.
Weather:
Clear. Conditions: perfect.
But what happened next defied explanation.
At 7:06 PM, Valentich radioed Melbourne Air Traffic Control.
"Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet. Is there any known traffic below 5,000 feet?"
The response?
"Negative. No known traffic."
That’s when things turned eerie.
Valentich described a metallic object with green lights.
"It’s hovering and not an aircraft," he reported.
The object moved at incredible speed, orbiting his plane.
Then, silence.
7:09 PM: Valentich’s voice broke through again.
"It’s now approaching from the east. It seems to be playing some sort of game."
The tension in his voice was undeniable.
"It’s flying over me at speeds I cannot estimate."
At 7:12 PM, Valentich’s tone shifted to panic.
"It’s not an aircraft. It’s... it's..."—static interrupted his words.
The object, he claimed, was emitting an unearthly light.
Then, the most chilling statement:
"It’s hovering and it’s not an aircraft."
The final transmission came at 7:14 PM.
Valentich’s voice was calm but strained.
"My engine is rough idling. I’m going to 4,500 feet and keeping it on 120."
Suddenly, the radio crackled.
A metallic scraping sound filled the airwaves.
Then, silence.
What followed was one of the largest searches in Australian history.
- 125 ships scoured the Bass Strait.
- Planes combed every inch of the route.
- Experts analyzed Valentich’s flight path.
Not a single trace of the plane or pilot was found.
Investigators were baffled.
The Cessna was equipped with four life jackets and an emergency beacon.
Even if it crashed, debris should have surfaced.
But the sea remained eerily silent.
No wreckage.
No body.
No answers.
The incident became one of the most documented UFO cases in history.
The Australian government released a 315-page report.
But even that failed to provide concrete answers.
The files raised more questions than they answered.
Here:
Theories flooded in:
- Pilot error? Valentich was experienced, but some argued he got disoriented.
- UFO encounter? Witnesses in the area reported strange lights that night.
- Military cover-up? The Bass Strait was a known testing zone.
None could explain the metallic sound.
The most bizarre theory came from Valentich himself.
Days before the flight, he told his family he was “studying UFOs.”
He believed extraterrestrial life existed.
Was he chasing proof?
Or was he running from it?
Experts dissected the final transmission.
The metallic scraping sound was unlike anything recorded before.
Some said it was mechanical failure.
Others believed it was... not of this Earth.
Years later, UFO researchers uncovered another twist.
Multiple sightings of unexplained objects were reported along Valentich’s flight path that night.
Aerial phenomena.
Green lights.
Pulsing energy.
Coincidence?
Or connection?
To this day, Valentich’s disappearance remains unsolved.
No wreckage.
No black box.
No closure.
What happened in those final moments?
Was it human error?
Alien contact?
Or something we’ll never understand?