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This FAB CENDOC file, released through The Black Vault, holds material from 1978. Part of it is an issue of International UFO Reporter, edited by J. Allen Hynek, with a long report on the October 21, 1978 disappearance of pilot Fred Valentich over Bass Strait. That report includes his radio transcript, the search, and the competing explanations. The file also has a Brazilian newspaper clipping and a Fourth Regional Air Command investigation of a July 1978 landing report by eleven-year-old Dalton Legnaioli in Penha, São Paulo.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
of abbreviated accounts have appeared in the press. the following transcript has been thoroughly checked by Ken Williams, the assistant director of public relations of the Department of Transport's Air Transport Group, and he has deemed it a "verbatim" account. Fred Valentich is "DSJ". Melbourne Flight Service is "PS" 7 06:14-DSJ: Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet is there any known traffic below five thousand? FS Delta Sierra Juliet, no known traffic. Delta Sierra Juliet. I am seems (to) be a large aircraft below five thousand. 7. 06.44-FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, what type of aircraft is it? DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, I cannot attirm. It is four bright, it seems to me like landing lights. 7. 07:00-FS: Delta Sierra Juliet. 7. 07.31-DSJ: Melbourne, this (is) Delta Sierra Juliet. The aircraft has just passed over me at least a thousand feet above. (Ed note: This, taken literally, would mean a 1000 feet-per-minute climb) FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, and it is a large aircraft, confirmed? DSJ:Er—unknown, due to the speed it's travelling—is there any Air Force aircraft in the vicinity? FS. Delta Sierra Juliet, no known aircraft in the vicinity. 7. 08.18-DSJ: Melbourne, it's approaching now from due east towards me. FS Delta Sierra Juliet. 7. 08.14-(Open microphone for two seconds) 7. 08:48-DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet, it seems to me that he's flying over me two, three times at speeds I could not identify. (Ed. note: from 7:08:18 to 7:08:48, two or three passes were made in 30 seconds flat. That's some aircraft! Even if it was one, such aircraft "buzzing" acts would be a flagrant disregard of air navigation regulations.) 7:09:00-FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, roger. What is your actual level? DSJ: My level is four and a half thousand . . . four, five, zero, zero. FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, and you confirm you cannot identify the aircraft? DSJ: Affirmative. FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, standby. 7:09:27-DSJ: Melbourne, Delta Sierra Juliet. It's not an aircraft, it is ___ (open microphone for two seconds). 7. 09:42-FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, Melbourne. Can you describe the -eraircraft? DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet, as it's flying past, it's a long shape (open microphone for three seconds) . . . cannot identify more than that. It has such speed . . . (open microphone for three seconds) . . . before me right now, Melbourne. 7:10:00-FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, and how large would the -er- object be? 7:10:19-DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet Melbourne. It seems like it's stationary. What I'm doing right now is orbiting and the thing is just orbiting on top of me also. It's got a green light and sort of metallic (like) it's all shiny (on) the outside. FS. Delta Sierra Juliet. 7:10:46-DSJ. Delta Sierra Juliet. (open microphone for five seconds) it's just vanished. FS. Delta Sierra Juliet. 7. 11.00-DSJ: Melbourne, would you know what kind of aircraft I've got? Is it (a type) military aircraft? FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, confirm the er- aircraft just vanished? DSJ: Say again? FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, is the aircraft still with you? DSJ: Delta Sierra Juliet. (it's -ah--) (open microphone for two seconds) now approaching from the southwest. FS: Delta Sierra Juliet. (Ed. note: to have vanished at 7:10:46 and flown off far enough to be seen approaching from the southwest less than a minute later suggests considerable speed!) 7:11:50-DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, the engine is -- rough idling. I've got it set at twenty three, twenty four and the thing is (coughing). FS: Delta Sierra Juliet, roger. What are your intentions? DSJ: My intentions are -ah- to go to King Island -ah- Melbourne that strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again. It (open microphone for two seconds) is hovering and it's not an aircraft. FS: Delta Sierra Juliet. 7:12:28-Delta Sierra Juliet, Melbourne and then silence, except for a strange "metallic" sound over his microphone which was held open for 17 seconds. With "perfect" flying conditions-a dusk sky (known to be cloudless at Cape Otway at 5:48 PM) with a mild northwesterly breeze and unlimited visibility-Valentich had disappeared. He never made it to King Island. The last controller to speak with Valentich was Steve Robey at the Melbourne Flight Service at Tullamarine. Robey said, "I had to force Steve Rotey myself to stay as calm as possible. I was stunned but I had to handle it." ## THE SEARCH Oct. 21: Light aircraft initiated a visual and radio search that night. Oct. 22: An RAAF Orion (a longrange maritime reconnaissance aircraft) spent the whole next day, Sunday, searching the strait. It did find an oil slick 18 miles north of King island in the late afternoon and dropped a beacon to mark the sight. The searchers were already confident, however, that the slick was too large to be produced by the Cessna. Oct. 23: A sample of the slick was taken by a boat from Warrnambool. The analysis of the sample was performed by the Defense Department materials research laboratory at Maribyrnong. Result: a weak mix.
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 86 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.