FAB CENDOC Envelope 09 (1978)

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

probably "marine diesel" and not the Cessna's fuel. A Nomad aircraft scoured an area from Warrnambool to Cape Otway while the Air Force Orion covered the Bass Strait and a Cessna searched the King Island region. Reports from the search area indicated the sea temperature to be around eight degrees above freezing. The searchers felt, though, that Valentich would still stand a good chance of survival if he was wearing his lifejacket.

Oct. 25: By Wednesday night, search aircraft had covered 7000 square miles in four days. Eight aircraft had flown a total of 70 hours. The Australian Coastal Surveillance Organization in Canberra had alerted all shipping and crayfish boats in the area to be on the lookout. A pilot flying at 4000 feet reported sighting what he thought was a plane under water, but reference to charts showed the water to be 180 feet deep with a very choppy surface due to a gale; hence, the Department of Civil Aviation did not consider the report firm enough to follow up.

The RAAF reconnaissance plane also spotted some flotsam in the water 4 km. from the oil slick which looked like a yellow life jacket and part of a fuselage; this caused some brief excitement during the search. A merchant vessel determined, however, that the debris was only fruit cartons and plastic bags, rubbish from a ship. A thorough land search of Cape Otway and King Island also proved fruitless. Thus, the search was called off Wednesday night. An Aero Commander would fly over beaches later in the week to watch for wreckage which might get washed ashore.

Oct. 26: The investigation was switched from the rescue coordination center to the Department of Transport air safety investigation

branch. An official said at the time, "the Department of Transport is inquiring into all aspects of the aircraft's last flight. This encompasses the airworthiness of the aircraft, the operation of the aircraft--including the flight plan--and other factors involved--that is, the pilot himself."

## WHERE IS FRED VALENTICH?

Fred Valentich's apparently tragic experience immediately became the subject of world-wide press attention Indeed, the drama of this incident was a marked change from the "Policemen See Distant Ambiguous Light" variety of report to which the media often seem to restrict themselves. The case also generated global speculation on the Australian pilot's fate. Some of the suggestions in the Australian press seem patently outrageous; instead of a real UFO, Valentich was watching an aurora, then crashed. Another idea posed by Ken Williams, the Department of Transport spokesman, to the press was that the pilot was watching meteorites, got struck by one of them (!), became disoriented and flew upside down, causing his engine to rough-idle and cut out. Does it need to be pointed out that the history of meteorites striking vehicles is almost unprecedented. while the history of UFO involvements with the mysterious disappearance of planes in the Center for UFO Studies computerized UFOCAT number almost twenty? Still, a great deal of debate has centered on a few alternatives to the UFO "planenapping" suggested by the pilot's last words. Arguments for the "prosecution" and "defense" are listed below, following each proposed alternative:

## PREMISE #1: VALENTICH TURNED THE PLANE UPSIDE DOWN IN THE DARK AND WAS SIMPLY WATCHING REFLECTIONS OF HIS PLANE LIGHTS OFF THE WATER.

## Arguments in Favor:

1) The sun set at 6:43 PM that Saturday, and the moon didn't rise until after 11 PM. Mr. Michael Falls, an experienced flight instructor with the Great Pacific Aeroplane Company in Melbourne told the Christchurch STAR that Valentich may have risked his life by flying without a horizon in the dusk sky. "In that case, he may have flown by his instincts instead of his controls. If you can't make out a horizon then you are in big trouble, unless you are experienced with instruments."

2) Valentich made only one night flight before on instruments (thought to be Benalla, 80 miles north of Mel

bourne). One source stated he only had 15 hours of night flying.

3) Spokesmen for the Department of Transport echoed sentiments that the young Cessna pilot wasn't very experienced and "could easily have accidentally turned the plane upside down and seen his own lights reflected in the sea."

4) Valentich said his plane was "orbiting" (circling) and the UFO was orbiting above him. This effect would be achieved if he was watching his own lights off the ocean surface while upside down: the reflections would move with him.

## Arguments Against:

1) The Cessna 182L has a gravity-fed carburator. Upside down, the plane could only fly for 50 seconds at the most (11 seconds, according to another source). The sightings lasted for 6 minutes as timed by the tape recording.

2) Fred's father Guido told the press, "he was very good in aerobatics. He would have known immediately if his flight position was wrong."

3) There was no sound of a stall warning over the microphone, or engine splutter (though the latter isn't a guaranteed situation).

4) Arthur Schutt, veteran aviator who controls the Melbourne-based Schutt Aviation Company told the press. "In that half-light, the pilot would have soon known if the aircraft had started to turn upside down. The carpet comes out of the floor and the butts fall out of the ashtray."

PREMISE #2: IT WASN'T NECESSARY TO FLY UPSIDE DOWN. HE COULD HAVE CIRCLED STEEPLY INTO THE WATER WHILE WATCHING EITHER THE LIGHTHOUSE BEAMS OF CAPE OTWAY AND KING ISLAND REFLECTING OFF THE CLOUDS . . . OR HIS OWN LIGHTS OFF OF THE WATER IN FRONT OF HIM.

## Arguments In Favor:

1) Valentich's instructor, Mr. Aubrey Coates, said he could have become confused by beams from the Cape Otway and Cape Wickham (King Island) lighthouses. Coates has flown in the area for 13 years and claimed that the lights could have appeared like UFOs.

2) Veteran aviator Mr. Arthur Schutt also said the most dangerous time for discrimination was during the switch from visual flight to instruments at dusk. A disoriented pilot would believe his eyes, Schutt said, and not his instruments once he had lost the horizon.

3) Some pilots flying at night crashed after mistaking ground lights for