The Pilot Who Saw UFOs: The Valentich Disappearance

"It is hovering and it is not an aircraft."

These were the last words anyone ever heard from Frederick Valentich. On October 21, 1978, the 20-year-old pilot was flying a single-engine Cessna over the Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania. He radioed Melbourne air traffic control to report a strange aircraft following him. It had bright lights. It was metallic and shiny. It was orbiting above him. It seemed to be playing a game.

Then he said his engine was running rough. Then his final transmission: "It's not an aircraft." A metallic scraping sound. Then silence.

A massive search found nothing. No wreckage. No body. No trace of the aircraft. The disappearance became one of Australia's greatest aviation mysteries. A coronial inquiry returned an open verdict. The case remains unsolved.

In "The Pilot Who Saw UFOs," investigative journalist Alex R. Morgan presents a comprehensive, chronological investigation of one of the most chilling UFO cases in history. Drawing on the full radio transcript, the official file released in 2012, and decades of research, Morgan examines:

   The young pilot and his passion for aviation and UFOs   The fateful flight of October 21, 1978   The chilling radio transmission and Valentich's final words   The massive search that found nothing   The wreckage discovered five years later   The UFO theory and the wave of sightings that preceded the disappearance   The staged disappearance theory and why the wreckage disproves it   The suicide theory and why it was virtually eliminated   The disorientation theory and the scientific explanation   The eyewitnesses who saw strange lights that night   The 2012 file release and the new evidence it revealed

   The unanswered questions that continue to haunt us.