Valentich 40

Young pilot Frederick Paul Valentich went missing over Bass Strait in his single engine 182L Cessna aircraft. No trace of him or his plane was ever found. We gathered with the people whose lives were so affected by this incident 40 years ago to the day to commemorate this mysterious yet tragic event.

Hear Air traffic controller Steve Robey, the man who last spoke to Fred, and the moving and intimate testimony of his then-fiancé, Rhonda Rushton. The event was held at Moorabbin Airport, the place that Fred was last seen, and went on through the exact time that he left the airport and went flying over the Great Ocean Road.

We realise not everyone can attend our conferences and therefore we hope you can at least enjoy our video.

We are proud to have assisted Dr Patrick Stokes with his ABC Earshot podcast, Last Light: the Valentich Mystery

When twenty-year-old pilot Frederick Valentich vanished off the coast of Cape Otway in October 1978, his final transmission to air traffic control recorded him saying, “That strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again. It is hovering, and it’s not an aircraft”. These words caused a global sensation. 

Forty years on, those caught up in the event, from Fred’s girlfriend to the air traffic controller who spoke to him in those final minutes, continue to wrestle with what happened that night and in the days and weeks that followed. 

In this program, philosopher Patrick Stokes explores what the mystery of Frederick’s disappearance says about how we live with the past, and the power and limits of stories themselves.