Rightfully a favourite tale of many an E.T. enthusiast is the sudden disappearance of Australian pilot Frederick Valentich whilst on a training flight in 1978. During Valentich's flight, he radioed to report that an unidentified aircraft was following him at around 4500 feet, but was informed that there was no other air traffic flying with him at that location. The pilot then claimed he could see four bright landing lights as the craft flew closer and began to orbit his plane. After claiming to be experiencing engine problems, Valentich, when prompted to identify the other vehicle, simply responded "It isn't an aircraft", before transmission was interrupted by a "metallic, scraping" noise. Aliens definitely did it, is the conclusion that most of us immediately jump to, and it certainly seems like a suspiciously flying saucer-type thing to do. Theories also include accounts of the pilot being inexperienced and crashing, as well as a mysterious landing of a small aircraft in a nearby town not long after the final transmission occurred. However, Valentich has never been seen or heard of again, giving licence to UFO nuts everywhere to explode with delight that we have been visited in the past 40 years.
