Valentich then reported that the aircraft was approaching him from the east and said the other pilot might be purposely toying with him.

Valentich gave his altitude as 4500 ft and said the aircraft was " long ", but it was traveling too fast for him to describe it in more detail.

Valentich said the aircraft was " orbiting " above him and that it had a shiny metal surface and a green light on it.

Ufologists said these accounts were significant as most were recorded several years prior to the 1982 release of transcripts in which Valentich had described the object above him as having a green light.

According to an Associated Press report, Guido Valentich, the father of the missing pilot, said " he hoped his son had been taken by a UFO and had not crashed.

Valentich and his aircraft were never found, and an Australian Department of Transport investigation concluded that the reason for the disappearance could not be determined.

A firm believer in UFOs, Valentich had accumulated numerous articles about them and watched movies on the subject, and had told his father Guido that he was worried what UFOs could do if they attacked.

The Valentich disappearance refers to the unexplained disappearance on 21 October 1978 of 20-year-old Frederick Valentich while piloting a Cessna 182L light aircraft over Bass Strait in Australia.

During the 127-mile ( 235 km ) flight, Valentich advised Melbourne air traffic control that he was being accompanied by an aircraft about above him.

At 19: 06, Valentich asked Melbourne Flight Service Officer Steve Robey for information on other aircraft below ( 5000 ft, 1524 m ) and was told there was no known traffic at that level.

At 19: 09 Robey asked Valentich to confirm his altitude and that he was unable to identify the aircraft.

This was followed by 28 seconds silence before Valentich reported that the aircraft had vanished.

Valentich failed to arrive at King Island by 19: 33, and a sea and air search was undertaken, and two RAAF P-3 Orion aircraft searched over a seven-day period.

Analysis of a fuel slick found roughly near where Valentich had last radioed Robey proved that it was not aviation fuel, and no trace of the aircraft was found.

* The possibility remains that Valentich staged his own disappearance: even taking into account a trip of between 30 and 45 minutes to Cape Otway, the aircraft still had enough fuel to fly 800 kilometres ; despite ideal conditions, at no time was the aircraft plotted on radar, casting doubts as to whether it was ever near Cape Otway ; and Melbourne Police received reports of a light aircraft making a mysterious landing not far from Cape Otway at the same time as Valentich's disappearance.

Unconventional explanations for Valentich's disappearance include speculation by ufologists that the unexplained aircraft with the green light that he reported was a vehicle of some kind, which in turn either abducted Valentich or caused the destruction of his plane in some fashion.

Valentich stopped transmitting for about 30 seconds, during which time Robey asked for an estimate of the aircraft's size.

Inspired by the Bermuda Triangle, the term appears to have been first used following the Valentich Disappearance in 1978 although the region had a bad reputation ( never ascribed to supernatural forces, however ) long before that.

Frederick Valentich was born on 9 June 1958 in Melbourne.

Valentich was studying part-time to become a commercial pilot but had a poor achievement record, having twice failed all five commercial licence examination subjects, and as recent as the previous month had failed three more commercial licence subjects.

Valentich had a Class Four instrument rating and 150 hours flight experience, when he filed a flight plan at Moorabbin Airport, Melbourne, on 21 October 1978.

There was a further 25-second break in communications before Valentich reported that it was now approaching from the southwest.

Twenty-nine seconds later, at 19: 12: 09 Valentich reported that he was experiencing engine problems and was going to proceed to King Island.

A two-week long Department of Transport ( DOT ) investigation into Valentich's disappearance was unable to determine the cause, but that it was " presumed fatal " for Valentich.

A report published on 27 April 1982, summarised the radio conversations on the evening of 21 October 1978 between Valentich and Robey.

'"; Guido Valentich also told the AP that " his son used to study UFOs as a hobby using information he had obtained from the air force.

`` I could use some help '', Morgan said finally, `` but I can't afford to pay you anything.

Finally Hernandez said, `` I could offer you advice, Tomas, but you wouldn't heed it ''.

If you tell him I made a pass at you he might think you misunderstood something I said or did, so instead of just telling him I made a pass, say I tried to date you and that you agreed so you could prove to him what a louse I really am.

As cheerfully as possible, he said, `` Well, I guess we could all do with a little drink ''.

`` Hettie '', he said as gently as he could, `` we're still headed west.

This was the worst thing I could have said.

The girl took a couple of steps toward the man in shorts when Benson, in that barefoot courtliness Ramey could never decide was real, said, `` You don't want to go around there, Ma'am ''.

He could think of nothing else save his mental image of her nude figure and what Charles had said that morning about Margaret Rider.

Occasionally he would look across the aisle at Margaret, fourteen and demure in a fresh green organdy dress, sitting in the sixth-grade row, and he could hardly believe she would do what Charles had said she did.

Yet, I responded, could not similar things be said about the art of the past??

He said that Mr. Wright was not in, and so could not be arrested on something called a peace warrant that Miriam was waving in the air.

He said that the architect might reasonably be expected to carry his financial burdens if all harrassment could be brought to an end, and that the bank would accept a mortgage on Taliesin to help bring this about.

`` He's a wrong-o '', said Runyon, `` and I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw the Statue of Liberty ''.

When Nan Patterson, a stunning and money-minded chorus girl who had appeared in a Floradora road show, rode down Broadway in a hansom cab with her married lover, Frank Young, she stopped the cab to disclose that Young had been shot dead, tearfully insisting that he had shot himself although experts said he could not have done so.

Sherman was responsible for the story when he said in his memoirs that this was the only time he could recall seeing Thomas ride so fast.

Of course, there were books about which nothing good could be said.

but he defended the doctrine in The Art Of Happiness, and what indeed could be said against the Epicurean virtues, health, frugality, privacy, culture and friendship??

`` We tried to settle this dispute '', he said, `` but could never come to an agreement.

And then I put the question as pointedly as I could directly to Chiang Kai-shek: `` In America '', I said, `` practically no one believes that you subjectively intend to re-enter the Mainland.

He said he could do it.

Going downstairs with the tray, Winston wished he could have given in to Miss Ada, but he knew better than to do what she said when she had that little-girl look.

`` At least you could leave it for the movers '', Miss Ada said.

`` If I could only think of something at the studio, near me, to absorb his boundless energy '', I said.

One woman -- she could have been either English or American -- went up to him and said, ' But you are the foreigners ' ''.

`` I'm sorry, Mrs. Minks '', Arlene said in a tone so low you could hardly hear it.