What Radar Can and Cannot See
When Melbourne Flight Service told Frederick Valentich there was “no known traffic” near Cape Otway, many took it as proof he was alone in the sky. The truth is more complicated. In 1978, radar coverage over south-western Victoria was patchy at best. Below certain altitudes and beyond certain ranges, an aircraft, or anything else, could […]
The Bass Strait Triangle: A Century of Disappearances
The stretch of water separating Victoria from Tasmania has claimed aircraft and vessels with unsettling regularity. From the loss of an Airlines of Australia DC-3 in 1946 to the vanishing of Frederick Valentich’s Cessna in 1978, Bass Strait has earned a reputation as Australia’s answer to the Bermuda Triangle. Sceptics point to the strait’s notorious […]