What Happened to Frederick Valentich? Possibly the scariest UFO case ever

reply to post by Kailassa


Yeah, it's a fair point. I wasn't thinking of how calm he was, I suppose, as it's impossible to tell. He could have been screaming the end bit, but you're right that his being calm wouldn't mean very much.

It's open to interpretation, of course, but it's the choice of words that seems strange to me. "It is hovering and it's not an aircraft". In my opinion, that's an odd way of putting it: if you can see a UFO above you, do you say "it's not an aircraft"? He's already described it, and it's clearly very, very odd, but he still refers to it as an aircraft throughout ... until saying that it isn't.

I'm not saying this means anything either - it just strikes me as curious.

Experienced cessana pilot I believe. his flight logs were on the web at one stage. I think he was able to co pilot at 16.

Just to note there was a very famous abducton case in Mornington (an hour south of Melbourne, a few hundred km from where he dissappeared) around the same time that seemed to hold water and was never debunked.

I'll post a link when I remember the name.

I've got a wacky idea for you:

It all strikes me as a bit odd really, the way he described what was happening, the fact that he didn't file a flight plan, something he usually always did - I think when someone acts out of the ordinary and does / doesn't do things that they usually would / wouldn't do, then it starts the alarm bells ringing, and of course he didn't file the flight plan well before the UFO appeared, but why go to such an elaborate length, & for what purpose?

He was only 20 & wasn't in trouble with the Police, so it's a bit daft to suggest he made himself disappear because he was involved in drug smuggling (& I can't see that drug smugglers would swallow that story if he were in trouble with them), but it does seem like the object was to excuse the disappearance of FV, so how about ......

Suppose that FV had met a sticky end before the plane even took off, suppose he was murdered or killed in an accident - the person/people responsible would need to explain what happened to him, or his sudden disappearance, unless FV appeared to conveniently and rather neatly disappeared in front of witnesses, so a plane crash/disappearance would be ideal since no body would be found.

If someone other than FV took out his plane, they wouldn't be able to file a flight plan, since FV would be known to the people who its filed with, explaining why on this 1 occassion no flight plan was filed.

They would need to also disappear the plane, since actually crashing it on land or at sea would potentially kill the real pilot, and also wreckage couldn't be found without a body, and so they would have to pretend that it had crashed, and it would have to be at sea.

However, it still is a problem that wreckage might be expected to be found, so how to come up with a story that makes it seem that the plane has just disappeared, along with FV too, getting rid of the problem of FV, the problem of no wreckage, & letting them walk away scott free? - the UFO idea is perfect.

So they fly the plane out, but head off in a totally different direction to where they are supposed to be, and make some radio calls about a UFO. Then they land the plane somewhere else & dispose of it somehow - maybe it got chopped up in a scrap yard somewhere, or maybe they found somewhere deserted to land it before floating it out to sea.

Maybe it never even took off in the first place (since it never appeared on radar at any time), or maybe I've been watching too much Columbo

You make some decent points.

However what needs to be taken into account here is that it was BIG news in Australia and was investigated. He was known at the local airport and I believe the route was a very standard run for a small plane. Bass Strait is one of the most treacherous oceans and King Island depend a lot on the service of cessenas for supplies etc.

Because of the seriousness of an alledged sky abductions local news reporters did a lot of investigation. They could not report this story with the typical "martian grin" of a tabloid report since his family and the aviation authority were taking it very seriously.

It was the first time I can remember in my life when ufo reports were common talk in this part of Aus.

As mentioned the story faded ad nobody could uncover any credible info proving or disproving the alledged incident. I have heard the sound bite of the abduction, it is on the net. (sorry if that's been covered)

A few years after this "incident" a base was set up and located in Sale as an air and sea rescue operation called the NSCA. It was operated by a mysterious character who had ties with the CIA and often flew from the base in Sale to Pine Gap. Although this may seem like irrelevant info, there was a lot of rumour about the relationship with the FV incident, the UFO flap at the time and so on.
The reason it is mentioned is that the NSCA was equiped way beyond it's needs and the founder dissappeared.

There has been suggestions that these incidents are related.

No credible links to provide, although a search here on ATS should provide a link.

Originally posted by Evasius
I thought this case sounded familiar. I work for one of the major newspaper groups here in Australia - a few months ago I searched our database for everything UFO related, and this photo came up. It's not of the event, but evidently from '20 minutes prior' looking out over Cape Otway. An unidentified object was caught in frame, and the photo was later submitted to accompany the story when it was published.



The caption is from the database. I know nothing more about the photo, other than it's related to the main UFO event.

[edit on 8/11/08 by Evasius]

Do you think it possible that's a photograph of a bee flying close to the camera?

reply to post by Kailassa


Could be a bee, it looks like it might have wings.



[edit on 8-11-2008 by Steve B]

Sorry double post

[edit on 8-11-2008 by Steve B]

Sources are essential for a good post. However this case was covered massively by the MSM in Australia. It led to prime time talk shows making investigations around the time the New Zealand famous ufo footage from a prime time current affairs show was filmed and shown by credible journalist. They caught a real ufo on film. There's too much info on it.
It is not one of those cases that grew over time. Most Melbournians will remember it. (I was 10 and I never forgot it. I am trying to find the headline on the newspaper at the time.
The whole scenario had the Orson Wells effect. Although after the hype people were ostracised for talking about it. I remember thinking how crazy it all was because the official investigations actually backed up the alien adduction story. As you read here there was a huge flap in this whole area before hand and afterward.
FV and his family had nothing to ain from the publicity except confusion as it went down as unsolved.

[edit on 8/11/2008 by serpentine]

Great thread, scary stuff. However, is there a possibility of the pilot wanting to disappear? Surely he could have ditched in the ocean, thereby killing himself and providing no wreckage. But anyway, it reads as very interesting evidence of 'something'.

Originally posted by Power_Semi
It all strikes me as a bit odd really, the way he described what was happening, the fact that he didn't file a flight plan, something he usually always did

Contrary to the rumours in this thread, Valentich DID file a flight plan. He did so around 5.30pm. Like most pilots, it was suspected that he 'cut the corner' around Cape Otway, which saves a few minutes of flight time and extra fuel.

Also, there were no reports that he was acting 'strange' in any way. He had around 150 hours in a Cessna. He was flying to King Island to clock up some hours and to buy some cheese.

It's all reported in the UFOlogist article that I'll get my hands on in 22 hours from this post. I'm not buying another copy at the newsagents, when I already own one at work! There's a map in there of the likely flight path that Valentich took, for the last few minutes of his flight, based on his transcript with MFS and all of the witnesses who saw his plane.

Originally posted by serpentine
A few years after this "incident" a base was set up and located in Sale as an air and sea rescue operation called the NSCA. It was operated by a mysterious character who had ties with the CIA and often flew from the base in Sale to Pine Gap. Although this may seem like irrelevant info, there was a lot of rumour about the relationship with the FV incident, the UFO flap at the time and so on.

While it's probably a little off-topic, you can read about it here: Fortress Australia.

John Freidrich was the man in charge of the defunct NSCA and no one knew anything about him... strange...

I remember that incident taking up pages and pages in the papers and lots of airtime on the TV news.

Yes, off topic. Although the FV incident seemed to be the start of a lot of abduction stories in this general area (surburban Melb to Bass Strait).
The NSA had all sort of unanswered business, and some of the adduction stories that made the media seemed to come from very unlikely sources for hoaxes. Not meaning all stories involved people whose credibility was untouchable, but more very regular families.
Now after reading up on the case t seems disinformation has been fed or just evolved about FV.
It remains an incredible case. Although I am not sure the photos taken at sunset are relevant.

Originally posted by serpentine
Yes, off topic.

Not entirely off-topic, just a little!

There were some rumours about Valentich being targetted on pupose, possibly linked to the NSCA. He was planning on joining the RAAF.

The association with the East Sale RAAF base was a close one. In fact two senior RAAF officers sat on the board of the NSCA. East Sale is a secure RAAF base and is often used by NASA (U2 flights) and other unexplained U.S. aircraft. It is also the repository of secret U.F.O. information and was the base that Frederick Valentich attended for a special course relating to U.F.O.'s before he disappeared over Bass Strait on 21st October, 1978 while reporting a close encounter with a large U.F.O. So concerned was Valentich about what he had seen and been told at Sale that he emotionally told his parents shortly afterwards that "should they take me I should be O.K. so don't worry, they will probably put me back." (This was told to the writer by Guido Valentich, Frederick's father, in late October, 1978).

That's taken from Fortress Australia

Who knows what really happened?

I am curious about the military or other career of Fredericks grandfather, to ascertain any genetic or attribute personality correlations or assumptions along the lines of 'maybe they thought he would make a good flyer' train of thought.


I don't suppose anyone knows the name of Guido's pop?

Do you think there is any credible link to the NSCA and ufo activity? The stories about it seem to come from rather right wing websites. Although I can't see much crediblilty in the stories of Sale been some sort of ufo monitoring station, I do remember talk from older members of my family who were not into ufos, but still seemed convinced something big was going on around these bases.

Was Valentich really attending a coarse there just before he disappeared? Has this been varified?

I was thinking perhaps they ran general air/sea safety and rescue courses for local pilots and maybe he was warned to be on the look out for ufos (meaning foreign aircraft perhaps unfamilar to him) and asked to report them to the base.

Apparently the stealth was completely operational then and may have been tested in this region. Perhaps he was harassed by one which would have looked and behaved completely alien to him, and it caused him to crash.

Just a thought?

Still think it's one of the most genuinne stories, regardless of whether the ufo was from here or somewhere else.

some while ago people asked about there being a tape on the actual voice recordings and as i recall there is, but i cant remember which media company has it as it has been used on a few shows and not re-enactments,
i have it on a ufo compilation dvd and you can hear the strange interferance and sounds just before and after the communications die, really eerie noises...

reply to post by spender


I just watched this on the history channel. I don't know if it's the actual voice recording or just a re-enactment but it sounded scary.

To Op. Cool thread, s&f...

Originally posted by tezzajw
Contrary to the rumours in this thread, Valentich DID file a flight plan. He did so around 5.30pm. Like most pilots, it was suspected that he 'cut the corner' around Cape Otway, which saves a few minutes of flight time and extra fuel.

Yeah after a bit of digging I found that out. Thats why I edited the links out in the OP. Internos' post on page one confirmed that a flight plan was submitted, he posted the copy of the original report too

I recall this as a kid living in South Australia at the time. I found the story fascinating & still do.

What i do recall however was after the event a TV news crew went up in a larger plane (may have even been a military transporter looking for him at the time) and the crew taped or broadcast an encounter themselves.

On the film they were looking out the large open back door of the transporter & were being followed by an object. It was daytime but stormy grey weather as I recall it. I can still see the footage now of the reporters face & the camera views of the object that was following them as clear as day. It was hard to make out what the object was but its light could be clearly seen and the pilots of the transporter confirmed there were no other planes in the vicinity.

What I will always recall is the terrified look on the news reporters face as he reported on the object (I dont recall who he was but he was very well know at the time). I'd seen him report on a number of stories before but in this case he was absolutely petrified.

Originally posted by Nonchalant
What i do recall however was after the event a TV news crew went up in a larger plane (may have even been a military transporter looking for him at the time) and the crew taped or broadcast an encounter themselves.

It's probably Quentin Fogarty flying over NZ.

Check out this ATS thread for more info...

This ATS thread also covers the Valentich disappearance and mentions the Fogarty sighting too...

It's all old news - only being re-hashed due to the 30 year anniversary.

[edit on 9-11-2008 by tezzajw]