Valentich Case Files Finally Released

The investigation files of the Valentich disappearance have been released to the public after decades of reluctance and the pages are very interesting.

Keith Basterfield has submitted several Freedom of Information requests that appear to have finally paid off with the release of 315 pages of the investigation into what happened to the young pilot, Frederick Valentich. He’s posted many of the details on his (and Pauline Wilson) excellent blog …Valentich Files Released (UFOs - Scientific Research) The files were released to him just a couple of weeks ago...good work Keith!

In October 2011, during a routine look at RecordSearch, I discovered that this file was now listed as file series B1497 control symbol V116/783/1047, title "DSJ-Cape Otway to King Island 21 October 1978 - Aircraft missing (Valentich) 1978-1992" barcode 10491375. It was shown as held by the Melbourne office of the NAA. However the status of the file was shown as "closed." Despite this status, I submitted a request for access to the file, reasoning that by 2012 the papers on the file dated 1978-1981 should now be publicly available.

Thanks to Keith's excellent persistence, it’s now possible to do your own investigation and draw your own conclusions about what happened when the Cessna 182l vanished into history back in 1978.

Documents include:

* Chart of the intended flight path
* Aircraft data
* Flight crew data
* Flight data
* Meteorological data
* A sequence of events
* An analysis of the cause
* Attachments.

Valentich Files Released by Australian Government


Although this disappearance is very well-known, here’s a basic summary for those who don’t know.

Mr Valentich, an inexperienced pilot, had filed a flight-plan and took off into the Melbourne skies at 18:19. Almost an hour later, 19: 05, he contacted Melbourne Flight Service Unit (ATC) and asked for advice about another aircraft in the vicinity. He described the object’s movements as ‘orbiting’ his plane and passing by too closely. It was ‘…sort of metallic (like) it’s all shiny (on) the outside…’



At 19:12 Valentich and the Cessna lost contact and disappeared…
Rather than re-hash the same old stuff that’s been available for years, I’ve picked out a few sections and elements that justify the legendary status of this complicated case.



Investigators went straight for the character of Valentich; they interviewed his girlfriend, family and aviation buddies. They found some conflicting aspects about his plans and ideas. On the one hand, he wasn’t a drinker, didn’t take drugs and was a very steady character with no more than average intelligence.

Girlfriend Rhonda said...


On the other hand, he was very squirrely about this last flight; he’d claimed to be picking up friends in the plane and no such people existed. He’d also said he was flying to King Island for crayfish and this was found to be unlikely as no arrangements had been made. Why would a straight-forward flight require conflicting explanations?




He and his father were fascinated by UFOs, but so are thousands of other people and it should have little bearing on their characters. Valentich didn’t talk much about UFOs, but his girlfriend recalled him once saying that if a UFO landed, he’d go with it and take her with him. Now that could be used, by some, to suggest he possibly planned to disappear and was laying the groundwork. It could also be the wishful-thinking of a guy just out of his teens. Is a UFO fantasy that much different to wishing to escape by winning a lottery? It’s all escapism.

The confusion surrounding the investigation led to several possible explanations that fell short of confirmation due to bad luck and missed opportunities.

For example, a pilot actually saw debris in the waters of Bass Strait in the right place and right time. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the on-board tech to identify his coordinates and had to ascend to a high altitude to get his bearings. By the time he tried to return to the debris, he’d lost sight of it. Another missed opportunity was the discovery of separate debris from a Cessna 182L and from the same production line as Valentich’ plane; it was found in a different location and thought an unlikely suspect.

Cessna debris


Cessna aircraft weren’t cheap. They cost a half-million dollars in modern money. Maybe he’d arranged to slip away and sell the plane on the black-market? This might have netted him a few thousands, but black market rates are usually around 10% of actual value for people at the bottom. Possible, but not high on probability.

Other aspects we can see in the files are the series of UFO and unusual aerial activity in the skies that night. In fact, within the same time-frame (+/- hour) strange activity was reported by different witnesses in four separate locations. One of the reports described a large triangular object seen through binoculars; another involved a light rising and dipping in the location of Valentich’ plane. A very interesting account described ‘metallic scintillation’ in the same area, at the same time. What could that have been?

'Metallic scintillations'


Bright object dips and rises


Triangular yellow object report


Witness sketch


The case remains unsolved although investigators listed several possible scenarios...



‘UFO intervention’ is justifiably a minutely low-probability event. However, I’m not sure of the logic behind the investigators’ conclusion there. After all, if nobody saw the aircraft crash – or vanish – does that mean nothing happened? Ruling out a UFO based on the lack of reported large flying objects seems a little simplistic.

Summary

By reading these files, you might find something that others have missed. Whatever really happened, it appears there was a collision of factors that make the circumstances bewildering. Why did Valentich seem dishonest about his plans? Why was he preoccupied on the Friday night? Was it a coincidence that debris from a Cessna 182L was discovered elsewhere? He described a strange metallic object and others saw odd lights and objects at the same time. If he hoaxed it all, circumstances seem to have helped him a great deal. If he didn't hoax it, what might have happened to him?

You can find out for yourself by visiting Keith's blog and following his directions.

Some links -
Valentich wiki
Valentich Disappearance: New Evidence and a New Conclusion (Haines)
Keith Basterfield's Blog

reply to post by Kandinsky


This is a significant update on what would widely regarded to be, one of the most fascinating unsolved disappearances in modern aviation history.

Bravo Keith Basterfield for having the tenacity to not allow this remarkable event to be forgotten.

Here's the actual Aircraft Accident Investigation Summary Report by the Commonwealth of Australia's Department of Transport which includes a transcript of the dialogue between Delta Sierra Juliet and Air Traffic Control.

It maybe somewhat awkward to read, however there is an excellent breakdown of the transcript in the link provided.

hecklerspray.com





Character assassination is often a strategy employed to deflect the truth and construct alternative possibilities....however in this case, the weight of evidence supporting unknown intervention and the authenticity of Frederick Valentich's final words stand alone.

This case has puzzled many over the intervening years.....Strange circumstances, make for uneasy investigations.....
I hope we get some conclusion at the linky poo..........too many of these turn out to be not explainable......
We have lost other planes to UFO.s.....
There are three i can recall off the top of my head......two fighters and a cargo/passenger plane with 26 aboard.......the RAAF was a in little over it head tring to expain the event........
Well well well, thats very interesting confirmation of the green flying saucer or whatever....Hanson and girls all saw it force the cessna into the water presumably.....stilll, one wonders if the took Fredrich or left him to swim............................guess well never know for sure.......

reply to post by Kandinsky

Excellent posts, OP. Well presented and eminently readable.

I recall this case well; I was in my twenties when this occurred and it was the number-one news item in Australia for some days and pretty well everyone I knew was discussing it. (I was living in Sth Australia at the time.) While very few of my friends took it as definitive proof of a "genuine" UFO, most of them at least were willing to consider this angle as possible. That is to say, they accepted that it might have been an unknown craft that the young pilot saw.

We had a lot of discussions over the various potential scenarios, from straight-out contact with an "alien" craft to meeting up with a craft involved in a TS military project, through to Valentich setting up the whole thing to fake his own disappearance for reasons unknown.

My own feeling at the time was that even if it were a UFO (craft), that didn't have to mean it was of extra-terrestrial origin. Both my parents had been employed by the Australian Dept of Defence and some of their work was classified; in respect of this particular case I recall my father saying words to the effect: "He [Valentich] very likely saw something, but I doubt we'll ever know what it really was." I couldn't draw him on this, though. He took his oath under the Official Secrets Act very seriously (as did my Mum).

These days, I tend even more strongly towards the belief that Valentich did see something and that he probably panicked and crashed, but I'm still open to what it was that he saw.

Mike

Hey, very nice batch of information that! I've always hoped to someday get to hear the radio transmissions from that incident. Apparently Richard Haines has heard - or possibly has - a copy of that recording. Thanks for taking the time to bring this to our attention.

Interesting case mate but nothing new here. I can't help but feel this one will never be solved.

I would like to hear the audio tape, if it was to be released publicly.

I always like this case, the only thing that lets it down is one thing.

He was asked a direct question.

How large would you say the object is?

and never answered it,

Originally posted by Kandinsky

By reading these files, you might find something that others have missed. Whatever really happened, it appears there was a collision of factors that make the circumstances bewildering. Why did Valentich seem dishonest about his plans? Why was he preoccupied on the Friday night? Was it a coincidence that debris from a Cessna 182L was discovered elsewhere? He described a strange metallic object and others saw odd lights and objects at the same time. If he hoaxed it all, circumstances seem to have helped him a great deal. If he didn't hoax it, what might have happened to him?

As always, Kandinsky, you put together a top quality summary of the newly released files.

It was great to finally have a chance to read through this and I must say, I came away with a new outlook.
The case remains unsolved, but I certainly see that something seems amiss with his flight plan - the story of him picking up crayfish or some people waiting at the other end. It does seem downright suspicious. I can see multiple scenarios, but none seem to fit all the facts.

I do wonder if Valentich did stage his disappearance and provided the "UFO encounter" as a possible means to both "explain" his disappearance and perhaps reassure his father that maybe he was okay. He knew his father was a believer in UFOs and indications are he was a greater believer than Frederich.

I agree that it still seems to be at minimal, an interesting coincidence that there were other UFO sightings that night.

It seems to me that evidence suggests he did not "stage his suicide", as there does seem to be no evidence that he was depressed - although he certainly had reason to be frustrated by his failure to pass (repeatedly) some of his commercial pilot examinations.

If he was simply "staging his disappearance" then what happened to him and his airplane? You would think that one or the other would show up sometime.

Although the newly released documents are fascinating in details, they don't seem to lead to any definitive conclusions.

Originally posted by Zcustosmorum
Interesting case mate but nothing new here. I can't help but feel this one will never be solved.

I would like to hear the audio tape, if it was to be released publicly.

edit on 30-6-2012 by Zcustosmorum because: (no reason given)

I heard that Richard Haines has a copy of the audio tape.Richard Haines wrote a book about the Valentch disappearance. I'm not sure if that rumor is true. (Oops! Just read Orkojoker's post saying the same thing - well I guess it shows that I wasn't dreaming that info)

Originally posted by bluestreak53

Originally posted by Zcustosmorum
Interesting case mate but nothing new here. I can't help but feel this one will never be solved.

I would like to hear the audio tape, if it was to be released publicly.

edit on 30-6-2012 by Zcustosmorum because: (no reason given)

I heard that Richard Haines has a copy of the audio tape.Richard Haines wrote a book about the Valentch disappearance. I'm not sure if that rumor is true. (Oops! Just read Orkojoker's post saying the same thing - well I guess it shows that I wasn't dreaming that info)

edit on 30-6-2012 by bluestreak53 because: oops!

Yeah mate, that is all correct, I've read Haines' report on it, makes for interesting reading, although hearing the audio for myself would be better

en.wikipedia.org...

If you check the references part at the bottom, you will find Haines' report, which in summary basically says a location for where the debris would wash up, would be possible to find (I am not sure if this search was carried out), it also says the debris of that particular plane wouldn't sink quickly and would've been visible if it had crashed. Also of note, is the part where he says the aircraft was definitely the focus of attention of the UFO. A true mystery indeed.

reply to post by bluestreak53
I'm glad you've had a look through the files - it makes you one of the good ATSers.

I felt the same way after reading it as you....inconclusive. He could have been miles away from his flight plan when he radioed for advice. He could have planned an escape from his life and somehow ditched and died. His behaviour prior to the flight was inconsistent. These factors could support a theory that he went missing on purpose.

With his girlfriend recalling his wish to escape from everything, it at least shows that he'd thought of disappearing. I mean, we all think like that sometimes and there are times when we feel disenchanted with the world around us. Chances are, we'll never know if they were off-the-cuff comments or indications of intent...



What are the odds that a passing comment of such extreme unlikeliness would actually happen within two weeks?

Then we have the RAAF guy reporting that strange scintillating effect in the sky. What could that have been? It calls to mind something like radar chaff, but how the heck would that be possible?

One thing I was waiting to see in the files was some letters from Philip Klass. It appears his research into the case didn't involve much...research?

For those interested in the tapes, the file contains a letter to Guido Valentich honouring a request for a copy of the tape. It asks that he keeps it within his family. He mostly complied with their request although he shared a copy with RF Haines. Who can blame him? He had a faith in the reality of ET-UFOs and was looking to find out where his son was.

For the world at large, this remains a fascinating UFO incident, but for his father, he'd lost a son and we shouldn't let that central fact be outweighed by curiosity. Before I let my 'high horse' take me too far, I would also like to hear the tape or perhaps read a report of a modern analysis.

reply to post by Kandinsky


This story and these files are really interesting. I don't feel so bad about my handwriting now, after trying to read through page after page of those handwritten notes. It looks like Guido Valentich was the Dad and he kept pushing for information and the media played it up, and the officials were trying to get out of the limelight, from what I have read through so far. It looked like they thought they had a hit with the wreckage found near the other island, but the thread says that didn't pan out. Why did they decide to dismiss that conclusion? I haven't found anything in the files yet that would explain why the wreckage was dismissed. I am on page 27 so far, but trying to decipher the handwriting is giving me a headache, so I'm taking a break...

Thanks,
Gwynnhwyfar

Living in the US, I never heard about this incident before. Thanks for posting.

It didn't look like the object appeared on radar but was visible from the land making this intriguing. If it wasn't for that, I would chalk this up to a suicide. Were there ever reports of similar crafts after this incident during the next few weeks?

Nice, this case has always stayed top of my mind as 'evidence'. Didn't someone capture a video from a nearby beach that they assumed could have been the same object about as it was taken just 20 minutes later or so? Definitely spooky. I feel sorry for the guys parents. But an interesting case to bring up - always. Thanks for that!

Got to know thier family priest many a year ago andthe one thing i rememberin sayin was his father had Franks birthday presents there waiting for him to return and open.

Great work, Kandinsky.


I haven't read through all of the material, but are there further details about the search for the aircraft? It seems to me that debris would have been spotted if it had indeed crashed. The fact he radio'd in about a UFO and disapeared is no coincidence to me.

Some say he did it all for an insurance claim.

"To begin with although he did submit a flight plan he did not inform King Island of his flight plan; an unusual fact given Valentich aspired to become a commercial pilot. Valentich was also 40 minutes late leaving the Melbourne area than he had planned

Link

Could just be an odd coincidence, or something was afoot.

The pilot’s father Guido Valentich strongly believed his son was still alive---that he was being held by someone from another world. More importantly, the elder Valentich said his son had been interested in UFOs for many years and even reported sighting one about 10 months before

link


So, about ten months before the incident, he reported a sighting? Strange. I wonder what he reported.and if it matches what he saw before he vanished.

The insurance claim seems a bit far fetched at such a young age. You would think he would at least celebrated his birthday with his family before his big get away. Reading through the documents, he had no issues with family or friends, had a nice girlfriend, seemed stable.

The UFO explaination is just as credible as the insurance motive.

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


Good point. According to his father, he reported a ufo about ten months before the incident.

I wonder what the odds are, on that actually happening to someone. To witness a ufo and almost a year later have an extreme close encounter and supposedly abducted/attacked by one.

I do not see how being abducted by aliens and faking your death for life insurance money are equally credible.

Originally posted by phrankie79
reply to post by v1rtu0s0

 

Good point. According to his father, he reported a ufo about ten months before the incident.

I wonder what the odds are, on that actually happening to someone. To witness a ufo and almost a year later have an extreme close encounter and supposedly abducted/attacked by one.

It makes one wonder if the UFO was attacking him, or picking him up for a ride. Maybe he will return someday?

Assuming they are traveling at the speed of light or faster, he could be back any day, and only a minute amount of time relative to him would have passed like a year, etc.

I don't think a highly evolved race would simply abduct someone in this way without a larger purpose. Hopefully they weren't just looking for fast food...