The Frederick Valentich Incident

The Frederick Valentich Incident is probably the most significant UFO encounter in Australia and one of the strangest events in ufology. I posted this account a few years ago, but decided to update it and republish:

This account involves a young 20 year old pilot, Frederick Valentich, who filed a flight plan at Moorabin for a night flight to King Island where he was to pick up some friends and then fly back. King Island is in the Bass Strait between Australia and Tasmania.

On October 21st 1978 at 1819hrs, Frederick Valentich took off in his single-engined Cessna 182 from Moorabin Airport, Melbourne, Australia. As he was flying along the Bass Strait at about 5000ft altitude he told Air Traffic Controllers in Melbourne that he could see a large aircraft below him and wanted to know if they were aware of any aircraft in the area. Melbourne ATC said there were no known aircraft in the area and asked if he could identify it. Frederick said he couldn't identify it but it had four bright lights. The UFO then passed over him and appeared to be playing some sort of game with him. He said that the object was a long shape, very fast with a green light and sort of metallic, and that it was not an aircraft. The object was orbiting him and then just vanished. The UFO then reappeared approaching from the south-west. Fredrick reported that his engine was rough-idling and coughing. Melbourne ATC asked what his intentions were and he replied ' My intentions are - ah - to go to King Island - ah - Melbourne. That strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again (open microphone for two seconds). It is hovering and it's not an aircraft.'

Valentich filed a flight plan to take off from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and to land at Kings Island, Bass Straits, Tasmania

The last transmission from Frederick Valentich was at 1912hrs and an alert was immediately declared. When at 1933hrs it was evident that the Cessna 182 (Delta Sierra Juliet) had not arrived at King Island a full scale Search and rescue operation was launched. After five days of searching no sign of the pilot or aircraft was found despite the fact that the Cessna was equipped with a radio survival beacon.

The weather at the time of this incident was clear with a trace of Stratocumulus cloud at 5000-7000ft, excellent visibility with light winds. The aircraft was fully refuelled with approximately 5hrs of flying time and was equipped with 4 life jackets. There had also been many UFO sightings from people before and after this incident. Whatever the truth may be, the fact remains that Frederick Valentich vanished in mysterious circumstances, possibly UFO related, and that the mystery lingers to this day.

Transcript of transmissions between Melbourne ATC & Frederick Valentich (Delta Sierra Juliet)

1906:14 DSJ Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet. Is there any known traffic below five thousand?
FS Delta Sierra Juliet, no known traffic.
DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, I am, seems to be a large aircraft below five thousand.
1906:44 FS Delta Sierra Juliet, What type of aircraft is it?
DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, I cannot affirm, it is four bright, it seems to me like landing lights.
1907 FS Delta Sierra Juliet.
1907:31 DSJ Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet, the aircraft has just passed over me at least a thousand feet above.
FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, and it is a large aircraft, confirmed?
DSJ Er-unknown, due to the speed it's travelling, is there any air force aircraft in the vicinity?
FS Delta Sierra Juliet, no known aircraft in the vicinity.
1908:18 DSJ Melbourne, it's approaching now from due east towards me.
FS Delta Sierra Juliet.
1908:41 DSJ (open microphone for two seconds.)
1908:48 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, it seems to me that he's playing some sort of game, he's flying over me two, three times at speeds I could not identify.
1909 FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, what is your actual level?
DSJ My level is four and a half thousand, four five zero zero.
FS Delta Sierra Juliet, and you confirm you cannot identify the aircraft?
DSJ Affirmative.
FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, stand by.
1909:27 DSJ Melbourne, Delta Sierra Juliet, it's not an aircraft it is (open microphone for two seconds).
1909:42 FS Delta Sierra Juliet, can you describe the -er- aircraft?
DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, as it's flying past it's a long shape (open microphone for three seconds) cannot identify more than it has such speed (open microphone for three seconds). It's before me right now Melbourne.
1910 FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger and how large would the - er - object be?
1910:19 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, Melbourne, it seems like it's stationary. What I'm doing right now is orbiting and the thing is just orbiting on top of me also. It's got a green light and sort of metallic like, it's all shiny on the outside.
FS Delta Sierra Juliet
1910:46 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet (open microphone for three seconds) It's just vanished.
FS Delta Sierra Juliet
1911 DSJ Melbourne, would you know what kind of aircraft I've got? Is it a military aircraft?
FS Delta Sierra Juliet, Confirm the - er ~ aircraft just vanished.
DSJ Say again.
FS Delta Sierra Juliet, is the aircraft still with you?
DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet; it's (open microphone for two seconds) now approaching from the south-west.
FS Delta Sierra Juliet
1911:50 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, the engine is rough-idling. I've got it set at twenty three twenty-four and the thing is coughing.
FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, what are your intentions?
DSJ My intentions are - ah - to go to King Island - ah - Melbourne. That strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again (open microphone for two seconds). It is hovering and it's not an aircraft.
FS Delta Sierra Juliet.
1912:28 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. Melbourne (open microphone for seventeen seconds).



Click for video - The Frederick Valentich Incident

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Source: AP MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA.

Date: October 25, 1978.

AUSTRALIAN PILOT DISAPPEARS AFTER REPORTING CHASE BY UFO'S:

Boats and aircraft have found no trace of the 20-year old Australian pilot who disappeared with his plane on Saturday night after radioing that he was being chased by a UFO. Frederick Valentich was on a 125 mile training flight in his single engine Cessna 182 along the coast of Bass Strait when he told air traffic controllers in Melbourne that he was being buzzed by a UFO with 4 bright lights about 1000 feet above him.

Controllers said his last message was taped and was: "It's approaching from due east towards me. It seems to be playing some sort of game... flying at a speed I can't estimate. It's not an aircraft. It's...It is flying past. It is a long shape. I cannot identify more than that. It's coming for me right now." A minute later: "It seems to be stationary. I'm also orbiting and the thing is orbiting on top of me also. It has a green light and a sort of metallic light on the outside." Valentich then radioed that his engine was running roughly. His last words were: "It is not an aircraft."

The Australian Air Force said it had received 11 reports from people along the coast who said they saw UFOs on Saturday night, but the Transport Department was skeptical. Ken Williams, a spokesman for the department, said, "It's funny all these people ringing up with UFO reports well after Valentich's disappearance. It seems people often decide after the event, they too had seen strange lights. But although we can't take them too seriously, we can never discourage such reports when investigating a plane's disappearance."

Some Transport Dept officials have speculated that Valentich became disoriented and saw his own lights reflected in the water, or lights from a nearby island, while flying upside down.

Valentich's father, Guio, said his son used to study UFOs "as a hobby using information he had received from the Air Force. He was not the kind of person who would make up stories. Everything had to be very correct and positive for him. The fact that they have found no trace of him really verifies the fact that UFOs could have been there." Guio Valentich said he hoped his son had not crashed but has been taken by a UFO.

NOTE: if this account wasn't already strange enough, there was another bizarre incident five years later in the Soviet Union that pertains to this case (posted below):

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Five years after:

One evening in August 1982 near the village of Iman, Primorskiy krai, Far East, Russia Lieutenant Colonel Igor Valerianovich Kazantsev, Commander of a frontier guard detachment near the hamlet of Iman, received a report of a suspicious man arrested by soldiers from his unit near the Soviet-Chinese border. One of the soldiers, Nikolay D (later to become a resident of Sevastopol, Crimea) in 2003 wrote to the Simferopol based “Secret Doctrine” Newspaper, confirming that he took over the watch on that date to watch over the Russian-Chinese border.

Approaching evening near the foot of one of the hills they saw smoke from a fire and soon detained a man about 40-years of age, dressed in a cowboy shirt, thick wide trousers, outfitted with “complete tourist gear”. The man assured the KGB sergeant that he had the necessary permission from local authorities of Primorskiy kray to do some prospecting in the area. Orders were given to detain the mysterious “geologist”. He was taken to the unit duty officer. During a search the soldiers found a very powerful searchlight and a strange dark elongated object, like a small flask with two dozen dots printed on its upper section without any visible pattern. The dots formed a strange image. Nikolay D paid special attention to the strange dot-like markings on the object.

The stranger showed a document indicating that his name was Sarychev (possibly an AKA, real name being possibly V. Sosnin). He also showed a letter from Academician Vsevolod S Troitskiy, correspondent-member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Chairman of the Commission for Study of Anomalous Phenomena. (Such a commission did truly exist). The man stated that he was engaged in prospecting in the area, but soon admitted under the pressure of interrogation the he was indeed involved in “UFO research”.

The strange black flask or capsule attracted everyone’s attention. The man stated that he found the capsule at an altitude of 1204 (m over sea level). Inside the capsule a plate rolled like a tube was found. When the KGB officer extracted the plate, it immediately straightened up emitting a slight rustling sound. The plate had an English text, written with a substance bright orange in color. The text was later translated to Russian and following is an approximate translation:

“I am Frederick Valentich, Junior, pilot. I was captured together with my plane Cessna-182 by a UFO on October 21 1978 145 miles south of Melbourne. Because of very limited time and of extreme danger to my state, here is what is most important.

What was proposed to me was beyond my imagination. Later I came to the conclusion that several factors influenced my psyche, at first, the reality of the UFOs and their pilots, and secondly, their proposal for me to become the pilot of one of their aircraft(!).

Here is proof of contact with another civilization and the man who achieved this is I, Frederick Valentich. That was what I thought. But the most tempting was their fantastic proposal for me to stay in my same physical body, so I have not aged over my current 25 years of age (my age when I signed such a “contract” with the aliens). This proposal “eclipsed everything” even those few purely human affections I’ve had. At the moment of the deal I remembered only that my mother had died, I am single with no children. I didn’t even remember my aunt and two of my ex girlfriends I have been close with, this is additional evidence of a strong psychological influence put upon me.

The giant UFO I have to work in is a “cargo ship”. The crew, except those humans which were captured just like me, are 2-3 aliens. All belong to a civilization located in the Pleiades constellation and represent an interplanetary organization with 6 civilizations from Orion, Swan and the Big Dog constellation; our Solar system is also part of it.

Like us they’re also albumen organic entities, breathing oxygen and of similar body build.

Answering such questions like, what are they doing here, they stated on numerous occasions that they were engaged in research work. But according to my own observations that is only a mere screen covering their “real” activities and to calm the conscience of other earthlings who signed such compelling contacts like mine.

Our basic load from Earth---is liquid oxygen obtained from plants installed onboard the ship. These “researchers” impudently steal the most valuable part of Earthly atmosphere. And idiots like me are actively helping them in this. The main route of our craft—Earth and Jupiter’s satellite Callisto where a huge constantly operating base is located.

Oxygen is loaded into balloons made of plastic-metal. Volume can be estimated in weight---the large balloon weighs no less than 110 pounds, the smaller ones—2 times less than that. The maximum quantity of balloons that our ship has taken for one flight to Callisto is more than 12,000 large and 5k small balloons. Imagine how much oxygen they take from Earth! We make 2 flights per week sometimes. God help me and those who find this letter! Russian or Chinese---I ask to give this capsule to the Australian embassy and to the representatives of our embassy, give it to scientists for further study!!!”

To establish the authenticity of this material evidence, it was sent to several scientific research laboratories of the USSR for secret analyses. Results of the research exceeded all expectations. Documents with the results of the study were compiled, stamped and signed by the expert laboratory of KGB USSR, document dated September 29 1982. Institute of Astronomy of USSR dated October 10 1982. Institute of the Technical Physics USSR, Chelyabinsk-40 (nuclear military industrial center), and dated November 12 1982, all the documents were classified TOP SECRET.

Here is the opinion of a member-correspondent of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR Dr. Nechai PhD, addressed to the special expert commission in the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. “The amazing physical and mechanical characteristics of the materials, their uncommon chemical compound and structure allow to make the following conclusions:

- …materials obtained by the technologies, unknown yet to humankind and apparently outside the Earth. The plate is the source of unknown radioactive emanation of colossal penetrating ability and spoils all other types of cinema and photo films…

- Many other facts, described by Valentich were summoned to the systematic analyses according to modernized authorship-detection program created in our institute. The result, the author, Frederick Valentich couldn’t invent all of that alone and even to extract that from known science fiction literature, actually being taken onboard a UFO in 1978…”

What happened to the material evidence next is the following. The mysterious plate was transferred to the Australian embassy. A special commission was created there; a graphic, logical study was made. Style and grammar of the letter was compared with other material written by Valentich, obtained from the Melbourne Air Club (like flight records written by Valentich). The Australian commission came to the conclusion that the text on the plate and the records in the flight journal from the Melbourne aviation club belonged to one and the same person---none other than Frederick Valentich. The evidence was so strong that it was ready to go to court.

Unfortunately for humanity the cover up was effective and everything was classified TOP SECRET, possibly with the participation of the American CIA. Where the alien capsule with the letter is now, is not known, possibly in the USA (in a deep basement under the Pentagon?).

Perhaps even more alarming is a case investigated by Spanish researcher Manuel Carballal. According to the testimony of a number of witnesses, a young man who identified himself as Frederick Valentich, the Australian pilot who mysteriously disappeared in 1978 was alive and well in 1990 at Plaza del Charco, a seaport square on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Displaying an Australian passport to prove his claim, Valentich told those with whom he spoke on several occasions that he now belonged to a group of humans who had been “recruited” by extraterrestrials. It is also worth noting that the supposed Valentich showed no signs of aging, and resembled the photos circulated around the time of his disappearance at the age of 20.

Sources:
militaryairshows.co.uk
Yuriy Belikov - Pravda - Moscow January 17 1998
skycontrol.ne
Scott Corrales - “Human-Like Ufonauts Reported in Many Countries” - MUFON Journal #405, January 2002
ufos.about.com
ufoinfo.com
historicmysteries.com
Lawrence Fawcett and Barry J. Greenwood - UFO Cover-up: What the Government Won't Say

The Spaceships of the Visitors: An Illustrated Guide to Alien Spacecraft

UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record

UFOs: The Secret History