Young Pilot Mysteriously Disappeared After Reporting A UFO Sighting

[nivek]

Young Pilot Mysteriously Disappeared After Reporting A UFO Sighting

Frederick Valentich

Aerial travel to an island off Tasmania resulted in a terrifying radio call and a disappearing pilot. Forty years later, there’s still no explanation.

Pilot Frederick Valentich mysteriously disappeared without a trace after saying, “it is hovering, and it is not an aircraft.” After those words, his radio cut off, and he, as well as the aircraft he was piloting, was never seen again.

A 20-year-old Valentich rented a single-engine plane out of Moorabbin Airport in Victoria on October 21, 1978, with plans heading to King Island in Tasmania to catch seafood.

Things got a terrifying twist when he noticed another aircraft tailing him.

It has been 40 years since the mysterious disappearance of the young Aussie pilot over the Bass Strait. No one has come any closer to figuring out what took place until today.

The only evidence of the incident was a radio conversation between Valentich and Steve Robey, the Melbourne Airflight Service Controller.

It was 7 pm when the pilot radioed in to ask if there were any aircraft in the area, just after something zoomed above him.

Robey answered that there was no known traffic in the area. He then inquired as to what type of plane the pilot was noticing.

Valentich said that he could not affirm, but he described it as something with four visible bright lights. He added that the aircraft just passed over him at least a thousand feet above.

Things got even unnerving after Valentich reported that the unknown craft was playing with him some game. He said that the UFO was flying over him two, three times, at speeds he could not identify.

The controller tried to get more information about the object as their conversation continues.

Valentich further described the thing as long, metallic, and with a green light. He added that the aircraft vanished at one point before suddenly reappeared on his other side. At this point, Valentich said his final words: “It is hovering, and it is not an aircraft.” After 17 seconds of silence, the transmission suddenly cut off.

An extensive search of the water and any surrounding land was conducted, but any indication of a crash site nor Valentich was ever found.

A plaque at Otway lighthouse is all that remains now of Valentich’s mysterious disappearance.

 

[1963]

Hi Nivek, this is one of my all time favourite cases.
The Frederick Valentich case is without doubt one of the most puzzling and well documented UFO events in the history of the genre. Even the [less radical] sceptics have scratched their heads in puzzlement for the last 42 or so years.
Keith Basterfield a respectable [and as knowledgeable a person in the field as you could get] has done as much or more than any other to get to the bottom of this great mystery. He was the one that through tunnelling through mountains of released 'official AAF secret papers' discovered that there had been a cowl-flap found washed up on the Flinders Island beach that 'could' have made it's way there by means of tidal movement according to the RANRL's estimation , and that by the remaining serial numbers on the cowl-flap was from a Cessna 182 aircraft which range includes the one that Frederick was flying. …. But beyond that, he's as baffled as the rest of us as to finding a prosaic explanation for this fascinating case.
There is also a tendency in my opinion for researchers into this case to totally ignore the "Roy Manifold Picture" aspect to this case! …. It may well have been merely a coincidence, but has imo an equal chance of having a far greater significance to the Valentich case than many people would have you believe.

… anyway mate just to say that I can never think of the Valentich case without also wandering off to the other just as authentic and very similar case that occurred just a couple of years later over in Mona Channel, Caribbean Ocean near Puerto Rico ….

The Disappearance of flight N3808H


Pilot transmission: - last words of pilot Jose Pagan Santos:






Location. Mona Channel, Caribbean Ocean near Puerto Rico

Date: June 28 1980

At 1810 Jose Antonio Maldonado Torres and his friend, Jose Pagan Santos, took off from Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in an Ercoupe aircraft marked N3808H.
The Ercoupe was owned by Santo’s father Jose Pagan Jimenez, an Aero
Police officer in Puerto Rico. They were bound for home in Puerto Rico. At 2003 the Las Mesas radar site and several aircraft picked up radio transmissions from N3808H:


“Mayday, Mayday, Ercoupe ocho cero, eight zero, zero, Hotel. We can see a strange object in our course, we are lost, Mayday, Mayday.”

An Iberia Airlines flight IB-976 en route from Santo Domingo to Spain responded to the Mayday and received a reply:

“Ah we are going from Santo Domingo to ah San Juan International but we found ah a weird object in our course that made us change course about three different times we got it right in front of us now at one o’clock, our heading is zero seven zero degrees…our altitude one thousand six hundred a zero seven zero degrees…our VORs got lost off frequency…”

Iberia Flight IB-976 then relayed a message from San Juan Center asking N3808H to turn on their transponder.
N3808H replied that the Ercoupe was not equipped with a transponder. At 2006 Iberia IB-976 asked for their call sing and estimated position and received this reply:

“Right now we are supposed to be a about thirty five miles from the coast of Puerto Rico but we have something weird in front of us that make us lose course all the time I changed our course a second (unintelligible) our present heading right now is three hundred we are right again in the same stuff sir.”

They were not heard from again. At 2012 the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Range verified the last radar position of N3808H as thirty five miles west of Puerto Rico. A search that included Santos’s father was then mounted which centered on this last radar position. It was discontinued after two days when no trace had been found. No trace was ever found.

Link

Cheers.

 

[nivek]

Here's the radio/pilot transcripts for the Valentich case which is a little disturbing to read:

9:06:14 DSJ FS Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet. Is there any known traffic below five thousand?

9:06:23 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—No known traffic.

9:06:26 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet. I am—seems (to) be a large aircraft below 5,000.

9:06:46 FS DSJ D Delta Sierra Juliet—What type of aircraft is it?

9:06:50 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet—I cannot affirm. It is four bright … it seems to me like landing lights.

9:07:04 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. [This statement affirms to the pilot that the person on the ground heard his transmission.]

9:07:32 DSJ FS Melbourne, this (is) Delta Sierra Juliet. The aircraft has just
passed over me at least a thousand feet above.

9:07:43 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—Roger—and it, it is a large aircraft—confirm?

9:07:47 DSJ FS Er, unknown due to the speed it’s travelling… is there any airforce aircraft in the vicinity?

9:07:57 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. No known aircraft in the vicinity.

9:08:18 DSJ FS Melbourne… it’s approaching now from due east~ towards me.

9:08:28 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet.

9:08:42 DSJ FS (Open microphone for two seconds)

9:08:49 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet. It seems to me that he’s playing some sort of game.—He’s flying over me two—three times at a time at
speeds I could not identify.’

9:09:02 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—Roger. What is your actual level?

9:09:06 DSJ FS My level is four and a half thousand, four five zero zero.

9:09:11 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet… And confirm—you cannot identify the aircraft.

9:09:14 DSJ FS Affirmative.’

9:09:18 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—Roger… standby.

9:09:28 DSJ FS Melbourne—Delta Sierra Juliet. It’s not an aircraft’… it is

(open microphone for two seconds) (This duration measured as three seconds. No information appears to have been removed from the tape.)

9:09:46 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—Melbourne. Can you describe the…er—aircraft?

9:09:52 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet… as it’s flying past it’s a long shape’ (open microphone for three seconds) (cannot) identify more than that. It has such speed (open microphone for three seconds). It is before me right now Melbourne.’

9:10:07 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—Roger. And how large would the —er—object be?

9:10:20 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet—Melbourne. It seems like it’s chasing me . 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.

9:10:43 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet.

9:10:48 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet (open microphone for 5 seconds) It’s just vanished.’

9:10:57 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet.

9:11:03 DSJ FS Melbourne would you know what kind of aircraft I’ve got?’ It is (a type) military aircraft?’

9:11:08 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. Confirm the… er—aircraft just vanished.

9:11:14 DSJ FS Say again.

9:11:17 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. Is the aircraft still with you?’

9:11:23 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet… It’s ah… Nor (open microphone for two seconds) (now) approaching from the southwest.

9:11:37 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet

9:11:52 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet - The engine is, is rough idling. —I’ve got it set at twenty three—twenty four… and the thing is—coughing.

9:12:04 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet—Roger. What are your intentions?

9:12:09 DSJ FS 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.

9:12:22 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet.

9:12:28 DSJ FS Delta Sierra Juliet—Melbourne (open microphone for 17 seconds)

(A strange pulsed noise is also audible during this transmission.)

9:12:49 FS DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, Melbourne.

End of official DoT transcript

http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case24.htm

.

 

[nivek]

Hi Nivek, this is one of my all time favourite cases.
The Frederick Valentich case is without doubt one of the most puzzling and well documented UFO events in the history of the genre. Even the [less radical] sceptics have scratched their heads in puzzlement for the last 42 or so years.
Keith Basterfield a respectable [and as knowledgeable a person in the field as you could get] has done as much or more than any other to get to the bottom of this great mystery. He was the one that through tunnelling through mountains of released 'official AAF secret papers' discovered that there had been a cowl-flap found washed up on the Flinders Island beach that 'could' have made it's way there by means of tidal movement according to the RANRL's estimation , and that by the remaining serial numbers on the cowl-flap was from a Cessna 182 aircraft which range includes the one that Frederick was flying. …. But beyond that, he's as baffled as the rest of us as to finding a prosaic explanation for this fascinating case.
There is also a tendency in my opinion for researchers into this case to totally ignore the "Roy Manifold Picture" aspect to this case! …. It may well have been merely a coincidence, but has imo an equal chance of having a far greater significance to the Valentich case than many people would have you believe.

… anyway mate just to say that I can never think of the Valentich case without also wandering off to the other just as authentic and very similar case that occurred just a couple of years later over in Mona Channel, Caribbean Ocean near Puerto Rico ….

The Disappearance of flight N3808H


Pilot transmission: - last words of pilot Jose Pagan Santos:






Location. Mona Channel, Caribbean Ocean near Puerto Rico

Date: June 28 1980

At 1810 Jose Antonio Maldonado Torres and his friend, Jose Pagan Santos, took off from Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in an Ercoupe aircraft marked N3808H.
The Ercoupe was owned by Santo’s father Jose Pagan Jimenez, an Aero
Police officer in Puerto Rico. They were bound for home in Puerto Rico. At 2003 the Las Mesas radar site and several aircraft picked up radio transmissions from N3808H:


“Mayday, Mayday, Ercoupe ocho cero, eight zero, zero, Hotel. We can see a strange object in our course, we are lost, Mayday, Mayday.”

An Iberia Airlines flight IB-976 en route from Santo Domingo to Spain responded to the Mayday and received a reply:

“Ah we are going from Santo Domingo to ah San Juan International but we found ah a weird object in our course that made us change course about three different times we got it right in front of us now at one o’clock, our heading is zero seven zero degrees…our altitude one thousand six hundred a zero seven zero degrees…our VORs got lost off frequency…”

Iberia Flight IB-976 then relayed a message from San Juan Center asking N3808H to turn on their transponder.
N3808H replied that the Ercoupe was not equipped with a transponder. At 2006 Iberia IB-976 asked for their call sing and estimated position and received this reply:

“Right now we are supposed to be a about thirty five miles from the coast of Puerto Rico but we have something weird in front of us that make us lose course all the time I changed our course a second (unintelligible) our present heading right now is three hundred we are right again in the same stuff sir.”

They were not heard from again. At 2012 the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Range verified the last radar position of N3808H as thirty five miles west of Puerto Rico. A search that included Santos’s father was then mounted which centered on this last radar position. It was discontinued after two days when no trace had been found. No trace was ever found.

Link

Cheers.

Hello old friend, hope you're doing well...This is a mysterious disappeared without doubt and the second case you mentioned equally very mysterious, especially noting the terminology used to describe the object 'weird' and 'strange'...This to me speaks volumes and most pointedly sounds to me as if they did not recognize the object as a ship of technological design, unless it was so foreign and unrecognizable to their eyes...Very mysterious...

...

 

[1963]

Hello old friend, hope you're doing well...This is a mysterious disappeared without doubt and the second case you mentioned equally very mysterious, especially noting the terminology used to describe the object 'weird' and 'strange'...This to me speaks volumes and most pointedly sounds to me as if they did not recognize the object as a ship of technological design, unless it was so foreign and unrecognizable to their eyes...Very mysterious...

...

Yes thanks Nivek i'm doing well enough matey, and hope that you are well too.
… and yes you're right "very mysterious" indeed.
The thing that I find almost equally as mysterious though, is the fact that one of these two commensurate cases is by no means treated with the respect by the professional investigative and educational bodies of the genre that it decidedly deserves. We can find a plethora of fact-checked papers and symposium lectures on the remarkable Valentich event [deservedly so] but almost nothing at all about the equally remarkable and verified Torres/Santos case. [something to do with the language barrier I suppose] .. but the fact that both of the doomed pilots commented on the UFO as being something that looked 'Weird' is something that I also think significant … [i'll not mention how weird the object in the Roy Manifold picture seems to me though? ]
… and also wonder why other strange occurrences in the same area are not more prominent on the scene, such as the fact that in June 1964 Puertorican National Guard plane piloted by William Gonzalez disappeared in virtually the same spot never to be seen again with various eyewitness testimony that the aircraft was being pursued by "A Big Fiery Red Ball" before disappearing ! … or that in the same area a national guard F-104 jet piloted by an American serviceman named Marvin Marks just instantly disappeared before the very astounded eyes of two other military pilots that were taking part in the same exercises with him , not to mention the surprise that the RADAR operators on land that were tracking all of the jets had when ...as they said that " the jet just simply vanished from the screens" … or indeed Luis Arjona and his team of The Commission of Natural Resources [set up by the parliament] were eyewitnesses in 1977 to the amazing sight of 'powerful bright light beams shining upwards from below the sea' in the very same area, and was then harassed by a brightly luminous UFO whilst they were returning to Puerto Rico , where they quickly drafted a resolution urging the Puerto Rico Legislature to set up an urgent enquiry into UFO's around their islands. …. which failed to materialize.
file:///C:/Users/cunli/Documents/FSRV43No4_JorgeMartin.pdf


So yep!... very mysterious indeed mate.

Cheers Buddy.