Maybe one of the more intriguing UFO cases, what I didnt know until just now is he was reportedly a UFO enthiusist and I didn't realise he was only 20 years old. Because of this, the creditability of it being a UFO related disappearance has dropped to zero. I was reading online he most likely was disoritentated and flying upside down, the lights he claimed to have seen were most likely some planets or a reflection of his own. I think in a panic, he saw what he wanted to see and obviously crashed into the sea.

It's likely that he entered into a flat spin, and being an inexperienced pilot wasn't aware of it or knew how to get out of it. Same thing more than likely happened to JFK Jr.

I'm always skeptical of hallucination explanations for people's behaviour. People generally don't have hallucinations unless they are sea sick, dehydrated, or on some kind of drugs. And there is no way anyone is mistaking the planet Venus or any other planet for that matter for some kind of spacecraft. Its still just a point of light even at its brightest.

When something happens that really has no explanation sometimes people so hard to try to cram a rational explanation to the situation that it ends up being more absurd than the sexy explanation.

Unless wreckage is found, there is really no way of knowing what happened to Frederich Valentich. I'm not saying it was alien abduction, but its simply never been explained. The staccato sound on his final transmission has never been explained either.

I think in a panic, he saw what he wanted to see and obviously crashed into the sea.

After reading up on the case years later, I always believed he committed an elaborate suicide. But you bring up a good point that his death could have just as easily been accidental, but him being a UFO enthusiast made him believe that he was genuinely experiencing one.

Valentich's replies to Melbourne air traffic control mirror, almost word-for-word, those made to the air control in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

So, I go for an intended hoax that turned horribly wrong when he entered into either a graveyard spiral or a controlled flight into terrain.

Valentich's replies to Melbourne air traffic control mirror, almost word-for-word, those made to the air control in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

So, I go for an intended hoax that turned horribly wrong when he entered into either a graveyard spiral or a controlled flight into terrain.


This definitely puts a new spin on things - never heard about that before (nor did I know he was a UFO enthusiast as someone else said). I'd go along with either a hoax or elaborate suicide.

After reading about how it’s speculated JFK, Jr. crashed the plane he was piloting ( I don’t remember the name, but essentially John Jr got disoriented and may have been flying upside down), I naturally assumed the same happened to Frederick.

But I seem to remember a witness on the ground seeing the airplane followed closely by a green metallic object.

Am I remembering this right? It's been awhile since I seen the episode.

But I seem to remember a witness on the ground seeing the airplane followed closely by a green metallic object.

Am I remembering this right? It's been awhile since I seen the episode.

That's right. But this witness wouldn't allow himself to be identified, and he didn't come forward with what he saw until several years after Valentich's death.

After reading about how it’s speculated JFK, Jr. crashed the plane he was piloting ( I don’t remember the name, but essentially John Jr got disoriented and may have been flying upside down), I naturally assumed the same happened to Frederick.

Spatial disorientation

Spatial disorientation

Yes. Thank you. :)

After reading up on the case years later, I always believed he committed an elaborate suicide. But you bring up a good point that his death could have just as easily been accidental, but him being a UFO enthusiast made him believe that he was genuinely experiencing one.

An elaborate suicide, wow never thought of that and puts a new perspective on things and something new to consider.

https://www.planeandpilotmag.com/news/pilot-talk/2020/11/23/mysteries-of-flight-alien-abduction-or-pilot-error/