The Great Ecker-Klass Debate

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Just figured out that comment about Klass' drug smuggling reference has been removed from Valentich Incident wikipedia page:
Valentich disappearance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is how that reference looked before on that page in the past - pasting from archive.org:

https://web.archive.org/web/20111215095117/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentich_disappearance
In 1992, prominent UFO researcher Philip J. Klass[16] made unsubstantiated charges that Valentich was a drug smuggler, which caused offence to Valentich's relatives.
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I was able to locate the reason for it and it was exactly as I suspected:
It is on the discussion page - pasting here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Valentich_disappearance
Philip J Klass[edit]
Noticed that the reference for the Philip J Klass comment comes from a UFO magazine, rather than Klass himself. It's not reasonable to expect a UFO magazine to be fair to a UFO skeptic; the reference should have been from one of Klass's works.Tgiesler (talk) 13:39, 21 October 2011 (UTC)

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There should be no dispute any more about it as it is now documented and audio is available thanks to Don (it is here on this thread and in my report here):
http://www.ufoupdateslist.com/2013/jun/m30-003.shtml
Comments from other reasearchers here (search for thread with same title):
UFO UpDates: Jun 2013

It is interested that on the Klass' personal wikipedia page that reference still stands - pasting:
Philip J. Klass - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"this position was echoed by Don Ecker,[22] who asserted that during a 1992 debate, Klass made unsubstantiated charges of "drug smuggling" against Australian pilot Frederick Valentich, who disappeared in 1978 after claiming a strange UFO was flying near his airplane."

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Considering wikipedia and skepticism here is interesting article by Sheldrake:
Wikipedia Under Threat | Science Set Free

 

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Adding this to the collection for the thread archives from James Clarkson posted on UFO Updates FB group - pasted in red:

Close encounter with Phil Klasss
Source: Log into Facebook | Facebook | Facebook


James Clarkson
January 28 at 2:38am

Since Debunkers have become the cause celebre as part of the discussion of the Phoenix Lights mass sighting event of 1997, I will share my favorite experience with the King of the Professional Debunkers, Phillip Klass; I hope he is enjoying whatever he earned in the hereafter. In 1995, I was security for the MUFON Symposium in Seattle, WA. There were signs everywhere stating that no one was allowed to record the proceedings without permission. I got notified that Mr. Klass was recording the proceedings. I found him sound asleep in an aisle seat with a tape recorder in his hand with the red Record light brightly lit and two buttons depressed. I asked the staff photographer to take his picture. When the flash went off, a very startled Phillip Klass woke up, looked at me, and then very awkwardly threw his recorder into the air. When it landed on the floor, he said, "Oh, it must have hit the record button." I escorted him outside and he had to get rid of his recorder before he was allowed to return. This is what I like about Professional Debunkers - nothing but integrity and style all the way. Klass reminded me of the many drunks I stopped while I was on duty who told me they only had "two beers." I am still trying to figure out where they buy their beer; I can't get that drunk on two beers. Obviously, if Klass would lie that readily over a simple issue, this tells me a lot about what he was willing to do when he allegedly investigated UFO cases.

 

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Adding this classic gem to the batch.

Travis Walton and Mike Rogers vs Phil Klass.

Broadcast from March 12th, 1993.

And if you thought that the TV show was the end of it, you were wrong
At the time, Klass wrote about it in his newsletetter too:
http://www.csicop.org/docs/SUN/SUN21.pdf