FAA news releases

U.S Department
Of TronsportotiOn
Federal Aviation
Administration
FOR RELEASE ON
MARCH 5 , 1987
1187-09
News:Office of Public Attars
Alaskan Region
701 C Street. Box 14
Anchorage. Alaska 995 13
(907) 271-5296
CONTACT: PAUL STEUCKE
FM REI .E:A$f$ DOCUl£HIS ON
REPORTED UFO SIGHTING LAST NOYEMBER
The Federal Aviation Administration today released documents relating to the
reported sighting of an unidentified flying object (UFO) over Alaska by a Japan
Air Lines flight crew on November 17, 1986, saying it was unable to confirm the
event.
The material was issued by FAA's Regional Office in Anchorage, Alaska, and
included transcripts of pilot-controller corrmunications, interviews with
controllers and the flight crew, radar plots and other data.
FAA's Regional Public Affairs Officer Paul Steucke pointed out that FAA
normally does not investigate UFO sightings but pursued the JAL incident in its
role as the operator of the air traffic control system. He said the agency's
objective was to determine if there was an unreported aircraft in the vicinity
of the JAL flight that could present a safety hazard.
As part of the inquiry, Steucke said, radar data of the JAL flight track was
reviewed by FAA experts at the agency's Technical Center in Atlantic City,
N.J., using identical equipment. They determined that a second radar target
near the JAL flight at the time of the reported sighting was not another
aircraft but rather a split radar return from the JAL Boeing 747.
Tec hnically, this is known as an "uncorrelated primary and beacon target
return.'' It means that the primary radar signal reflected off the aircraft's
surface did not correlate exactly with the pulse e~itted by the aircraft's
radar beacon transponder. This phenomenon is not unusual and gives the
impression of two separate radar targets.
Steucke also noted that FAA controllers who monitored the JAL aircraft said
in their statements that they thought there might have been another aircraft
because of the dual radar targets. However, a northbound United Air Lines jet
that was diverted by controllers to intercept the JAL flight path did establish
visual contact with that aircraft but the pilots saw nothing else.
The Nov. 17 UFO sighting was reported by JAL Captain Kenjyu Terauchi on a
cargo flight over the polar cap from Iceland to Japan via Anchorage. Captain
Terauchi said he had visual contact from approximately the U.S.-Canadian border
to south of Fairbanks. On Jan. 11, 1987, Captain Terauchi also reported
another sighting in the same general area as the first.
Steucke said FAA is satisfied that the safety of the air traffic control
system was not compromised by the Nov. 17 incident and plans no further
investigation of the circumstances.
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