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Flight Engineer Tsukuba interview, 15 Jan 1987

FAA via National Archives / The Black Vault · 7 pages · text from the file's own layer

This FAA interview transcript, released through the National Archives and The Black Vault, records Pete Beckner of the FAA questioning JAL flight engineer Yoshie Tsukuba on January 15, 1987, with Sayoko Mimoto interpreting. The subject is the UFO that Captain Terauchi reported on November 17, 1986. Tsukuba says he saw clusters of white or amber lights ahead of the aircraft for about ten minutes, plus a fainter second light and a return on the weather radar. He adds that he was still unsure whether it was a UFO.

A JAL flight engineer, Yoshie Tsukuba, was interviewed by Pete
Beckner of FAA on January 15, 1987, through an interpreter,
Sayoko Mimoto, regarding to the UFO which had been sighted on the
17th of November, 1986, by Captain Terauchi.
Beckner:
Tsukuba:
Beckner:
Mimoto:
Tsukuba:
Beckner:
Describe what you saw.
May I speak in Japanese?
Oh! Yes, please.
Oh! yes, please.
The first time I saw it was through the Ll window, at
the 11 o'clock position. It looked larger than
navigation lights. I do not remember exactly how many
of those were there but clusters of lights
were undulating.
What was the color of those lights, was it green?
Tsukuba: I can not describe the details but it was white or
amber colored lights.
Beckner: When you saw the object was it obvious to you? Did you
notice it immediately?
Tsukuba: Yes, it was. I noticed it immediately.
Beckner: Did it stay with you at position 11 o'clock?
did you see this object?
How long
Tsukuba: Yes, approximately 5 minutes, 10 minutes, I think I saw
it for about 10 minutes after I sighted it the first
time. The reason is because the Captain wanted to take
pictures. His camera bag was placed behind his seat,.
beside mine, and I handed it to him. But he could not
take pictures, so I placed his camera bag beside my
seat again. So I think it took about 10 minutes.
Beckner: Why could he not take any pictures?
Tsukuba: Well, his camera is Alpha 7,000, with film ASA 100. He
could not operate it well. I mean the operating
procedure of the camera was not understood well.
Beckner: What kind of camera did he have?
1

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