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This FAA file, released through The Black Vault, collects correspondence and memos about the Japan Air Lines flight 1628 UFO report over Alaska on November 17, 1986. It includes Philip J. Klass's 1987 Skeptical Inquirer article, which attributes the sighting to Jupiter, Mars and moonlit ice clouds, and FAA Alaskan Region public affairs memos on the premature release of investigation material. It also contains Richard F. Haines's request for the case file and Paul Steucke's reply explaining the radar returns as uncorrelated targets.
al so sa i d tha t Mr. Callahan told him about the C130 (SAC Mi l itar y flight) and Al aska Airlines sighting of unidentified air traffic that occurred on January 29, 1987 . He did not say if the revelation about the C130 occurred at t he same time as t he review of the JAL1628 material . A re gional inquiry by this office has revealed that the only investigative material forwarded out of this region prior to the completion of the investigation and the coordinated release of materials by t he public affairs office, was the material sent to Mr. Harvey B. Safeer, (ATS-1), and Mr . David F. Thomas (ASF-120) by the Al askan Region Air Traffic Division . Al though embarrassing, this particul ar breach of policy was not as da11aging to tl1e agency becaus e it was re l ated to the sighting of an "uniden~ified flyin g object 11 • If t his had been an av iation accident invol vin g a major a i r carrier with fatalities it woul d have creat ed monumenta l problems for t he publ ic affa irs office.
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 41 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.