Klass and Haines inquiries and FAA responses

F'H ILIP J KLASS
404 N S T so u rt-tW ES r
WAS HIN G T O N . D C 2 0 0 2 4
Special Reports
FAA Data Sheds New Light
On JAL Pilot's UFO Report
Philip J. Klass
T HE UFO MOVEMENT, suffering
from an extended drought of excit-
ing new UFO incidents to attract media
and public interest, got a sorely needed
shot in the arm in early January, when it
was disclosed that the pilot of a Japan
Air Lines 747 cargo airliner had reported
an encounter with a giant UFO over
Alaska on November 17, while flying to
Anchorage from France. The incident had
occurred in twilight conditions, starting
about 6: 15 P.M. local time, with the sun
abo ut 11 degrees below the horizon.
According to initial press reports, the
incident seemed a classic. The principal
witness was an experienced captain,
Kenju Terauchi, whose reported visual
observations seemingly were confirmed
by a USAF/ Federal Aviation Admini-
stration radar. Additionally, the UFO
seemingly paced the JAL 747 for more
than 40 minutes, offering an extended
period for observation by two other crew
members of the cargo aircraft loaded with
French wine destined for Japan.
Important new insights into the inci-
dent have since emerged as a result of
the FAA's wise decision to offer a com-
plete data package to the public at modest
cost. The available data includes a ver-
batim transcript of the JAL pilot's tape-
reco rdcd radio communications with
322
FAA controllers during the incident, tape
recordings and transcripts of FAA inter-
views with thc ·three JAL crew members
in early January, about six weeks after
the incident occurred, and a copy of the
revealing report that Captain Terauchi
submitted to the FAA, also in early
January.
In releasing all available data on the
incident, the FAA's Alaskan Region pub-
lic affairs officer, Paul Steucke, noted
that his agency "does not have the re-
sources or the Congressional mandate to
investigate sightings of unidentified flying
objects. We have not tried to determine
what the crew of Japan Air Lines flight
111628 saw based on scientific analysis of
the stars, planets, magnetic fields, angle
of view, etc."
During the initial phase of the
November 17 UFO iricident, a Jong-range
USAF/FAA radar sporadically seemed
to show a single blip in the vicinity of
the 747's radar blip-at a time when the
pilot was repo rting seeing se veral UFOs .
Fortunately, the FAA record s radar data
(for subsequent analysis in event of a
mid-air collision or a near-miss), and it
was sent to the FAA's technical center
near Atlantic City for analysis by radar
specialists, to determine if the Jong-range
USAF/FAA radar had indeed detected
THE SK EPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 11
an unidentified object in the vicinity of
the JAL 747.
Thi s analysis showed that the sporadic
second blip was due to a phenomenon
known as "uncorrelated primary and bea-
con target," which can occur if the radar
energy bouncing off an aircraft does not
arrive at precisely the same instant as the
signal transmitted back by the aircraft's
radar transponder. According to FAA
specialist Dennis R. Simantcl, who ana-
. Iyzed the data, "these uncorrelated pri-
mary returns arc not uncommon due to
the critical timing associated with the
delay adjustments in the aircraft tran-
sponder . .. and the target correlation
circuitry within the radar equipment."
The FAA data package reveals
Terauchi to be a "UFO repeater," with
two other UFO sightings prior to
November . 17, and two more this past
January, which normally raises a "caution
flag" for exporienced UFO investigators.
The JAL pilot is convinced that UFOs
are extraterrestrial and when describing
the Jight(s) Terauchi often used the term
spaceship or mothership.
During his January 2 interview with
FAA officials, Terauchi said that he be-
lieved the "mothership" intentionally
positioned itself in the "darkest [easterly]
side" of the sky because "I think they did
not want to be seen.'·' This enabled the
UFO to sec the 74 7 "in front of the sunset
and visible for any movement we make."
In his report to the FAA, he expressed
the hope that "we humans will meet them
in the near future."
Terauchi, who was based in Anchor-
age at the time but has since been trans-
ferred back to Japan, noted in his report
that his flights over Alaska "generally
(are] in the daytime and it is confusing
to identify the kind of lights" in darkness.
As an example, he described seeing lights
from an Alaskan pipeline pumping sta-
tion reflecting off snow-co ve red moun-
tains, which initially puzzled him.
(On January 11, a few days after
Terauchi gave FAA officials his recollec-
tion of the November 17 incident, he
323
again reported spotting unusual lights in
roughly the same area while on a repeat
fli ght from Paris to Anchorage. The JAL
captain, who has a limited verbal faci lity
in English, asked to record his description
of the January I I UFO in Japanese. Its
translation, included in the FAA's data
package, resembled Terauchi's description
of the UFO initially sighted on November
J7: "We see irregular pulsating lights just
there is a large black chunk [sic] just in
front of us. Distance is five miles. It seems
to be a ·spaceship, ah UFO." The pilot
reported a similar sighting a few minutes
later. But when the USAF/FAA radar
failed to confirm the presence of any
object, he and the FAA later agreed that
these January 11 UFOs were merely lights
from small villages being diffused by thin
clouds of ice crystals.)
Captain Terauchi, who quickly be-
came an international media celebrity,
provided colorful accounts of the inci-
dent. But he always failed to mention
that two other aircraft in the area that
were vectored into the vicinity of the JAL
747 to try to spot the UFO he had been
reporting were unable to see any such
object. This is revealed in the transcript
of radio communications betw ee n
Terauchi and FAA traffic controllers a nd
their communications with the flight
crews of United Airlines flight 1169 and a
USAF C-130 transport.
United 1169 was headed north from
Anchorage to Fairbanks at the time that
JAL #1628 was head ed in the opposite
direction along a parallel airway to
Anchorage. The FAA asked the United
pilot if it could vector him slightly to the
left of his intended path, to bring him
within several miles of JAL 111628, to see
if he could spot and possibly identify the
"UFO." As Unit ed 1169 approached,
Terauchi reported the bright light to be
at his "nine o'cloc k" posi tion-rough ly
broadside and to the left at a n estimated
distance of about ten miles.
The United captain agreed, and
Terauchi was asked to turn ·his landing
lights on briefly to help the United crew
Summer 1987