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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.
Paul Ste u cke FAA - AA L5 701C Street Box 14 An ch o r age, Alaska 99513 Dear Paul: 325 Langton Avenue Los Altos, CA 94022 January 18, 1987 T nis is to pass on some furt her inforlJ1ation c on ce rning the unusual vis ual/ ra dar sighting of Noven: be r j 7, 198 6 by th e JAL c rew of flight 1628. By n ow your offi ce is probably caln:.ing do wn a bit. l\1y work load has been consis t ently high since getting invol ved in thi s particular incident. I have h a d an e xcellent opportunity to talk with Capt. Terau chi and both flight crew on United Flight 69. I am still a wa iting son.e det a ils on the winds aloft and satellite photographs. F or your information, this JAL flight originated in New York. The JAL crew boarded the B-747 in P aris with a gross take-off weight of about 770, 000 pounds which explains why they had to refuel in Keflavik, Iceland (not Reyk jevik) and again in Anchorage. When asked specifically about seeing a ny green lights associated with the unknown, Capt. Terauchi steadfastly sa i d "no. " He also said that the t wo rectangular lighted patches seemed t o wobble a little while seeming to n ove together thr ough the air ..• as if they s hared a common center of mass. His X-band on-board radar was on the 20 D.ile scale. I still am trying to determine the hull number for this aircraft through JAL contacts at SFO. I am also n:aking arrangements to interview the other t wo JAL crewmen. Capt. Terauchi said that all of the lights on the " object" went off together and completely, rather than in some random sequence. Fo r the human eye to perceive a complete "OFF" of such lights they likely would h av e h ad to stay off for from 100 - 200 milliseconds. Tungsten light sources probably couldn't do this so these lights were more probably gas d isch arge (or other} sources of luminous radiation. His use of the term "amber " and r ock et n oz zle yellowish-white strongly suggests a broad spectrun: source with i1.any different wavelengths rather than s o - c alled line spectra like me r cu r y or x en on (et c.) sources. Regarding the VHF radio static, my sources indicate that this really isn't that unusual in that vicinity (on 120. 6 & 133. l l\.af ), however, Capt. Terauchi said that he had never heard this ty pe z of stat i c before in h i s aviation career? Tnis is puzzling. Due to the angular elevati o n of the lights above the local horizon it is quite unlikely that they were reflecti o n s f ro m g r ound lights, particularly considering the exceptional clarity of the &ir that eve ning . My preliminary calculations s how the sun to be about 8 - 10 be low t h e norizon 0216Z (6:16 p m local) with Venus below the horizon, l.V•.ars ve ry dim Cl.Var = o. 2) in the ESE, and Jupiter very intense (l\"'v = - 2.1) in t he SE at 8. 5 above the lo c al horizon. I wou l d gre atly a pp re ci ate a fa vor if it is possi bl e . I am trying to obta in a copy of the tape (vo i ce) transcri pt b etween JAL/ 16 28 a nd An chorage end I or Fairbanks ATC on the night in que s tio n. It would gre at ly clarify m y flight- ! -1
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