Klass and Haines inquiries and FAA responses

could have generated the undulating
flame-colored lights that Terauchi
described.
It would also explain why the undu-
la ting lights would periodically and sud-
denly disappear and then reappear as
cloud conditions ahead changed. When
the aircraft finally outf1ew the ice clouds
and the initial "UFO" disappeared for
good, Terauchi would search the sky for
it, spot Jupiter further to the left, and
conclude it was the original UFO.
This case is likely to become a classic
in the UFO inventory because many peo-
ple assume tha t a senior airline captain
could never mistake a bright planet or
other prosaic object for a UFO. Yet when
the late Dr. J . Allen Hyne k re-analyzed
UFO reports in the USAF files, he found
that pilot s were as readily misled by
prosaic objects as persons in other pro-
fessi ons. Numerous air-accident-investi-
gation reports by the National Trunsp o r-
tation Safety Board confirm tha t even
experienced pilots are not infallible.
I am indebted to astronomers Nick
Sanduleak and C. B. Stephenson, of Case
Western Reserve University in Cleveland,
for their valuable assistance in computing
positions and bearings of bright celestial
bodies relative to the JAL 747 airliner at
the time of the November 17 incident. •
Philip J. Klass, who was a senior editor
with Aviation Week & Space Tech-
nology magazine for nearly 35 years until
Iris partial retirement in June 1986, has
been investigating famous UFO cases as
a hobby for more than 20 years. His
most recent book is UFOs: The Public
Deceived, published by Prometheus
Books.
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The Unmasking of Psychic Jason Mic haels
Richard Busch
I n the early months of 1986, Jason
Michaels, of Grove City, Pennsyl-
vania, had reached his psychic peak. He
had made the most of the nationwide
publicity resulting from his apparent
ability to predict the future . His most
notable supposed predictions were the
DC-8 Gander, Newfoundland, air tragedy
the previous December, which killed 248
American soldiers, and the Challenger
space shutlle disaster in January, in
which the crew of seven died. While any
performer is expected to appear on stage
and entertain, Michaels was claiming rea l
powers and doing so from TV and radio
newsrooms and through the wire services.
Our Paranormal In vestigating Committee
of Pittsburgh (PICP) in fact first hea rd
of Micha els on the KDKA-TV news.
While we believed that such precognition
might be pos sible, we wondered if
Michaels was employing physical or psy-
chological deception. Would he agree to
be tested? And what, if anything, would
be proved?
When I reached Michaels by phone,
the first question I asked him was, "A re
you a true psychic or do you entertain
with trickery?" His answer then and in
subsequent signed statements was firm
and clear: His psychic powers were real
despite any showma nship used on sta ge
to entertain. Yes , he wa nted to be tested
by us, although he wa ived a ny ri ghts to
PICP's offer of $ 10,000 for va lid a tion of
a psychic fea t u nd er controlled condi-
tions, cla iming he could easily win any
such prize if he wa nted to. We believe
that a letler of scientific va lida tion fro m
our Committee members would be worth
much more tha n $ !0,000 in p ublicity and
credibility.
M ichae ls agreed , in writing, never to
consider the Committee an audie nce and
never to use showma nship. He would
"not engage in trickery, magic tric ks, or
deception of any kind in any ma nner,
not even once, for any reason" in his
work with PICP. His psychic power, he
asse rted, was "not dependent at a ll, in
any way, on magical techniques or a ny
d eception or trick." He would neve r
"cheat in any way for any reason in order
to achieve a positive result." Everyth ing
done would be "real." He also agreed
that the Committee's presence in the test-
ing areas would not inhibit his a bili ties
or create any nega tive vibrations.
Thus Jason Michaels, who, in his
words, wanted " worldwid e fame" a nd to
be "bigger tha n Uri Geller," bega n his
ca mpaign to con vince us of his cla ims .
Accord ing to M ichae ls, he had already
been tested and va lida ted by Berthol d E.
Schwarz, a psychiatrist and psyc hic re-
searcher in Vero Beach, Flo rida.
Our testing of Michaels was essen-
tia lly accomplished in three pa rts: a p re-
liminary interview in the office of Do na ld
McBurney, a Uni ve rsity of P ittsbu rg h
psychologist; a form al ta ping session in
psycholo g is t Ma r k Stra us s's in fa nt-
development la bo ra tory a t the uni ve rs ity;
and dozens of phone conversa ti ons be-
t wee n Michaels a nd me. It see ms he
found me "comforta ble" to be aro und.
He sa id he could wo rk with me mo re
easily than with a lmost a nyone he had
ever met in his li fe. He invited us to co n-
sult a local magician to ve rify his honesty
a nd eve n agreed to pay $5,000 to any
magicia n to dup licate what he d oes unde r
ide ntica l cond itions. He d id insist, how-
ever, that James Ra ndi be kept away.
Mic hae ls was evid ently quite pleased
wi th his work with PICP. He mentioned
us not on ly to others in the field a round
the country but to re porters as well. He
')')')