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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.
“Japan Air Lines Flight 1628”2 pages
US Deportment of Tron~ta t io<l F&derol Aviation Administration s u~ec 1 ACTION : Release of Incident Information re. JAL 1625 (UFO) From PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER, AAL-5 10DIRECTOR, AAL-1, CC: AAL-500 Me or n Date March 10, 1987 Repty to A11n 0 1 Attached for your review and information is correspondence and records of telephone conversations which docurr~nt my inquiry into the source of an unauthorized and premature release of investigative information by someone in the Washington, D.C. FAA office. The material they released was created by the Alaskan Region Air Traffic Division as part of the JAL 1628 (UFO) investigation. Premature release of this ma~erial, as cited by Mr. Klass in the attached news article, was embarrassing to me and the agency, as several hundred other news correspondents had been told that they could not review or receive the material until it was officially distributed by the Alaskan Region Flight Standards Division and the Public Affairs Office. A considerable amount of effort went into the planned release of this material which if leaked to the press, or rel eas ed to "selected" news sources, would create t he impression that the agency is not to be trusted. The unauthor ized and premature rel ease of investigative materials r elative to the f l i ght of Japan Air Line s 1626 , (UFO) as reported by a Mr. Philip K~a ss i n t he Anc hor age Da i l y J~ e~ s wire service story,(dated Januar y 30 , 1987 ), appears to be attributabl e to a Mr . John Call ahan, ( AAT-F3 ) in Washington, D.C., who probabl y received access to the mater i al frorr, one of the two FAA empl oyee s who r eceived the material f ro~ t he Al askan Re gion Air Traffi c Di vi s i on. I am not certa in by what authority t he Air Traff i c Divi s ion releas ed the material when the inc i dent was still und er investi gation by the Alaskan Re gion Flight Standards Offi ce. It seems that if such authority is policy that it should, as set forth by the attached example, be examined for its possible negative consequence s to the agency. cont inued ... u
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