News clippings

FAA can't explain
lights in the north
The Associated Press
The Federal Aviation Ad*
ministration said Tuesday it
couldn't explain strange
flashing lights which spooked
the crew members of a Japan
Air Lines 747 cargo plane as it
flew over northern Alaska
last month.
**We are not investigating
as there is nothing to investi
gate,*' said Paul Steucke,
FAA spokesman in Anchor
age.
He said the military has
been imable —or imwilling —
to provide any information to
explain the incident. "They're
saying nothing," Steucke
said.
The incident began at 6:19
Continued from Page A*1
center, and asked if there was
any reported traffic in the
vicinity. A controller replied
that there was no known traf
fic in the area, but that he
had an unidentified blip on
his radar.
Steucke said a subsequent
review of the radar tapes did
not reveal any such object,
but that the controller in
sisted it was there.
As the lights continued to
pace the 747, the pilot re
quested permission to change
altitude. As he descended to
31,000 feet, the lights fol
lowed "in formation,"
Steucke said.
The pilot then requested
permission to make a 360-de-
gree turn to see if the lights
would follow. Upon complet
ing the maneuver, the pilot
reported losing contact with
the lights.
Steucke said radar opera
tors in Fairbanks picked'up
nothing on their screens in
p.m. on Nov. 17 as the JAL
plane was headed for Anchor
age on a flight from Europe,
via Iceland, on Us way to
Tokyo. As the aircraft entered
U.S. airspace at the junction
of the Canadian border and
the Beaufort Sea, the pilot
reported seeing unusual wUte
and yellow flashing lights.
The lights were approxi
mately 6 miles away, at the
same altitude of 35,000 feet
and traveling at the same
speed and in the same direc
tion as the JAL plane, the
pilot reported.
Steucke said the pilot
called the air traffic control
See Back Page, UQHTS
the vicinity of the JAL flight.
And he said a United Airlines
flight headed toward Fair
banks spotted the JAL plane,
but saw nothing else in the
sky nearby.
Military authorities were
notified of the sighting within
a few minutes of the initial
report, but it's not known
what — if anything — they
did about it, Steucke said.
The JAL crew members
were interviewed by the FAA
upon arrival in Anchorage.
Steucke said they all ap
peared. to be "well-trained,
professional, rational and not
*^fectedby drugs or alcohol."
He said all three reported
that the blinking lights ac
companied their plane for
about 50. miles across the
northern Alaska sky. The en
tire incident lasted about 30
minutes, Steucke said.
As for the time lag since
the Incident, Steucke said:
"We didn't exactly broadcast
it until the news media dug it
up."
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