News clippings

FLIGHT TO REMEMBERS
I Contlnu»j from Page A'l |
after that flnt sighting of
lights are some of the most
hlzorre in Alaska aviation
history. Since first becoming
public in late Decemb^, the
reports have transformed this
soft-spoken, 47-year-old, An
chorage-based pilot into an
international celebrity, inter
viewed by People magazine,
Tokyo television and more
than a dozen other national
tnd Intemationai publlca-
tioni.
Terauchi has lived quietly
in o comfortable house in
Anchorage, his base for the
last three years. He spends
several weeks a month flying
polar routes between Europe
and Alaska. During his time
off, he enioys fishing for red
•Ad silver
' This week, Terauchi is
hmne again. His phone rings
pften with reporters eager to
hear about his strange No
vember flight.
'Terauchi has an impressive
list of professional credentials
to lend weight to his rather
incredible tale. He has 29
years flying experience. He
says be hasn't often navigated -
the Iceland-Oreenland-An-
cborage route, but he has 'rou-
t^dy flown othef trani-^lar
Until November, Terauchi
says, he never believed in
UPOs. Now, he does. He
thinks they're sent by visitors
from outer space. In fact, last
Sunday, Terauchi again re
ported mysterious lights of a
spaceship during a f»ght to
Anchorage.
^ .This time, however, he ad
mits he made a mistake. He
tiow concedes that there was a
more terrestrial explanation
to what he saw. He agrees
.with Federal Aviation Ad
ministration officials who
speculated that the second
sightings were the lights of
villages reflected off ice crysr
tals m the atmosphere.
But Terauchi remaiirs con
vinced that the lights he saw
in November were spaceships
of some unknown, extra-ter
restrial origin. In interview
after interview, he methodi
cally makes his case, chwrUng
the events of the sighting on
flight maps of the arctic sky.
One day, he's convinc^
someone else will see the
crafts, and his account will
take on bew meaning. "I
think we have to keep this
record...."
Terauchi's encounter began
with his sighting of the two
belts of amber lights. To
check them out, he radioed
Anchorage air traffic control
lers. The controllers replied
that no military or civilian
flights werein the vicinity;- '
The two belts of light con
tinuedto dancein front offhe
plane. Terauchi grabbed for
his camera, but raized that
taking a picture would be
futile because'-thm was not
enough light to' expose the
film properly.
Five minutes after the
lights first appeared in front
of the plane, (bey suddenly
moved farther out ahead of
the plane, he said. He could
then make out the shapes of
the crafts — cylinders
wrapped in lateral lines of
light that extended from a
darker center..The lines ap
peared to be exhaust outlets,
and they alternately pulsated
light from the two sides of
{he cylinder. They appeared
to be controll^ by comput-
era, be said. As the two ob
jects reversed direction, the
exhaust lights appeared to
flare brighter.
Veteran JAL pilot recounts sighting of strange company
Co-pilot Tamefuji, in a sep
arate interview, also report^
Abov* {• tn llluttraiion based on »*r«ioobyWily!mH«y9
seeing the two strange lights.
"I saw several lights in front
of us, and then I couldn't see
them, and the captain told me
they were on the left-hand
side," he said.
After about 15minutes, the"
first two lights disappeared,
Terauchi said. Then, on his'
left, he saw a big band of
glowtog white light, similar
to the light emitted by a
fluorescent bulb. He turned
on his weather radar and
tuned it to a 2&-mile radius.
At eight miles, on the left
side of the screen, the radar
showed a tiny ball,
Terauchi radioed the FAA
flight control, center in An
chorage. Three controllers
monitoring radar saw what
they thought was an object at
about the same reference
point on their monitor, ac
cording to Sam Rich, an air
traffic controller, and Paul
Steucke, an FAA spokesman.
Steucke, however,said su^
sequent examination of the
radar tape showed the object
to be a split-image of the jAL
plane. Rich said none of the
controllers, at the time,
thought that was the case.
As the plane flew over
Fairbanks, the Ughts of the
city gave Terauchi a better
view of the new object. He
says the band of light circled
a huge walnut-shaped object
that appeared to be twice the
size of an aircraft carrier.
As the lights of the city
faded, Terauchi again could
see only the white band of
light. To try to lose the ob
ject, he got permission from a
controller to descend from
35.000 to 31,500 feet. The ob
ject descended "In forma
tion," he said. '•
Then Terauchi, af^ cdo-
sulting with CQntroUeiSk
made two 45-degree tuzm to
the right, then completed a
30O-degree turn. The ohJect
remained in view.
As the JAL plane flew past
Mount McKinley, controuers
asked a Fairbanks-bound
United Airlines flight to try
to confirm the sighting. The
United plane veer^ off to
follow the JAL flight path at
a lower altitude.
Just before the two planes
passed one another, the white
light disappeared.
"It was like a dream. Un
believable," Terauchi said.
Mulling things over in the
living room of his Anchorage
home, Terauchi postulates
that whatever he saw was
friendly. "I can't understand
the technology, but it'was not
dangerous. It was coippietely
controlled."
If he sees..the objects again,
he's ready to'tfy communicat
ing. Peribaps four blinks pf..
the wing lights, thenn^b
more. '
In Morse code, he -says,
that's "HI." •