Documents / Document
This FAA file, released through the National Archives and The Black Vault, collects 1987 newspaper clippings about Japan Air Lines Flight 1628. Capt. Kenju Terauchi reported that lights and a huge walnut-shaped object followed his 747 cargo jet over Alaska on November 17, 1986. The articles quote FAA spokesman Paul Steucke saying the radar returns were a split image and military clutter, and report Philip Klass's explanation that Terauchi saw Jupiter and Mars. Terauchi's second sighting in January was attributed to village lights reflecting off ice crystals.
“Japan Air Lines Flight 1628”7 pages
UFO follows plane across Arctic Circle, crew claims by United Press International ANCHORAGE, Alaska — : The crew of a Japan Air Lines ' cargo jet claimed-that a mysteri ous UFO with flashing white and . yellow strobe lights followed them across the Arctic Circle en route from Reykjavik, Iceland to Tokyo. The three-man crew radioed : air traffic controllers in Anchor age, reporting the huge UFO fly- • ing "in formation" with them and • the Air Force confirmed an ob ject briefly flew near the'plane, Federal Aviation Administration •' spokesman Paul Steucke said Monday. Although the Air Force radar briefly picked up'a second ob ject, Steucke said, FAA control lers in Anchorage and Fairbanks . did not. The strange sight reported by the pilot, copilot and flight engi - neer of JAL Flight 1^28 remains a mystery. The incident occurred Nov. 17 but was not made public until a news reporter questioned the FAA. . \Followirig the UFO sighting, the plane landed at Anchorage International Airport and FAA security manager Jim Derry in terviewed all three crewmen. According to the FAA ac count, lights appeared only a mile from the plane as it crossed the Arctic Circle. "They said they could not see the shape, only the lights," -Steucke said of the crew's ac count. The white and yellow strobe lights followed the Boeing 747 for 50 miles. The crew estimated .they were 7 miles away. The lighting was not normal aircraft marking pattern, the crew re ported. Derry concluded the crew was not hallucinating and was not influenced by drugs or alco hol. j fs?i. 318 ||||g|5|> ^la S3 ES » .4 w r* 5 ^ M ? e. ^ 8^si B"2 G.> ® <t w ^ " a 8.
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 51 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.