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This package was compiled by the FAA Alaskan Region Public Affairs Office in Anchorage and sent to FAA managers with a memo from Paul Steucke dated March 5, 1987. It gathers material on the November 17, 1986 sighting by the crew of Japan Air Lines flight 1628: a news release, pilot and controller transcripts, crew interviews and radar analysis. The FAA concluded that it could not confirm the event. It attributed the second radar target to a split, uncorrelated return from the JAL Boeing 747 and planned no further investigation.
“Japan Air Lines Flight 1628”5 pages
-2- The Captain requested tile Center to record his description: "Ah, would you please, ah, record my vo ice, ah, ah, ah •.. this is Japanese. Futeikina raito ga mieteriru. Choodo ookina kuroi ka tamari ga mae ni iru. Kyorinishite go nrairu. Dooyara uchuusen no moyoo." English translation: "We see irregular pulsating lights just there is a large black chunk just in front of us distance is five miles it seems to be a spaceship. Ah, it likes, ah, UFO, please, ah, check on your radar. Over." The cargo aircraft was about 240 nautical miles north of Nenana, Alaska, at 37 ,000 feet elevation. The weather was clear with a temperature inversion reported at 23,500 feet. Captain Terauchi reported the lights appeared in front of the aircraft, about 2,000 feet below, moved below the aircraft, and then disappeared behind the aircraft. The phenomenon then occurred again at approximately 151 nautical miles north of Nenana. It was noted at the FAA interview of the flight crew, which was conducted when they landed at Anchorage, that the aircraft flight path was north of and directly over the town of Arctic Village, Alaska, at the time of the first sighting and 45 nautical miles northwest and west of the village of Fort Yukon during the second sighting. Captain Terauchi said at the FAA interview that he thought the unusual lights he saw were those village lights that had been obscured or changed by ice crystals present in the atmosphere (the temperature inversion). The FAA has concluded its inquiry into this report and agrees with the Captain that the phenomena was most likely caused by ice crystals created by the reported temperature inversion. (3) The crew of a Flying Tigers Flight #73, Boeing 747, cargo aircraft, flying at 37,000 feet, reported observing a "target" heading 320 degrees as it approached Anchorage on November 21, 1985. The Air Force was unable to confirm the sighting. This sighting was not investigated by the FAA and there is no file or retrievable data. Steucke said, "The FAA is not in the UFO business and is not interested in reports that do not involve aircraft or the air traffic control system." I
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