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Package compiled for FAA managers

FAA via National Archives / The Black Vault · 122 pages · text from the file's own layer

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.

  • p. 3 …Investi gation of Japan Air Lines flight 1628 Sighting of Unidentified Air Traffic on November 17…
  • p. 5 …but •.• JL1628 = Japan Air Lines flight #1628 Rl.5 = Controller positicn, Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control…
  • p. 7 …sixty one line. Approach. Look at your radar. We got a Japan Air one six~ eight…
  • p. 82 …a report concerning the incident to Japan Airlines Flight 1628 (JL1628) north of Fairbanks, Alaska on…
  • p. 107 …86 unidentified object sighting by Japan Air Lines flight 1628. (5 pages) PLEASE COMPLETE AND RETURN…
R. Gordon Digital color?
K. Terauchi Yes colored, digital
R. Gordon Okay, fine, yeah, that's all we need! I don't need to know
numbers. Ah did the target appear on the radar as unusual or; or
solid target or intermitt •.•
F. Fujii Was it clear?
K. Terauchi Clearly, clearly
R. Gordon Very clearly
K. Terauchi But, ah, ah, strong, ah return signal is strong in case of a
storm, show ah red, and next yellow.
R. Gordon Okay
? The, but weak is green . . .
R. Gordon Right.
K. Terauchi So ah is green light.
R. Gordon It showed green . . .
K. Terauchi Green
R. Gordon Okay, yeah, that's, that's where even some of the stuff could get
through it, like when you take a picture of a cloud on the
radar • • •
K. Terauchi Oh yeah •
R. Gordon If it's green, but if it's got heavy rain in it or thunderstorm
in it then it shows red •••
K. Terauchi Yes, yes
R. Gordon So it's light green, maybe the waves can go through this thing.
Okay so it showed green on the radar, on the color radar.
F. Fujii When did you pick it up, the radar?
K. Terauchi Time? Time?
F. Fujii Time, is it by time, when?
R. Gordon Oh after, how long after you saw it with your eyes did you pick
it up on the radar?
K. Terauchi Okay ah, um seven minutes, five minute, makes it twelve minutes,
so, ah, fifteen minutes after contact.
7 -- r

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Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 122 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.