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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…
K. Terauchi Yeah. • •
R. Gordon The little one huh?
K. Terauchi (Japanese)
F. Fujii That flight level right there does not leave any evidence, also
if it on the same level, it would give this aircraft a little
turbulence cause of this air.
R. Gordon You got no turbulence?
K. Terauchi No turbulence.
R. Gordon So it's just suspended there, really.
K. Terauchi (Japanese) Right
F. Fujii (unintelligible) leave the evidence •••
R. Gordon Yeah, well that's what I'm saying, it's so moving, it's either so
areodynamic that it's not causing, so you're saying when he was
right in front of you there was not turbulence and if you had
been that close to another object that large you should have got
some buffetting?
K. Terauchi Yeah
R. Gordon Okay, I understand
.·
K. Terauchi The turbulance would assure their existance, therefore, they
positioned themselves to here from the beginning.
R. Gordon Yes
K. Terauchi Certainly, ah approaching Fort Yukon, west side, this side east
s·ide, so ah (unintelligible)(Japanese) big mothership (Japanese),
horizon, sunset, we caught up the sunset, two - three millimeters
strip of it. Then there was the mothership. They never came to
this side. Because of the sunset (if they came to the other
side) they would be seen, their shape by us. They positioned
themselves at the darkest side, difficult place for us to see.
But see, our aircraft was in front of the sunset and visible for
any movement we make. They took the trouble to position
themselves to be in the darkest place. I think they did not want
to be seen.
F. Fujii He thinks that they don't want, of course they don't want the
ship to see it, so they go to the place where it's dark •
R. Gor don Yeah
F. Fujii and because there ' s a sunset over here, and about one
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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.