Documents / Hearing transcript

Terauchi interview transcript, Dick Gordon, 2 Jan 1987

FAA via National Archives / The Black Vault · 20 pages · text from the file's own layer

This FAA record of interview documents a January 2, 1987 session in Anchorage, Alaska, in which Inspector Richard O. Gordon of FSDO-63 questioned JAL Captain Kenju Terauchi about his crew's November 17, 1986 sighting. Terauchi describes two small craft with exhaust-like lights that flew near his aircraft and a much larger mothership, and says the target appeared green on his onboard radar. He also reports VHF interference and says the objects matched his 360-degree turn and his descent.

RECORD OF INTERVIEW WITH JAL CAPTAIN
Richard Gordon, Manager, FSD0-63
Kenju Terauchi, Captain, JAL
Frank Fujii, Interpretor, JAL
Sayoko Mimoto, FAA Airways Facilities
Mr . Shinbashi, Station Manager
On January 2, 1987, Inspector Richard 0. Gordon, FSD0-63, and Japanese
Interpertor Sayoko Mimoto, FAA Airways Facilities, interviewed JAL
Captain Kenju Terauchi at JAL Operations, Anchorage, Alaska. The interview
was conducted for the purpose of gathering first-hand witness testimony with
regard to a sighting on November 17, 1986, by Captain Terauchi and his crew of
an unidentified flying object. The following text is a record of t he
interview :
R. Gordon Think what I'm going to ..•
Garbled
R. Gordon I have a, oh, a few questions here, and I'll be glad to let you
read them and it's just some clarification because I didn't do
it, but one of the people that work for me, I'm the office
manager over here at the FSDO, the Flight Standards Office. And
Jack Wright, one of my people came over and met with the Captain
the first night • • .
K. Terauchi Oh yeah.
R~ Gordon Jack Wright gave you his card . • •
K. Terauchi Yeah.
R. Gordon Well then that's what Jack wrote down here. Well when they came
I was out of town, I was in Washington DC, but when I came back,
then I asked a couple questions and then the Administrator is
asking some questions and I said, well we don't know we didn't
ask that, so they gave me that list of questions right there, and
we'll just address them along the way and then talk about them.
K. Terauchi Okay.
R. Gordon And it's almost reiterating what we've been through already on
this thing.
K. Terauchi Sometimes, sometimes.
F . Fujii Reiterating questions, but, was this the first experience,
Captain?
K. Terauchi No, third time .
R. Gordon This is the third time that ah that you've seen, where, in the
same area or . • •
1

About this file

Hearing transcript, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 20 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.