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PHILIP J. KLASS 904 N ST SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON. D C 20024 Special Reports FAA Data Sheds New Light On JAL Pilot’s UFO Report Philip J. Klass (i UFO MOVEMENT, suffering from an extended drought of excit- ing new UFO incidents to attract media and public interest, got a sorely needed shot in the arm in early January, when it was disclosed that the pilot of a Japan Air Lines 747 cargo airliner had reported an encounter with a giant UFO over Alaska on November 17, while flying to Anchorage from France. The incident had occurred in twilight conditions, starting about 6:15 P.M. local time, with the sun about |! degrees below the horizon. According to initial press reports, the incident seemed a classic. The principal witness was an experienced captain, Kenju Terauchi, whose reported visual observations seemingly were confirmed by a USAF/Federal Aviation Admini- stration radar. Additionally, the UFO seemingly paced the JAL 747 for more than 40 minutes, offering an extended period for observation by two other crew members of the cargo aircraft loaded with French wine destined for Japan. Important new insights into the inci- dent have since emerged as a result of the FAA’s wise decision to offer a com- plete data package to the public at modest cost. The available data includes a ver- batim transcript of the JAL pilot's tape- recorded radio communications with 322 FAA controllers during the incident, tape recordings and transcripts of FAA inter- views with the three JAL crew members in early January, about six weeks after the incident occurred, and a copy of the revealing report that Captain Terauchi submitted to the FAA, also in early January. | In releasing all available data on the incident, the FAA’s Alaskan Region pub- lic affairs officer, Paul Steucke, noted that his agency “does not have the re- sources or the Congressional mandate to investigate sightings of unidentified flying objects. We have not tried to determine what the crew of Japan Air Lines flight #1628 saw based on scientific analysis of the stars, planets, magnetic fields, angle of view, etc.” During the initial phase of the November 17 UFO incident, a long-range USAF/FAA radar sporadically seemed to show a Single blip in the vicinity of the 747’s radar blip—at a time when the pilot was reporting seeing several UFOs. Fortunately, the FAA records radar data (for subsequent analysis in event of a mid-air collision or a near-miss), and it was sent to the FAA’s technical center near Atlantic City for analysis by radar specialists, to determine if the long-range USAF/FAA radar had indeed detected THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER, Vol. 11 an unidentified object in the vicinity of the JAL 747, This analysis showed that the sporadic second blip was due to a phenomenon known as “uncorrelated primary and bea- con target,” which can occur if the radar energy bouncing off an aircraft does not arrive at precisely the same instant as the signal transmitted back by the aircraft's radar transponder. According to FAA specialist Dennis R. Simantel, who ana- lyzed the data, “these uncorrelated pri- mary returns are not uncommon due to the critical timing associated with the delay adjustments in the aircraft tran- sponder ... and the target correlation circuitry within the radar equipment.” The FAA data package reveals Terauchi to be a “UFO repeater,” with two other UFO sightings prior to November 17, and two more this past January, which normally raises a “caution flag” for exporienced UFO investigators. The JAL pilot is convinced that UFOs are extraterrestrial and when describing the light(s) Terauchi often used the term spaceship or mothership. During his January 2 interview with FAA officials, Terauchi said that he be- lieved the “mothership” intentionally positioned itself in the “darkest [easterly] side” of the sky because “I think they did not want to be seen.” This enabled the UFO to see the 747 “in front of the sunset and visible for any movement we make.” In his report to the FAA, he expressed the hope that “we humans will meet them in the near future.” Terauchi, who was based in Anchor- age at the time but has since been trans- ferred back to Japan, noted in his report that his flights over Alaska “generally [are] in the daytime and it is confusing to identify the kind of lights” in darkness. As an example, he described seeing lights from an Alaskan pipeline pumping sta- tion reflecting off snow-covered moun- tains, which initially puzzled him. (On January II, a few days after Terauchi gave FAA officials his recollec- tion of the November 17 incident, he 323 0 E again reported spotting unusual lights in roughly the same area while on a repeat flight from Paris to Anchorage. The JAL captain, who has a limited verbal facility in English, asked to record his description of the January 1! UFO in Japanese. Its translation, included in the FAA's data package, resembled Terauchi's description of the UFO initially sighted on November 17: “We see irregular pulsating lights just there is a large black chunk [sic] just in front of us, Distance is five miles. It seems to be a spaceship, ah UFO.” The pilot reported a similar sighting a few minutes later. But when the USAF/FAA radar failed to confirm the presence of any object, he and the FAA later agreed that these January 11 UFOs were merely lights from small villages being diffused by thin clouds of ice crystals.) Captain Terauchi, who quickly be- came an international media celebrity, provided colorful accounts of the inci- dent. But he always failed to mention that two other aircraft in the area that were vectored into the vicinity of the JAL 747 to try to spot the UFO he had been reporting were unable to see any such object. This is revealed in the transcript of radio communications between Terauchi and FAA traffic controllers and their communications with the flight crews of United Airlines flight #69 and a USAF C-130 transport. United #69 was headed north from Anchorage to Fairbanks at the time that JAL #1628 was headed in the opposite direction along a parallel airway to Anchorage. The FAA asked the United pilot if it could vector him slightly to the left of his intended path, to bring him within several miles of JAL #1628, to see if he could spot and possibly identify the “UFO.” As United #69 approached, Terauchi reported the bright light to be at his “nine o'clock” position—roughly broadside and to the left at an estimated distance of about ten miles. The United captain agreed, and Terauchi was asked to turn-his landing lights on briefly to help the United crew Summer 1987