733667-001-003-0032

OTHER

AI Summary

The document is a white paper summarizing the Japan Air Lines (JAL) UFO incident that occurred on November 17, 1986. It discusses the initial media coverage, FAA investigations, and analysis of radar data related to the incident.

Key Findings

- The JAL pilot, Capt. Kenju Terauchi, is a known 'UFO repeater' with multiple prior and subsequent sightings. - FAA radar analysis indicated that the unidentified blip near the JAL aircraft was likely a radar anomaly. - Communications between FAA controllers and the JAL pilot provided independent evidence against the presence of a UFO.

OCR Text

JAL UFO INCIDENT: Summary White Paper, by Philip J. Klass In early January, 1987, extensive news media coverage was given to a UFO incident involving a Japan Air Lines 747 crew that had occurred on the evening of Nov. 17, 1986, while flying over Alaska, enroute from France to Anchorage. Initial media accounts, understandably, were based largely on the six-week old recollections of the JAL pilot, Capt. Kenju Terauchi. In early March, the Alaskan Region of the Federal Aviation Administration released, and offered to the public at modest cost, a detailed data package. It included a transcript of all communications between FAA controllers and the JAL Pilot, as well as with two other aircraft in the vicinity of ‘the JAL airliner. Also included are transcripts of tape-recorded interviews with the JAL pilot, copilot (first officer) and flight engineer, conducted by the FAA in early January. Also the results of an analysis of original radar ‘data, recorded at the time of the incident, performed by radar specialists at the FAA's Technical Center, near Atlantic City, N.J. Analysis of the FAA data provides new insights into the incident which will be published in the Summer issue of The Skeptical Inquirer. Highlights of that analysis include: Ls The JAL pilot is a five-time "UFO repeater," having reported two UFO sightings prior to the Nov. 17 incident, and two others afterwards, on Jan. 11, 1987. After landing and conferring with the FAA, Terauchi agreed with the FAA that both Jan. 11 "UFO" Sightings probably were caused by village lights reflecting off Clouds of ice crystals. Reports from "UFO repeaters" are viewed with extreme caution by most experienced UFO investigators. 2 « At the time of the initial sighting on Nov. 17, when the pilot was reporting seeing multiple lights, FAA controllers noted a single unidentified blip which appeared intermittently in close proximity to the JAL radar blip. Subsequent analysis of the recorded radar data by FAA Technical Center specialist showed that this was due to a not infrequent radar anomaly that can occur if the echo from an aircraft does not arrive back at the radar at precisely the same instant as the signal transmitted back by the aircraft's radar transponder. 3. Independent evidence that shows that the intermittent radar blip was not generated by a UFO can be found in FAA transcript of pilot-controller communications on Nov. 17. At approximately 6:35 p.m., as JAL was nearing Fairbanks, the FAA's enroute control center in Anchorage called to ask a Fairbanks controller if there were any unknown blips near JAL on the Fairbanks airport radar. (The Anchorage center was using a different, longer-range radar.) The Fairbanks controller checked and

Metadata

Agency
—
Classification
UNCLASSIFIED
Department
National Archives and Records Administration
Confidence85
Credibility80

NARA Source

NAID
733667
File
733667-001-003-0032.jpg
Type
image/jpeg

No machine-readable OCR text for this asset. Photographs without captions may have no extractable text.

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