Pilot Report Unclassified Complete

733667-001-007-0003

National Archives and Records Administration

Released
Published
Added to archive
Jun 16, 2026
Department
National Archives and Records Administration
Original size
2.6 MB
External ID
414bb869c808f146e86893d022294cdb9aa7dc148312eaa31ff50f9b7d522c76
Confidence
85%
Credibility
90%

View original document ↗ hosted at the official government source

Intelligence summary

This document details the personal account of Captain Kenju Terauchi regarding an unidentified aerial phenomenon observed during Japan Airlines Flight 1628 on November 17, 1986, while flying over Alaska.

Tags & topics

AviationFlight SafetyUAP AlaskaJapan AirlinesPilot SightingUFO

Linked cases

Locations referenced

LocationContextConfidenceSupporting text
Alaska Sighting Location Unresolved This document details the personal account of Captain Kenju Terauchi regarding an unidentified aerial phenomenon observed during Japan Airlines Flight 1628 on N

Extracted timeline

Jun 15, 1986

Document Date (year hint)

Document Date (year hint) for 733667-001-007-0003

Jun 16, 2026

Ingestion Date

Ingestion Date for 733667-001-007-0003

Jun 16, 2026

Document Record Date

Document Record Date for 733667-001-007-0003

Jun 16, 2026

Update Date

Update Date for 733667-001-007-0003

Entities mentioned

Full document text

1,396 characters, transcribed via OCR. Errors reflect the source scan. Compare with the original ↗

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~p 6° Anchorage Center when we _ reach above Pottat(sp?) where Alaska Territorial Air begins. Pottat locates approximately 480 miles, approximately 890 kilometers, North-northeast of Anchorage, 67 degrees 56 minutes North Latitude, 141 degrees West Longitude. We began the communication with the Anchorage Center about 5:05 p.m. The flight course we had acknowledged was Jet 529, direct to Ft. Yukon and Jet 125 via Nenana, Talkeetna, Chaiger (sp?), and to Anchorage. The Anchorage Center ordered us to fly direct to Talkeetna, provided us transponder codes and placed us on a radar scope at the same time. The strange phenomenon happened immediately after we began left rotation, following the order of taking the direct flight course. There was an unidentifiable light ahead of the rotation. We set the course toward Talkeetna and began level flight. Then we saw lights that looked like aircraft lights, 30 degrees left front, 2,000 feet (600 meters) below us, moving exactly in the same direction and with the same speed as we were. We were at the altitude of 35,000 feet (10,600 meters), flying speed was 900 kilometer per hour to 910 kilometer per hour. [Personal statement concerning JAL Flight 1628 sighting of unidentified air traffic, Nov. 17, 1986. Written by Capt. Kenju Terauchi; translated by Sayoko Mimoto, FAA Alaskan Region, Airway Facilities Division. Received by FAA 1/2/87]