Pilot Report Unclassified Complete

733667-001-007-0004

National Archives and Records Administration

Released
Published
Added to archive
Jun 16, 2026
Department
National Archives and Records Administration
Original size
2.3 MB
External ID
8678a8f5253a157e51122de870c3ef7fb1998b46f92c52b172dd390c1070d30a
Confidence
85%
Credibility
90%

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Intelligence summary

This document details a personal account from Capt. Kenju Terauchi regarding the sighting of unidentified aircraft lights during JAL Flight 1628 on November 17, 1986. The crew reported the lights to the Anchorage Center, which confirmed no other aircraft were present in the area.

Tags & topics

Air traffic controlAviation SafetyUAP air traffic controlAviationJAL Flight 1628SightingUFO

Linked cases

Extracted timeline

Jun 15, 1986

Document Date (year hint)

Document Date (year hint) for 733667-001-007-0004

Jun 16, 2026

Ingestion Date

Ingestion Date for 733667-001-007-0004

Jun 16, 2026

Document Record Date

Document Record Date for 733667-001-007-0004

Jun 16, 2026

Update Date

Update Date for 733667-001-007-0004

Entities mentioned

Full document text

1,321 characters, transcribed via OCR. Errors reflect the source scan. Compare with the original ↗

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-Page 7° We ignored the lights, thinking probably they were special missioned aircrafts or two fighters because we did not notice the lights while communication (with the Anchorage Center?) or on prior visual inspection. However, the position of the lights had not changed even after a few minutes and that called our attention. The First Officer, Tameto(?), called the Anchorage Center and asked to report to us if there were any aircraft other than ours in the area. The Anchorage Center told us that there were no other aircraft in the North area. We immediately reported back that we were seeing aircraft lights. They again reported that there was no military aircraft and the ground radar did not show any aircraft but us. They also asked us several times if there were clouds near our altitudes. We saw thin and Spotty clouds near the mountain below us, no clouds in mid-to- upper air, and the air current was steady and conditions were quite pleasant. Perhaps the controllers were concerned that an increased use of improved lazer beams using clouds was creating moving images. [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]