Pilot Report Unclassified Complete

733667-001-007-0008

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
ce8969fc5088a36492e2084f376029e26a0c51dee275157f3292b42f42787b06
Confidence
85%
Credibility
90%

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Intelligence summary

This document details the personal account of Captain Kenju Terauchi regarding a sighting of an unidentified flying object (UFO) during Japan Airlines Flight 1628 on November 17, 1986. The captain describes visual and radar observations of a large, round object that was not detected by ground radar.

Tags & topics

AviationRadar detectionUFO sightings Aviation Safetyradar anomaliesUAPUFO

Linked cases

Extracted timeline

Jun 15, 1986

Document Date (year hint)

Document Date (year hint) for 733667-001-007-0008

Jun 16, 2026

Ingestion Date

Ingestion Date for 733667-001-007-0008

Jun 16, 2026

Document Record Date

Document Record Date for 733667-001-007-0008

Jun 16, 2026

Update Date

Update Date for 733667-001-007-0008

Entities mentioned

Full document text

1,597 characters, transcribed via OCR. Errors reflect the source scan. Compare with the original ↗

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“Page 11° Again, we began communicating with the Anchorage Center. We said that we could see a light in the 10 o’clock position at the same altitude and wondered if they could see anything in their radar. The Anchorage Center replied that they see nothing in their radar. I thought it would be impossible to find anything on an aircraft radar if a large ground radar did not show anything but I judged the distance of the object visually and it was not very far. I set the digital weather radar distance in 20 miles, radar angle to horizon. There it was, on the screen, a large, green, and a round object had appeared in seven or eight miles (13 kilometers to 15 kilometers) away, where the direction of the object was. We reported to the Anchorage Center that our aircraft. radar caught the object within seven or eight miles in 10 o’clock position. We asked if they could catch it on the ground radar but did not seem they could at all. Normally it appears in red when an aircraft radar catches another aircraft. I wonder if the metal used in the spaceship is different from ours. While we were communicating with the Anchorage Center, the two pale white lights gradually moved to the left side and to left diagonally back 30 degrees as if they understood our conversation and then when they were beside our aircraft they totally disappeared from our radar. [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]