733667-001-010

A JAL flight engineer, Yoshie Tsukuba, was interviewed by Pete Beckner of FAA on January 15, 1987, through an interpreter, Sayoko Mimoto, regarding to the UFO which had been sighted on the 17th of November, 1986, by Captain Terauchi. Beckner: Tsukuba: Beckner: Mimoto: Tsukuba: Beckner: Describe what you saw. May I speak in Japanese? Oh! Yes, please. Oh! yes, please. The first time I saw it was through the Ll window, at the 11 o'clock position. It looked larger than navigation lights. I do not remember exactly how many of those <lights> were there but clusters of lights were undulating. What was the color of those lights, was it green? Tsukuba: I can not describe the details but it was white or amber colored lights. Beckner: When you saw the object was it obvious to you? Did you notice it immediately? Tsukuba: Yes, it was. I noticed it immediately. Beckner: Did it stay with you at position 11 o'clock? did you see this object? How long Tsukuba: Yes, approximately 5 minutes, 10 minutes, I think I saw it for about 10 minutes after I sighted it the first time. The reason is because the Captain wanted to take pictures. His camera bag was placed behind his seat,. beside mine, and I handed it to him. But he could not take pictures, so I placed his camera bag beside my seat again. So I think it took about 10 minutes. Beckner: Why could he not take any pictures? Tsukuba: Well, his camera is Alpha 7,000, with film ASA 100. He could not operate it well. I mean the operating procedure of the camera was not understood well. Beckner: What kind of camera did he have? 1 .. Tsukuba: It was just at sunset at right front of us. There was a stripe of red line and almost dark, it was almost pitch dark behind us. Beckner: How was the lighting conditions inside the cockpit? Tsukuba: We had night illumination at above sideways. I was using a spot light while calculating the data. I do not remember whether the Captain had the lights turned off or not. There is a switch that can turn the light to regular fluorescent or to dark. It was set to dark. Beckner: How long did you see the object? Tsukuba: The one in front of us, as I mentioned it for about 10 minutes, then, the one at 9 o'clock, together, a total of lights in front of us and the other absolutely different nature of lights. earl i er , I saw on our left side 30 minutes. The one were of two Beckner: Would you show us what they looked like on this paper? Tsukuba: The lights in front of us were clusters of lights like this. I think they were made of two parts. How should I say this, but the lights were shaped like windows of a passenger aircraft. Beckner: What was the shape of the object like? Tsukuba: I do not know. It was just lights. The one in front of us was like an aircraft viewed from another aircraft which was ours. Beckner: Did the object move with your aircraft when you changed direction or altitude? Tsukuba: When we saw the first one in front of us, we did not change the heading, but the second one, it was really hard to see, I had to try real hard to see it, so we changed heading. I think the object was with us when we changed altitude. When we changed altitude, I could not see. The Captain said it was still there, so I felt like it was there. Beckner: Did you see another aircraft? Tsukuba: I saw United Air Line. Beckner: Any other lighted, or unlighted objects? 3 Tsukuba: The points I would like to reinforce are that the lights in front of us were different from town lights. I can not describe the shape. I am not as certain as I am about the lights on the left side. I do not know what the shape of the objects was. So I am sure that the lights that were in front of us were different from town lights. When I was interviewed here at the first time by FAA personnel, I was not sure whether the object was an UFO or not. My mind has not changed since then. ·~ ,,.. . . ·---·----:::::> _ __) ·(--\ ~ 0L~~-:-~---··--··----··-·- Peter E. Beckner A.S.I. 5 Tsukuba: Alpha 7,000. It is made by Minoruta. is called in America. I wonderwhat it Beckner: Have you seen this kind of thing before? Was this the first time anything of this nature has happened to you? Tsukuba: Yes, this was the first time. Beckner: Who first sighted the object? Tsukuba: I do not know which person picked it up first. I was making a landing data. The Captain told us to see if there is a some kind of object outside. Beckner: Did you see the radar? Tsukuba: When the Captain told me to look, I could see the radar. Beckner: Were you able to see it on radar? What did you see on the radar? Tsukuba: Yes, a green dot like, not exactly like a dot. It was not a dot, but stream like, I think the range was about 10 miles. I do not think it (on the radar> was the same lights as the one I saw in front of us. Beckner: How was the intensity of the lights? Did the intensity of the objects' lights change? Tsukuba: Basically the same. I cannot describe it. Not even in Japanese. The first one did not change. The second light was very difficult to see. It was so vagua. Beckner: Was any other target picked up on radar? Tsukuba: I cannot remember. difficult to see. The tilt angle of the radar was Beckner: Difficult to remember, on the radar, did you have to look for the object? Tsukuba: I identified immediately the one in front of us • Beckner: At the time of sighting, how were the lighting conditions outside? 2 Tsukuba: When the United aircraft was passing by, we were seeing the second lights. Beckner: Did the intensity of lights change? Tsukuba: The first lights I saw was unchanged until they disappeared. The second one, it was so hard to see. In my mind, I am not certain whether it was lights of a distant town or a strange object. Beckner: What were the weather conditions? Tsukuba: It was clear. Beckner: Did you see any stars? Tsukuba: I think there were stars, but ••• Beckner: Any magnetic disturbance? Tsukuba: No. Beckner: Were there any instrument fluctuations on your Flight Engineer's panel during the objects presence? Tsukuba: No, it didn't <there weren't). Beckner: Do you wear glasses? Tsukuba: No, I don't. Beckner: Was there any reflection on the inside of the glass? Tsukuba: Reflection? What do you mean? Mimoto: Did you see any reflection of inside lights on the aircraft window glass? Tsukuba: No. there was not any. Backner: Would you like to add anything? Do you have any questions? We have come here and interviewed you a lot. Is there anything we can answer regarding your questions? 4 \ . -· .. " t '· I L . ' '-·. w~ ~~-­ ~ oD ~~- ( ?-- t I .;L ~t.l/rt~ LV~ f 'i:_. s~ Nt-11:00 ~~{It 06:..) \